Monday 29 May 2017

"They F**K You in the Drive Thru."

Do you remember those old Lethal Weapon movies? In one, I remember a scene where the detectives, played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, have Joe Pesci's character in the back seat and they take him through the drive through for something to eat.

The restaurant got the order wrong and Joe's character is very verbal about it. "They fuck you in the drive thru," he said repeatedly. And it's true. You pick up your order, drive away and after, when it's too late, find there was a mistake and you didn't get what you ordered.

I've been through the drive thru at Tim Horton's twice this week and both times the order was wrong.

I order a medium black tea, two sweeteners, bag out...as I like a weaker tea. That's not a complicated order, but they can't seem to get it right.

Last week I got a large tea, bags in. I ask them to remove the tea bags because the water is really, really hot, and it's awkward to do in the car. This week they got the right size, but no sweeteners and again, bag in.

I didn't realize they forgot the sweetener until I was on the highway and my first thought was Lethal Weapon's "They fuck you in the drive thru."

I don't care what job you do, whatever it might be, I think it's worth doing well. And when you work in a service or hospitality industry it pays to be pleasant. I'm tired of staff looking so put out because they have to remove the tea bag that wouldn't be there in the first place, had they got the order right to begin with. And I love how they check the order board, as if I'm asking for something really ridiculous. If it didn't say bag out, would they refuse to do that one little chore for me?

Who knows, I still believe in service with a smile, but it's been missing of late.


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