No such thing as Fast Food
I’ll start by admitting my patience is a bit shorter than it really needs to be. Extending it has been something I’ve been focusing on. Sure, I have moments where it lapses but two steps forward, one step back still keeps me moving in the right direction. I just believe if there’s something you want, why wait! Go get it NOW! Hence, my current and active progress towards patience. There has however been a dragon I’ve struggled to slay in my life and its presence has been felt more often as of late.
Fast food establishments have several expectations that have been put on them.
Food should be cheap
24/7 accessibility
Consistent taste
Variety of options
Fast & Convenient
And this brings us to my demon.
As I continue to fight for more patience, my recent “fast” food endeavors have left me questioning if this quest is something I’m capable of achieving.
I had just wrapped up a 4-hour Red Cross Bootcamp Training exercise which managed to leave me quite hungry. With little energy remaining, I made the choice to swing by a Taco Bell. Swings get boring quickly, and I was stuck on it for far too long.
40 minutes.
Explain how a fast-food restaurant takes 40 minutes to prepare a meal.
I understand places get busy and staff can be light but 40 minutes for fast food is just unacceptable. Not when the cost has skyrocketed to the price of a meal at a high-quality sit-down restaurant. This is no longer a trade-off between cost, quality, and speed. The price has soared, the convenience has vanished, and the efficiency has crumbled. So, what exactly is the appeal of fast food anymore?
This frustration isn’t new. Back in the summer, working at Licks, we debated this all the time. We’d rant about the absurdity of Culver’s and McDonald’s sending drive-thru customers to a parking stall with a number, transforming a once-speedy experience into an extended waiting game. The whole point of a drive-thru was to keep things moving—order, pay, grab, go. Now, it’s like entering a holding pattern at an airport.
And after all that waiting, you still risk getting home with the wrong order.