Comment on Chick-Fil-A staff in the rain.
grue@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The real boring dystopia is the radical car-centrism of having a drive-thru at all to begin with.
It was more military focus than car focus. While in uniform the military isn’t/wasn’t supposed to run errands essentially, so they couldn’t get out of their cars. McDonald’s introduced the drive thru so that soldiers could grab a bite to eat without exiting their vehicles. Not that that is any better, just the reason that the first ones were even a thing.
Everyone else installing the things is definitely car-centric.
Damn, that’s the worst unintended consequence since employer-provided healthcare.
Employer provided healthcare happened under the Nixon administration, so this happened before that in the 50s
Employer provided healthcare started as a benefit during WWII because it was a loophole around wage controls.
I was going to a local place until they shut down out of nowhere that had basically the same thing as a drive thru, but for foot traffic. I could imagine even in a fully walkable city that you can’t drive in would have “walk thrus.”
One of my favorite fast-food joints when I visited the states was Checkers. It was only walk-through and looked horrible to work in (Shed-sized building but one kitchen), but I liked the concept. It was easy to wander up, order food, chill, then maybe wander off somewhere else.
Without any cars to access or even reliably park (??), it was relaxing. A small slice of walker’s paradise where all of the scenery catered to our eyes instead of condensed seating areas surrounded by idling cars.
Weird. Checkers is usually a tiny building which is entirely geared toward drive-through orders and is rather pedestrian unfriendly in colder weather because it is all outside ordering and dining if you don’t want to use the drive-through.
Even weirder, because where I am every checkers is in a gas station, with a drive through on the side of the building. If that isn’t as car-centric as it gets, just shoot me.
This is the part I don’t get. I watched Chick-Fil-A build a new restaurant. Required all kinds of crazy drainage engineering to get into the corner of a larger parking lot. But throw in a covered drive-through on top of that? Absolutely not. They did build a kiosk for the drive-through, but could have just as easily built a second drive-through window and called it a day.
There's a small local burger chain by me which does this. They have a small hut for their restaurant, no inside seating. Drive-thru is on the right and walk-thru is on the left.
Followupquestion@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Try having small children; drive through a can be a lifesaver because you don’t need to unbuckle them, get their winter clothes on, get them into the restaurant, wait in line, order the food to go, then wait for the food, and then reverse the steps to get back into the car. It’s a giant PITA to just get some French fries, chicken tenders, and carrot sticks, let alone the drastically increased exposure to germs associated with a crowded restaurant. You may have heard, there’s a pretty bad wave of Covid, influenza, and RSV right now. Not sharing air with other people is a big part of staying healthy right now.
my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 10 months ago
You’re assuming to get to a location you need a car, that’s still car-centric design. If your primary argument for drive-throughs relies on the fact that you needed a car to reach the location in the first place then you’re missing the problem.
Mamertine@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The person’s point stands if they were on a bicycle. You can’t just leave a child in a bike carrier at the bike rack.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 10 months ago
Not after that chewing-out by the police department, I can’t.
uis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Can you imagine doing such scary thing as WALKING?
Boxtifer@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Putting a child in and out of a bike carrier is a ton easier compared to a car seat. It’s not really an issue.
daltotron@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I mean their only point is really if the kids didn’t have their “winter clothes on”, which would be pretty unlikely on a bike, and I would think in a car, for the most part. I guess it depends where you’re going, but that still seems like it would be a good idea, just before you leave the house, generally. I don’t think walking into a restaurant, for maybe the minute from the parking space to the door, is going to be a more substantial amount of time, that you would have to have your “winter clothes” on for, compared to if you were entering any other building. I dunno, the tradeoff might be easier in terms of like, without winter clothes, it’s easier to get your kids to go potty or change them, but that’s kind of a moot point anyways, because most honda odysseys don’t have toilets in them, and restaurants do.
Waiting in lines is going to be a problem regardless of whether or not you’re in a car. It might be easier in a car, since you have more direct control of your children, but if you’re walking, a stroller would be the best analogue for that, and you should probably have that anyways, if you’re taking your toddlers for a walk.
It’s also not as though walkable restaurants can’t necessarily have outdoor ordering windows, hole-in-the-wall style, maybe helping to prevent the flu or what have you. If that’s a major concern, though, I think a mask would be a bigger help. Maybe not for kids, they’re kinda too gross for that. You could probably leave a kid inside of your little kid bike trailer, or kid’s seat on the back or whatever, while you walk up to the hole in the wall and order your food, since they’re in view the whole time, and that wouldn’t be very inconvenient. I would think the only problem would be if you were going inside. There are some cool options for bike trailer strollers, if you wanted to just detach your kids from your bike, and then just like, go straight inside, but that’s kind of a hassle, I haven’t seen a good one since they all have to be overbuilt bike trailers first, and strollers second. Someone might make a good amount of schmoney if they could really nail that concept.
In any case, all their points are moot and bad and cars are bad and dumb.
Drusas@kbin.social 10 months ago
They don't need to be super bundled up just going from the car to the restaurant and back.
Followupquestion@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Tell me you live somewhere temperate without telling me where you live. Have you been to much of the US in the winter?
Drusas@kbin.social 10 months ago
I spent 5 years living in Alaska.
IronicDeadPan@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I agree with you and I live in Florida. I’d rather deal with the drive thru for the same reasons you listed.
Also, I won’t have to deal with trying to buckle a 2 & 4 year-old out of and back into their car seats, especially when it’s raining and 95*F. The 4 year old has ASD and refuses to be helped into the car so they throw a tantrum in the rain, and the 2 year old loses their mind just because.
There are things that people who don’t have/want kids can’t understand, and it’s an argument not worth having.
uis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Not in US, but it’s -18 outside right now, and I had no problem walking to my grandma’s home in -25 for 1km. This is not even Yakutia, but US is definetly not Oymyakon.
franklin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Maybe but if I had a choice between the two drive thrus would be out of here
Followupquestion@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I respect your perspective but as a parent, trust me, life is really freaking hard as it is. Making it harder is unconscionable.
franklin@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Not trying to downplay the right to your opinion but I feel like there has to be a better way to allow parents to enjoy options while also not making restaurants hostile to pedestrians
Drusas@kbin.social 10 months ago
You may have noticed already that I disagree with your reasoning for using a drive-thru, but you are not wrong that they make life easier, and I'm not even saying that you shouldn't use them. I'm just saying that kids can handle a brief bit of cold.
As a person who became disabled a few years back, I wish many, many more places would have drive through or order and pick-up without having to get out of your car. It's a valuable service. I just think it's over utilized by people who don't need it, which is bad for the environment and not great for how little exercise people already get (walking from the back of the parking lot is not the end of the world, people).
The pandemic was kind of a lifesaver for a lot of us. Suddenly delivery options and order for pickup options have become available where we used to have to struggle to go into these places. It's great. It's not great for the environment or for most people's health, but it's great for those who really need it.
ethman42@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sonic works well without the drive through needed.
uis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Why do you need children to wait in line with you? Are you in Soviet Union during deficit where there was a limit how much one person can buy?
Give me another globe!
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Because letting toddlers run free around restaurants is asshole behavior.