The Drive-Thru Order That Secretly Terrifies Everyone Behind You

There's one phrase spoken into a drive-thru speaker that makes an entire line lose hope.

It travels backward through the line like a shockwave. The car at the speaker leans out, and you hear the words every drive-thru dreads: 'Okay, so this is going to be a big order.'

Suddenly time slows. Separate payments. Custom modifications. Someone in their back seat is being consulted, item by item, and the answer keeps changing.

Drive-thru workers say the mega-order isn't actually the problem. The problem is the mega-order that arrives at the speaker completely unplanned, assembled live, one 'ummm' at a time.

The etiquette experts of the internet have ruled: big orders belong inside, or at minimum, fully rehearsed before the speaker. The drive-thru is a sprint, not a dinner party.