Open Letter To Anyone Not Paying in Attention at the Drive-Thru

If you're someone who frequents a drive-thru on your daily commute, this one's for you.

I'm speaking to the Starbucks cappuccino sippers, the Dunkin' pumpkin-spice-everything lovers, the Wendy's 4-for-$4 combo eaters and the Chick-fil-A cuckoo-for chicken-sandwich customers. Wherever you spend your drive-thru time, I have something that needs to be addressed.

Let's be honest. Coffee runs the world and I'm a sucker for it just as much as the next person in front of me. The only difference is that I'm paying attention to the flow of traffic.

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I'll cut to the chase. If you're in a drive-thru and not paying attention to the movement of the line, then congratulations, you've found a way to annoy me deeply.

Not once, not twice but three times in the same week as I was waiting in line to grab a large hot black (one of the simplest menu items out there), the people in front of me were too distracted with their phones, radios, kids, etc., to pull up when it was their turn. Next thing you know, there's a giant gap between them and the car in front of them.

"You're going to the pickup window eventually, no matter what."

Before you come at me with that argument, let me explain my reasoning.

Often, there's that awkward pause in the line where you're so close to the speaker but too far away to order. When someone disregards their surroundings and doesn't pull up to tighten up the line, that's when I become frustrated. You're not only slowing things down at checkout but during the ordering process.

A rather first-world problem to have, I'm aware.

The point is, I'm just trying to get in and get out, and as pathetic as this rant sounds, I'm sure this has happened at least once to you in your past.

It's not rocket science, people. When the line moves, you move.