Anyone that has worked in the fast food service industry would know that, for some reason, eating out can expose the worst in people - especially when they're going through the drive thru. Some people think that cars are private and nobody can see inside but, hello - windows! Here are some of the strangest things drive thru workers have seen while on the job. Content has been edited for clarity.
Emergency Burger
“I was working the drive thru and a lady pulls up – in labor – in the driver’s seat, by herself, ordering food. She was literally having contractions and doing the weird breathing thing that women are supposed to do to help with the pain. She said she was on the way to the hospital but she wanted to get a burger, fries, and a soda before she went. There wasn’t even anyone with her, that lady drove herself to the hospital while having contractions and chowing down on a dang burger. I really hope that $1.39 burger was worth it for her.”
Adult Baby
“A man pulls up with who I assume was his college aged daughter in the front seat and I assume his wife in the back seat, with a pacifier, bib, and pajamas, crying her eyes out. I was so freaking confused. He asked for extra napkins for the ‘baby in the back.’ I had no idea what was happening but I just went along with it. Handed the guy the napkins, he says thanks cause she makes a big mess when she eats and drives off. Still super confused, I just continued my day.
Six months later, I’m at a family reunion and my cousins are talking about some huge international scavenger hunt they participated in and show me the list of items and ‘Go through a drive thru with an adult dressed as a baby in the back’ was one of the items to complete. It all came together but man I was confused when it was happening, because I genuinely didn’t see the daughter filming, which I assume she was cause it said you need video proof. I’ve looked for the video with me in it but can’t seem to find it.”
Still Not Sure What Was Going On
“I worked at a McDonald’s. We had a pretty semi-regular customer come through the drive thru maybe about once a week, they both had those big like $200 box mod vapes and they’d drive with the windows up until they got to the my window, causing a large cloud of smoke to come billowing out into my face every time, whatever.
One time they came through, inside of the car completely opaque with vape smoke, they rolled down the back passenger window and there was a child, he was maybe 9 years old, in a full Tuxedo with his hair combed back nicely squinting through the smoke, he handed me $20 out of his own child sized wallet and took what I’m assuming was just his food. They rolled the window back up and continued just hot boxing the dickens out of their beat up 90s Corolla. That was about two years ago and it still just confuses me.”
It’s A Wonder She Didn’t Kill Anyone
“At my last job where I was a manager, I got a wasted lady arrested when she came through my drive through twice. We used to have a second drive thru lane until she smashed it, and one of my crew noticed a car was just chilling there. A few minutes later, one of my crew grabs me and says a lady is at the window and is not talking to them.
Headed to the drive thru window to see this lady yelling at someone and I try to get her attention – she just mumbles and grabs a bottle out of one of those spirit store bags and puts it on her seat. Then she drives away before I can get her plate number.
Two hours later, I’m on the phone with another manager and my crew grabs me saying the lady is back – this time she’s actually talking, mumbling about an order that didn’t match anything on the screen. So I told her to park where we have people wait if they have a large order, and she just nods and heads there without paying.
I wasn’t entirely sure if she was under the influence or mentally ill, so I called the cops. Just as a cruiser pulled in, she drove out of the spot and around to the drive thru again, so I point her car out to him, and he pulls her over at the drive thru window and she stumbles out. Turns out the person I thought she was yelling at earlier was her little dog (this cute little pug).
Wound up having two cop cars, a tow truck, and animal control to take care of this lady. I felt so bad for the poor little dog!
One of the cops asked if we had anything for the dog and she wound up feeding him french fries! Not really healthy for the dog (the animal control guy wasn’t too happy, apparently) but it was super cute.”
“If I Can See The Floor, I Can See You”
“Back when I worked drive thru at a McDonald’s, I had this guy ordering who, number one, took like five minutes to order a breakfast burrito and a drink so I was pretty fed up already when he got to the window. When this car pulled up, I was really not expecting to see a chick wearing nothing but a bra and panties in the backseat snorting coke off of an iPhone.
I was staring at her while I took the guy’s cash and she glanced up and noticed me and ducked down a little bit. Like, babe, you’re in a pretty short car; if I can see the floor from here, I can definitely see you.
Guy just drove off to the next window like nothing happened.
Also, super random, but I once served a lady on a horse and was subsequently told they had to be in a motor vehicle to come through the drive thru.
His Dying Wish
“We once had a hearse, complete with the coffin inside, pull through followed by family and friends in the cars behind. They said the guy in the coffin always enjoyed McDonalds, so it was his final wish to be visit one more time.”
Neckbeard Nachos
“One time this neckbeard drove in with a giant, industrial-sized trash bag FULL of nacho chips. It pretty much took up the entire back seat.
When I asked the guy where he was going to get enough salsa for those chips, a wave disappointment flooded over him because he hadn’t thought of that.
Apparently the Mexican restaurant next door was throwing them out and the guy asked if he could have them because he was stoned and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Stacks On Stacks
“I worked for my family’s fast food restaurant for 8 years. I’ve seen a bunch of weird stuff. Mostly people under the influence or dysfunctional families but, the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen was in July of last year.
I had taken the guy’s order and had him pull around. I charged him up and started working on his food. We get everything bagged and I go to hand out the order. I slide the window open and I see this guy holding massive bricks of cash. Exactly like the things you see in the movies all held up with rubber bands. He’s got 2 bricks in his hand and maybe a dozen more sitting in the passenger’s seat.
I’m in complete disbelief. Like what the frick? How much money is that?
The customer turns to me. And then turns back to push all the cash back into a big gym bag filled with more bricks sitting on the floor boards! I don’t even say anything just handed him the bag and let him drive off.
We looked back at the cameras and you could see though his sun roof. While he was waiting, he pulled the bag from the back seat and put it into the front and just started taking out bricks of this money. I’ve never see that guy again.”
“Don’t Let Him Touch You!”
“I was working the second drive-thru window at McDonald’s. An order comes up on the screen for three large unsweet teas. One of the girls I was working with said, ‘It’s the teddy bear guy! Don’t let him touch you!’
I was confused, but didn’t think much of it, until the orderer came up to the window. It was an old man in a big, navy blue van. He smelled like he hadn’t showered in days.
I greet him and hand him the teas. He reaches out his hands, and I nearly gag at the sight of his long yellow fingernails. I made special care to not touch him at all.
After I handed out the third tea, I turned around to tend to another order, when the same girl said, ‘Look now!’ I turned around as he drove away, and I saw a giant teddy bear in his back seat.
It was honestly one of the most bizarre and terrifying things to happen to me in my life.”
A Bit “Unnerved”
“When I was working at McDonald’s, a man would come through every other day or so and order the same thing each time: a Quarter Pounder meal. However, what was odd about his car was that there was a mountain of fast food trash in his passenger seat. I had seen this man’s car the first time he came through.
From then on, his pile of empty McDonald’s and Wendy’s bags just grew and grew. When we started making our Quarter Pounders with fresh beef, we had to have cars that ordered them pull ahead of the line so the orders could keep going out. This man was asked to ‘park’ once, and I brought out his order. The mountain of garbage, after a few months of him coming through regularly, was almost as tall as him, and he had Engelbert Humperdinck blasting at full volume when he rolled down his window. I’ve never been scared of any customers, but needless to say, some have definitely made me a bit unnerved.”
The New Necktie
“I worked the drive thru at Little Caesars when I was in high school. There’s a weird type of person who comes out to buy those $5 hot n ready pizzas at 9 PM. Once, I had a guy come through the drive thru wearing nothing but a bath towel. He pulled up to the window and ordered, and then when I brought the pizzas to the window, he got out of the car, adjusted his towel, and then took the pizzas and put them in the trunk. Freakin weeeeeiirrrdd.
There was also a community of homeless people living in tents in the woods behind the store. They’d often come to the store around close to see if we had any left over food we could give them. Sometimes we did. Sometimes we didn’t. One night, a homeless guy comes through the drive thru on his bike right before we close. He had a dead snake (copperhead I believe) wrapped around his neck, and he kept saying ‘Hey man, got this new necktie here, you know how to tie a necktie??’
I just got my manager and was like, ‘Yo E, there’s a dude in drive thru who needs help with his necktie.’ We talked to the guy for a minute and gave him a pizza. He said that he killed about 3 copperheads a day out there in the woods near his tent. Crazy stuff.”
Top Down, Pants Down
“I used to work at Chick Fil A. and a butt naked (except a hat and sandals) middle aged long haired guy pulls through in a Jeep with all the doors and top taken off. We still served him. No one was comfortable looking at him except for me. I was the window person. I didn’t make an expression and acted like it was nothing to me and his goofy smile faded pretty quick after the less than enthusiastic ‘my pleasure.’ Everyone thought I was God.
This all happened in the middle of the lunch rush, which made it way more annoying, but also super funny looking back.
Me – 1 Pervert – 0.”
Old McDonald’s Wife
“I work at a drive up coffee stand and one time this woman came through in a van full to the brim with 18 ducks, 3 dogs, and a small horse, all somehow jammed in. Oh, on top of it all (not literally), she has her kid too. She brought the whole dang farm around in one van. She must be Old McDonald’s wife.”
Air Raid
“A local radio station decided to play a prank on a McDonald’s manager on her birthday, at the behest of a call in request.
With the help of a local army barracks, they called in an order for 280 Big Mac Meals, and one McFlurry.
Then they arrived to pick up the order, in a helicopter.
Have you ever seen 10 army guys in full fatigues loading up a helicopter with Big Macs meals through a drive thru window?
I didn’t either, this happened on the radio, not the TV. But it must have been epic.
I heard they landed in the back parking lot and the soldiers trudged back and forth from the drive-thru window, with the Staff Sargent yelling at them the whole time while eating, and commenting on his McFlurry. Too funny!”
Hard Time At Hardee’s
“While working at Hardees, we had a bunch of inebriated people in a Target shopping cart being pushed by another wasted person come up to the drive-thru speaker to order dinner. You see, it’s not like the Target was right next to the Hardee’s. It was 3 miles away!
We couldn’t serve them because they weren’t in a motor vehicle. I say motor vehicle because we had someone come up to the Drive-Thru window on a motorized bicycle (or hot rod bicycle) and we served them. So the lesson learned is to ride a motorized bike and not a cart.”
McPoodle
“I used to work at the local McDonald’s and I thought one lady had a super weird habit. The car she drove was FULL of trash. Full to the brim like she was moving and couldn’t afford a truck. Either she was a hoarder or she lived out of her car, but I’m gonna assume she was a hoarder because there wasn’t even room to recline the seat for sleeping.
Anywho, this lady used to come through every single morning and order a sausage biscuit.
For months, I just thought she liked sausage biscuits because she came through every day and ordered one, but no, it was for her dog that was always sitting in the front with her. Then one day we ran out of biscuits. She said, ‘Oh that’s okay,’ and pointed at the poodle in the passenger’s seat, ‘He only eats the sausage anyway.’
I didn’t approve of it, but it wasn’t my place to tell her otherwise.
I could have said, ‘Hey lady, dog food is cheaper and better for your dog.’
Nah, just, ‘Hey I can save you money since you’re here every day.’
From then on, we saved her close to $1.50 per week on dog food because asking for a sausage patty cost less than a sausage biscuit.”
