Don't get me wrong, drive throughs are great, I love them. Handy and convenient, don't have to get out of your car. Perfect for the American city where cars are the king. But the thing that gets me is this. When you're in a lineup, it's all fine. You get in the lineup, you read the menu, you decide what you want, and then you order. But what if there's no lineup? I don't know how it is at other places, but at many McDonald's, it is virtually impossible to read the menu without being in the lineup. What it is, is that the menu is on top of the speaker which you order from. So pretty much, either you must pull up alongside the drivethrough and crane your head out the window to look at the menu, or else you have to make your decision instantaneously, with only a glance at the menu. This is perfectly fine if you know what you're going to get already. But if you want to take a look at the menu before deciding........and really, if you're new to McDonald's, who can blame you. Then it's very irritating.
I guess you could always park the car and go inside. But that's a lot of trouble. Besides which, often the only reason you'd go to the drive through, is because the regular restaurant is closed. Happened to me once. In Seattle, we decided to go to Wendy's late one night. Only the drive through was open. Went in, and looked at the menu trying to decide what to get. Don't usually go to Wendy's so it was hard to decide. But the guy was harrassing me to decide what I wanted. Well dude, I'd get out of your way while deciding, but I can't see the damn menu! Poorly designed, I say.
And one more thing about drive through windows. When the place is closed except for drive through, well, sometimes you walk to the fast food place right? Some places are nice, and they'll serve walk ups and bikes in the drive through. But other places, they refuse to. "Oh, you have to be in a car to get drive through." Well dude, I don't want to go to your damn drive through, but the normal restaurant is closed! Especially when there's nobody else around, this pisses me off royally. Who gives a flying fuck whether you're in a car or not. They're just lazy and don't want to bother serving you, so they tell you to scram. Well, to all those assholes who do that, I say UP YOURS.