Tactical Grace over at Radical Bacon (why two names? I don’t know) currently works in fast food, and she has posted a list of drive-thru etiquette suggestions.
Most of them were things I’d thought of before–I try to be very pleasant in the drive-thru–but the last one surprised me:
6. This is a personal preference, but if you’re going to thank your order taker while at the speaker, say “thanks” rather than “thank you.” Over the speaker, “thank you” sounds like “fuck you.”
I would never have guessed this. I say “thank you” in a very cheery voice. I could see someone mistaking the way Sean says “thank you”, because he kind of does it in a cursory way, but hopefully my way is safe.
It’s also possible that this is a dialectal thing that happens where TG lives and not here. But I don’t know where TG lives, and I’ve never been on the receiving end of a drive-thru speaker, so I can’t argue that one way or the other.
(The Chick-fil-A people seem to understand me–they almost always respond with “My pleasure.” It’s actually become a game with me to see if they say it or not. Yes, I need to get a life.)