I just had two people take my order in a drive thru. They alternated every question. First person welcomed me and asked what I wanted. The next person asked what size and drink I wanted. The first person came back on and asked if I wanted any cheese sauce then the second person came back on and told me the price. When I got up to the window the 2nd person was the one working the register. This happens from time to time at different places when I get lunch but I can’t figure out why it is done.
Sometimes the operator is in another state! There was an article I read a while ago about… maybe it was Carl’s Jr.? but they were saying that the drive thru operators were in call centers in states with a lower labor cost.
Not exactly uplifting, but “yay capitalism” I guess.
Ten years later…
Welcome to the Carl’s Junior, my frehn! Can I please ask you to do one thing, can you please click in the top right of drive thru menu? There should be a box there that is saying “run…”
At this point, they might as well use an AI assistant instead.
Holy fuck this is definitely happening soon.
I eat Taco Bell occasionally and I do like their system. Order on the app, use Apple Pay/Google Pay to actually pay for it in advance; roll up to the drive thru and give your name; drive forward and get food.
It’s the most frictionless fast food experience I ever had ever had.
That sounds pretty neat, but I personally don’t want anymore apps on my phone. I wish that I could trust companies to not access my information. It’s not like I’m big on privacy, but I know that companies are short-sighted and will do whatever they can to increase their quarterly profits at any legal expense. Since I don’t want to spend my time trying to figure out which apps are using my data and how, I just avoid installing them to begin with. I also don’t eat fast food enough to have all of these apps installed, so it’s not like I’m missing out on a major convenience. This concludes my unsolicited Ted Talk.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Yeah I feel the same.
So at least on an iPhone (I think Android does this too if I recall from when I had my Pixel 3XL) the payment uses a one-time use card number if you use Apple Pay; I didn’t have to sign up for an account, and the Taco Bell app only has my email & first name (pretty sure you can give a fake email too as it asks you to enter name/email each time if you have no account), and that’s it. The friggin’ Taco Bell app has less of my data than most apps actually.
I actually installed it as a joke (my wife hates Taco Bell), and ended up liking the ordering process, go figure… it’s fun for a once in a blue moon fast food order.