Saturday, September 27, 2008

Drive Thru

The other evening was just going to be too busy to do anything other than fast food. I hate to admit it, because I'm not a fan of fast food, but with a ton of errands to run and just Curtis and I around to do it, I didn't have the time to cook.

If I turned right at Metcalf and rode for an extra 1,500 feet, I could just go through the Taco Bell drive through and pick up a few tacos and we'd be on our way. Simple. I pulled up to the speaker and ordered and then rode around to the window. Things almost got complicated for some reason, but the manager on duty handled it well.

Drive Thru Employee to manager: "It's a guy on a bike. What do I do?"

Manager: "Hand him his food."

Bonus: 22 cents on the ground. It is a little known advantage to riding a bike ... drive through discounts.

8 comments:

karen said...

Brilliant! You're paving the way for the rest of us who will do the same. My husband uses the bank drive through on his bicycle with no problems from the tellers. I've found that we on bikes are sometimes discriminated against simply because people don't know what to do with us. I've had to deal with a lot of construction on Mission Road lately, and I'm not able to cross at the crosswalks (the pavement is gone), therefore, I have to go with the traffic in the street. This totally confuses motorists. (I can't figure out what is so confusing about a cyclist riding near the edge of the road). I'm looking forward to getting the sidewalks back, as we have NO bike lanes in our city. I hope someone from the city council is out there listening and watching all of us who daily deal with the traffic.
I enjoy reading about your daily experiences!

Noah said...

I've had mixed results with drive-thru on a bike. Most of them have a sign saying "no walk-up orders" - usually resolved by saying "I rode on 6 miles of the same roads cars use to get here!"

I can say that every one of my bank's branches I've ridden-thru haven't even made a comment... okay one lady said "that's kinda cool!"

McDonald's is one of the worst, strongly enforcing the "no walk-up" rule. If they insist on holding their ground, I go around again and make motorcycle noises. That usually breaks the ice. There have been a few times that didn't work, either.

Warren T said...

Karen, I was driving down Mission the other night and saw all the work they're doing on the intersection you patrol. I'm sure you're being careful and your charges couldn't have a better guardian. Stay safe!

Noah and Karen, I've had pretty good luck at various Cap Fed drive throughs as well. Maybe McDonald's could invest in some of those tubes to send their food out...

Jamie said...

More people should do this... anything that gets bikes more accepted and understood as vehicles is good, and so is anything that gets people more accustomed to seeing bikes in roles normally associated with cars.

I've never been turned away by a drive-through but I have gotten some interesting looks about it.

getinlost said...

Jamie, Were the interesting looks with or without the kilt?

Jared said...

I love how some people just FOLD when the act doesn't follow the script.

Anonymous said...

I made a druken mcd's stop one night. When I pulled up to the speaker the woman said "just pull around" before I could place my order. I sat in the parking lot chowing a greasy double cheese burger when I see a bum role by balancing some cans. He yells "where you get that food", I said "right there on my bike". He proceded to say "oh shit" as he peddled up to the squak box. Karma +1

Jennifer said...

"What do I do?"
*eyeroll*

Once (at Micky D's, of all places) I did the drive-thru-by-bike and the guy behind me rolled down his window and yelled that I wasn't saving the planet so long as he was wasting fossil fuels by being stuck behind me. I just shrugged, pointed to the motor vehicle in front of me, and said "You'd be stuck behind her anyway." Some people.