Patrons who dine at a full-service restaurant tend to be more civilized. At least, that is the expectation.
Reservations are sometimes made in advance, while others hope to have a nice night out at the last minute and wear appropriate attire for a leisurely dining experience.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are fast-food customers, who are looking for a quick fix while they're on the go–hence the name, fast food.
Fast food businesses are there for convenience, not for creating memories.
Therefore, it's those patrons who notably behaved differently than those at a sit-down, full-service establishment.
Observations were shared when Redditor Dogfrost9 asked:
"Fast food workers; what's the craziest thing you've ever seen in someone's car in the drive-thru?"
You don't see these scenarios every day at the drive-thru.
You Better Watch Out
"As a professional real-bearded Santa (along with my Mrs. Claus performer wife), we frequently return from long gigs in elaborate costumes with drive-thru as our only option to get something to eat on the road."
"We usually interact in character and make a point of ordering cookies. Drive-thru folks really enjoy the experience, and it often evolves into a spontaneous photo shoot inside the building."
"Joyous holidays, everyone!"
– haikucaracha
Laid Back Customer
"When I was I highschool a dude came to the drive through with his seat so far leaned back he was speaking to me through the back seat window. I still think about that guy sometimes."
– MeisPip
Cue "Dueling Banjos"
"A man naked from the waist down wasn't pleasant, people coming through on horses were fun, the lady in full clown makeup and outfit was amusing, but none of those were the most memorable."
"The most memorable was a pickup truck with 3 people and a dog. Driver was a man, couldn't have weighed more then 100lbs soaking wet, maybe 5'2 if he stood on his tip toes. Wearing denim cut off shorts, no shirt, and missing about 3/4 of his teeth."
"Passenger in cab was a woman, probably a few pounds north of 350, looked like she had at least a foot in height on the driver if they stood next to each other. She wore a neon pink spandex tube top and white spandex shorts with pink flowers."
"Man in the truck bed (open, no cap) also no shirt, with denim cut off shorts, no socks, no shoes. He was rolling a cigarette with loose tobacco in one hand and the other was knuckle deep into his belly button. The whole time the dog is in the back of the truck with this man, sniffing at and licking his crotch."
"Occasionally he'd pull his finger from his belly button long enough to push the dog's head away from his crotch before going back to look for gold or whatever he was doing with his finger knuckle deep in his belly button."
"6 years at that restaurant, and that is one of the few scenes still permanently burned into my memories."
– Iwritemynameincrayon
These Redditors felt threatened by their customers.
Kid Outlaw
"A kid in the backseat playing with his parents' gun. Kid pointed the gun at me and i ducked the f out immediately. The dad quickly figured what's wrong and took the gun away."
"He apologized afterward and gave us some money for the trouble. I honestly thought that my time has finally come there."
– Irisena
Mischievous Yahoos
"Saw a couple dudes with no pants on. And had a few with pants on who put the cash between their legs and told me to reach down to get it. I was a 17 year old girl atm. My manager used to enjoy berating them."
– supakitteh
Harassment On-The-Go
"Had a guy ask for a kiss from the girl working drive-thru. I nicely told him that that sh*t isn’t acceptable and he was no longer allowed back."
"He took the food he already paid for and threw it through the drive-thru window hitting the same girl. Cops were called, person pulled over and got a talking to by police."
"So many people come through drive thru’s with open containers that the police could set up a DUI checkpoint in front of our building and make monthly quotas."
– RickIMightBe
Shady But Generous
"I delivered pizza once to an incredibly obvious drug operation. The guy at the gate asked me for a password and when I was like 'uh...I brought your pizza?' he radioed a bunch of guys that came out and got the pizza from me."
"They were incredibly polite though and tipped $50, so I went back to the store and said nothing about it. A few months later, the papers announced the biggest drug bust in our county's history, and I was like, 'Oh, it's probably the garage off X road back in the woods."
"They were a weird bunch, but they tipped well,' and my boss's head snapped around like he was possessed. I had to sit through two hours of personal safety training videos :/"
– LadySmuag
Redditors working the drive-thru noticed some passengers inside the vehicle weren't able to speak.
Having Fun With Employees
"I took a sick calf through the drive-through."
"Also a set of twin lambs. I almost had the server convinced they were weird dogs. 🤣"
– MinAlansGlass
The Carcass
"Dead body. Worked at Wendy's around 17. A couple of coroner's came through from a homicide 2 streets away. You could see the body bag with a body obviously in it."
– lordbeanieboy
Kudos to the hard-working fast-food employees who must witness bizarre behavior 24/7.
They're not tipped like restaurant servers, but there must be some days when they sure do need a break after dealing with belligerent customers.
As always, be kind. Or you just might find something inappropriate in your soft drink container.
@GavinNewsom/X
