The Drive-Thru Etiquette Rule You're Probably Breaking On Rainy Days

When you're tired, rushed, or hungry, the drive-thru is there for you — and not just the drive-thru, but the dedicated staff through the window who hand you your food and take payment. If the rain or snow is making your drive worse, just remember, those conditions can affect the drive-thru worker too. One common drive-thru etiquette faux pas is leaving your windscreen wipers on when it's time to roll up to the window, causing the wipers to douse the staff member with rain or snow. As you can imagine, this doesn't make for a fun shift when multiple customers make the same blunder. Not only that, but your precious order may also get rinsed, ruining everybody's day.

Unlike much of the etiquette that relates to fancy restaurants, this little tip can come into play often, especially in areas where rain or snow are common. Because drive-thrus are ubiquitous, there are seemingly countless victims of this easy-to-make splashy mistake, which is evidenced nowhere better than Reddit. In the r/YouShouldKnow Subreddit, one poster on this topic describes how windscreen wiper splashes can have a compounding negative effect for workers: "Oftentimes, fast-food employees are working long shifts, and standing there serving customer after customer while freezing is incredibly miserable for the employee. It can also make the floors of the store wet, creating unsafe working conditions... Instead, just turn the wipers back on after you are a few feet ahead of the window."

Several similar threads exist, with present and past drive-thru workers discussing the many ways that customers have left them soaked by leaving their wipers going. One commenter describes how attitude makes all the difference when you approach this situation, saying, "I asked someone to turn them off and they got angry and said 'I don't understand why I need to turn them off' as they watched me get drenched in wave after wave because of the torrential downpour."

Another Reddit user even came up with ways to fight back, stating, "Used to manage a fast food place, told everyone in drive thru they have permission to 1. Ask them to turn their wipers off. 2. If they didn't, open the window as small as they possibly could and make it super frustrating for the customer to grab their items through it." 

It also helps staff if you get your payment method ready, whether card or cash, before they open the window to minimize the time they have to lean out into the rain. Online discussion also describes how switching wipers on to get rid of pollen or dust on your windshield can catapult dirt and water at unsuspecting drive-thru staff, proving it helps to be mindful even if the weather is dry. While there are many mistakes you can make when visiting fast-food restaurants, ruining a drive-thru worker's day is one that is easy to avoid by just waiting to operate your wipers until you're clear of the drive-thru window.