The NW Georgia chapter of the Fast Food Service Administration and Association of Food Workers and Distributors of North America and South America United Together Fraternally (or simply the NWGFFSAAFWDNASAUTF for short) handed out its annual drive-thru window awards, and the McDonald’s located at 1504 Turner McCall Boulevard was chosen as the Most Inefficient Drive-Thru in the city. “This particular McDonald’s shines when it comes to drive-thru inefficiencies,” extolls Patricia Pentwell Paganini of the NWGFFSAAFWDNASAUTF.
Since the advent of fast-food delivery, the drive-thru window has been an integral part of the American experience. In the 1920s, the Pig Stand “handed food directly out a window to customers in their cars,” cites architectural historian Philip Langdon. Just “before World War II, White Castle and White Tower also offered drive-up window service as an adjunct to regular counter service.” Then, in 1951, a Jack in the Box in San Diego placed drive-thru windows at the center of their food delivery by having one window to serve walk-up customers and one window to serve drive-up customers. That is, the restaurant was built and designed around this delivery idea. With the efficiency of a short-order cook, the science of the drive-thru was born in San Diego. Langdon describes it this way:
Generally, the restaurants required three minutes to handle a line of four cars. To maintain the kitchen’s speed, a menuboard and microphone for calling in orders were placed three car-lengths back from the window. In busy periods during the early sixties, Jack in the Box experimented with having an employee go out with a microphone on an extension cord and take orders from cars farther back [think how Chick-fil-A does it today]. The experimentation raised anew the question of where was the ideal location for the stationary microphone. The more distant the mike, the more time the kitchen had, but the more impersonal the service seemed to customers. The chain concluded that the efficiency was outweighed by customer satisfaction if the mike was located more than four car-lengths back.
Langdon chronicles drive-thru window development in his seminal Orange Roofs, Golden Arches—a must read for anyone interested in the architecture of fast-food restaurants.
In spite of Langdon’s erudition, Pentwell Paganini understands the historical importance of the drive-thru window and the need to award inefficiency. “The inefficiencies at the Turner McCall McDonald’s abound: faulty mikes and speakers, a 22-minute average wait time to fill an order, cold food (especially French fries and nuggets), incorrect items placed in bags, melted shakes, tepid coffee, Happy Meals sans the kiddie prize, poorly mixed and carbonated Sprites, whipped-less cream atop murky iced coffees. This particular McDonald’s carries inefficiencies to a whole new level, and they should be proud as they reflect the larger inefficiencies of Floyd County. The character of a restaurant often reflects the character of its ruling municipality and its people,” concludes Pentwell Paganini. Langdon agrees with the idea that chain restaurants reflect the character of the town in which they reside. On this important matter, both Paganini and Langdon confirm the general malaise and ennui of Floyd County, especially as manifested by its fast-food service.
One drive-thru customer in a beat-up Nissan in need of a new muffler describes it best: “I really like the inefficiencies. What I really like is the super long waits. Like…like…like: it like allows me to like binge watch my Netflix—like catch up on all my shows.”
McDonald’s at Turner McCall will now be entered in the state-wide contest, or the NWGFFSAAFWDNASAUTF Inefficiencies Championship. Regarding this honor, someone rummaging through the trash at the back of the restaurant replied, “It’s like a big deal. I bet the owners is proud. I heard since they won, the entrance fee at the state championship is like free. I hope they bring it home for the city of Rome. We should put that on a t-shirt: Bring it Home for Rome!”