Total-ly Missed That

(I’m working drive-thru. Customers frequently ask for items that we don’t have, while meaning a different item. Sometimes we also have customers who know exactly what they want and order with one run-on sentence. Note that our screen at our drive-thru speaker is not working.)

Me: “Hi, welcome to [Restaurant]. What can I get for you?”

Customer: *talking fast with no breaks* “I want a bacon double cheeseburger in a combo, large, with a Coke, and another bacon double cheeseburger…”

(We have three different types of bacon cheeseburgers, but none of them are called that. At this point, I don’t know how long her order will be, and I can’t get a word in, so I have two options: I can either wait until she is finished and wager on my short-term memory recalling the rest of her order, or I can just pick one and hope it’s the right sandwich. I go with the latter, going with one of our premium sandwiches.)

Customer: “…and a small French fry, and that’s it.”

Me: “Okay, your total will be [about $16] at the first window.”

Customer: “That much? Can you read back what I have?”

Me: “I have a [sandwich] double combo, large, with a Coke, another [sandwich] double, and a small fry.”

Customer: “No, I wanted the [sandwich that’s about $3 cheaper].”

Me: *pause* “I’ll have your total for you at the first window.”