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The Drive-Thru Challenge!



The Drive-Thru Challenge!
Today started out pretty rough.  I knew if I didn't get out of the house and do something fun I'd have a difficult rest of the day too.  I just had to get out of my head for a bit.  My 3 youngest kids are still home on summer break, so I figured, why not?  This could be so much fun!  For anyone who hasn't heard about the Drive-Thru Challenge here's how it works.  You pull up behind someone in a drive-thru line at a restaurant.  When it's your turn to order, you ask to order exactly what the person in front of you did.  You can also ask that they please not tell you what it is so you can be surprised.   Since there were a total of 4 of us, we stopped at 4 restaurants.  Growing boys are hungry and we had to make sure we had enough food.  Only one of my kiddos knew what we were going to do.  We all hopped in the car and while on our way to picking up our  lunches, I kept looking at the eldest and giggling.  He was going nuts trying to figure out what was going on.  The suspense was killing him!


Restaurant 1
Our first stop was taco bell.  We placed our order and pulled up to the window.  The spunky lady who took our money was chuckling a bit so I figured she knew what we were doing.  She said, "how did you know what the lady in front of you ordered?"  I told her I didn't and proceeded to tell her what we were doing.  She thought it was all good fun and wished us luck on the meals to come.
Order - Nacho Supreme   Total $3.17

1 down, 3 to go.


Restaurant 2
On to the next stop.  We pulled out of the Taco Bell parking lot and got ready to pull in across the street to KFC.  Sadly, there was no one there at the time.  So, I made a u-turn and proceeded not even 1/4 mile down the road to the nearest Halo Burger - "Home of the Olive Burger".  A Flint fast-food favorite.  The kids were excitedly chatting amongst each other on what they hoped to get at the different places we would be visiting as well as what they didn't want to get.  Much to their dismay the person in front of us ordered a vegetarian meal. Totally fine for me, not so much for these boys.   You win some, you lose some.
Order - Black Bean Burger meal which included fries and a diet coke.  Total $8.52.

2 down, 2 to go.


Restaurant 3
Back to KFC we go.  I didn't think anyone was in line yet but my eldest in the car told me there was.  Sure enough he was right.  At this point we were all sizing up the people in front of us.  "Oh, this is an older guy.  I wonder what he's going to order".  He was all alone in his car but you never know, he could be ordering for someone else.  He pulled forward and it was now our turn.  When I placed my order and told the cashier to please not tell me what it was, there was a lot of giggling in the background.  I had a feeling these people must know what we were doing.  As we anxiously waited in line we watched to see what was given out to the man in front of us.  A bag with at least 1, maybe 2 meals and 2 drinks.  Now you're talking!   As I pulled up to the window the young lady who took my order was grinning from ear to ear.  Her manager came around and was trying to figure out what we were doing.  When I explained it,  he thought the idea was pretty neat.   The two young ladies working inside knew what was up.  Definitely a fun change to their day I'm sure.  We pulled away in our red suv and headed to what  is the #2 fast food restaurant in the United States.   They have over 13,000 franchised stores.  Any guesses?  
Order - 2 leg and thigh fill up boxes - both had mashed potatoes and gravy, a biscuit, a cookie and a coke.  Total $10.60

3rd restaurant down, 1 more to go.


Restaurant 4
You probably guessed it!  Our next stop was McDonalds.  Here's where things got a little tricky.  They have two lines to place your order.  So, even if you are trying to be careful who you get in line behind, you may still get something someone ordered from the line beside you.  It's all one string of orders; not two.  The two youngest boys told me to go in the right line behind the van, while the eldest said to go in the left line behind the Cadillac.  Their thinking was the van would have more quantity while the Cadillac would order something "better".  Two against one - the little guys won out.  Once again I asked to order what the person in front of me ordered and to please not tell me what it was. I was told to pull up directly to the window.  Now another thing to note is the person who takes your order these days is not the person who takes your money.  So not listening in on what was going,  on the young lady who took my order said, "did you order the.....".  I immediately cut in and said, "I don't know.  I ordered what the person in front of me ordered and I wanted to be surprised."  She then said, "that is so weird!"  Yep, I have to agree it's kinda weird.  Onto the next window to pickup our food.  We got two large beverages and were told to pull forward because they were waiting on our sandwiches.  We pulled up and over into the parking spot we were directed to and waited about 3 minutes.  Next thing we see is a lovely young lady with a huge smile coming up to our car window.  It was the McDonald's worker with our food.  She handed me the bag and said, "Are you doing the drive-thru challenge?  That is so cool!"  I mentioned how I thought this would be something fun for the boys and I for lunch.  We chatted on for a bit more,  then left and made our way home to see what all we had acquired for lunch.
Order - 2 bacon mcdoubles (no pickle) and 2 large non-fat iced caramel macchiatos.  Total $9.92

Grand total was $32.21


Some takeaways from doing this challenge.
1. You tend to pay more attention to the person in front of you than you normally would.  You start sizing them up in a way.  For instance, if it's a van you're hoping for lots of food, or if they drive a nice car you expect something expensive to be ordered.  So many variables.

2. It's fun to be able to get to know a stranger a little bit more by the food they order.

3. You have to have some serious give in the budget for the day you want to go out and do this.  I tend to be very thrifty getting some of the cheapest items I can at fast food, using coupons and/or getting something bigger and having the 3 boys and I share it.   In fact I usually don't spend more than $5-$8 for all of us.  Only one of our orders was somewhat inexpensive, but still more than I would pay per person.  I guess I was shocked at how much was spent at every place overall.  $32 could have gotten us much better food somewhere else.  But...this was supposed to be something different and a challenge.  So... it's all good for a one time thing.

4. No one ordered water - no one.  It was either soda of some kind or a sweetened coffee drink.

5. As in the words of my son's Kindergarten teacher; "You get what you get, so don't throw a fit."  While you may have something you always get at a particular restaurant, most of the world won't order what you do.  If you only like 1 menu item at a specific location, I would recommend you do not do a challenge there.  The odds of you getting exactly what you want are slim to none.


Thoughts from my boys.  
Eldest - The first thing he said when we arrived home was, "Wow, this is a lot of unhealthy food.  We are going to have diarrhea afterwards.".  Mmhmm, probably.  lol.  "I thought it was fun, we should do it again.  It was funny!  Thank goodness no one ordered a fish fillet."

Middle - "It was awesome. I actually liked all of the food.  I wouldn't say I would go back for the nachos or bean burger, but I'd go back for everything else though.  They were all still pretty good."

Youngest - "It was good.  All the food I was eating was yummy."  He didn't like the bean burger or the nachos but he tried it all like a champ.

Overall...
I'm glad we got out of the house for a bit today.  It was incredibly fun and kept us guessing.  Would I do this again; maybe.  Possibly different places where we are guaranteed to get healthier options.  I ate a couple bites of everything and was done.  My body said, "no way!".  I read years ago that when in any kind of relationship, doing "new" things together strengthens the relationship.  It's also thought that people who try new things and experiences are more likely to be happier people.

Psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University looked at 30,000 event memories and over 500 diaries, ranging from durations of 3 months to 4 years, and says that people who engage in a variety of experiences are more likely to retain positive emotions and minimize negative ones than people who have fewer experiences.”  

So there you go.  Even according to science this was a win for today.  

Have you tried this challenge before?  If so, how did it go?  

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