Thursday, July 06, 2006

What do you say when you order food?

Rooty and I went to the Sonic this evening (Wednesday). We don't go often because the carhops at the one here don't wear roller skates. They do at the one in Missouri near where we visit, so we go there often.

Sonics are meant to be like old-fashioned drive-ins, with neon, the carhops, and parking under a canopy. You can also use you debit card at each menu, which is really cool (although very un-1950-ish).

You can hear what everyone else orders since there are speakers on each illuminated menu, including those in the middle outdoor sit-and-eat area. The order-taker repeats the order -- the one tonight ended each time by enthusiastically saying "Your order will be out when's it's ready.!" After hearing this 20 or 30 times, I began to wonder "As opposed to what? Bringing it out before it's ready? Bringing it our a week from now?"

When ordering, some people say "I would like..."
Others say "I need..."
Still others say "Could I have..."

The last two, I think, are creepy!

I don't use a preface, I just say what I want.

11 comments:

:P fuzzbox said...

I hear a lot of the 'Could I have' prefaces. It would be nice to tell them 'No, but you can buy it.'
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"have" sounds fuuny to me, like a child asking a parent instead of a customer ordering food

Jay Noel said...

At the drive-thru, I give them my order and then end it with, "to go please."

I think it's from all those jumps off the stairs.
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when the McDonald's guy/gal asks "Do you want a dog treat?" I'm always tempted to answer "Yes I would, and the dog would like one also."

Anonymous said...

I have no idea how I preface my order. But after living in The South, I've become uber-cheerful at the drive-thru; because the people working there always were. I've brought that attitude up here to the grumpy midwest and it never fails to elicit a weird look.
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when I lived in Texas, buying gas in a rural area was always a pain, the guy always wanted to talk and visit, all I wanted was gas

stan said...

I finally went to a Sonic a couple of weeks ago, in Carthage, Missouri, and I don't remember the carhops having skates on there, either. Also, the card reader at my parking spot wasn't working, so the kid had to take my card inside.

I liked Steak 'n' Shake much better. What an odd concept - it's a sit-down restaurant, like Denny's, yet it has a drive-thru. I wonder how long people have to wait in line there? Do people run out of gas?
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the Sonic carhops should have to wear skates, it should be a law;

the Steak n Shake line does not take that long, you know you have to wait, hope you had a milk shake and onion rings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

When I order, I say either, "I'd like" or "I'll have", but I always go inside. I don't go thru the drive-thru(except at the bank), mainly because I have a speech impediment and can be hard to understand at times; so I've never been to our Sonic.
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you can still go to Sonic, just motion to a carhop and she will take your order, it says that on the menu

Metal Mark said...

I think I say "Bring it on!". No, actually I say "I would like...'.
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I kinda like Bring it on!

Jeff said...

Silly me. I always preface my order with an acknowledgement of their name. A la, 'This is Becky, may I take yer orduh?' I always respond with, 'Yes, Becky. I'd like a so and so with a so and so. Make that a mayo so and so. That's all, Becky.'

The car hops look at me like I'm some kind of stalker. Good fun.
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lol -- we all think you're some kind of stalker, at least there you get food :)

Shirley said...

Mine are either "I want..." or "Give me..."

That doesn't sound quite polite enough. On the plus side, I will say "No, thank you" if they offer some extras I don't want.
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even if you say "All I need is one large Coke" they will still ask

sleepyrn said...

I always say (and taught my chldren the same) "may I please have....". If I ever heard one of my kids say "I want" or "give me" then they didn't get anything. Okay, I'm a little old fashioned, but I have a thing about manners. One can never be too polite and manners never go out of style.
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it's the polite worm that gets the bird, or something like that...

the local Taco Bells start out with "How are you do'in today" or something equally over-friendly (it's usually a recording), that just slows down the line, when I went to one late last night the 19-year old stoner in front of me thought he had found a buddy in the big plastic box! then he wanted "a taco you know in a hard shell with only cheese but only cheese man and nothing else" -- it was like watching That 70's Show

moni said...

At sonic, we decide who wants what and my hubby says, "We'll have....."and places our order. Some of our carhops wear skates, some do not. Some know how to skate and some do not. Falling down with food is not a good thing.
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I never thought of people not being able to skate, I thought they were just lazy -- skaters get bigger tips from me

Pixie said...

I thought about it and I usually say "Ummm can I have" usually followed by a blank look when I ask for something vegetarian. =)Then the conversation moves onto which country I am from...