Wendy's — Restaurant in Pasadena

It's ok. Nothing wrong with 3 stars. This is one of those places that asks you to pull up to the second window and then as soon as you get to the second window they ask you to pull up a little bit further so that it doesn't affect the timer on their mechanism. Doesn't matter if there's nobody behind you. Solid three stars. They do this at Jack in the box Even at McDonald's.

Why the Drive-Thru Timer Hack is a Bad Practice That Hurts Everyone

In the world of fast food, efficiency is king. Chains like McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, and countless others use drive-thru timers to track the speed of service. The idea is simple: measure how long it takes for a car to move from placing an order to picking up their food, and ensure it stays within a set time. On paper, this system promotes quick service and happy customers. However, in practice, it’s become a flawed, frustrating game of manipulation that benefits no one—not the customer, not the employee, and certainly not the company.

The Customer’s Experience: Annoyance and Inconvenience

Imagine this: you pull up to the second window, ready to grab your order and go. But instead of handing you your food, the employee asks you to pull up a little further or park in a designated spot. Why? Because your order isn’t ready yet, and they need to stop the timer.

As a customer, this practice is irritating for several reasons:

It feels dishonest: You’re essentially being moved around as part of a scheme to make the service time look faster than it actually is. This doesn’t save you time—it just shifts the waiting to another spot.

It’s inconvenient: If you’re asked to park and wait, it can disrupt your schedule. Worse, it creates confusion about where and when you’ll receive your order.

It’s unnecessary when the drive-thru isn’t busy: If there’s no one behind you, why make you move at all? It’s a meaningless request that adds no value to the customer experience. The Employee’s Perspective: Stress and Awkwardness

For employees, this practice creates unnecessary pressure. They are essentially forced to lie to the system to meet unrealistic goals, even when there’s no benefit to doing so. It puts workers in the awkward position of:

Making odd requests to customers, which often leads to complaints or annoyed looks.

Feeling like they’re participating in a “numbers game” rather than focusing on genuine customer service.

Facing scrutiny from management if the timer metrics don’t improve, even though the timer itself doesn’t account for real-world challenges like large orders or short staffing.

This pressure only adds to the stress of an already fast-paced and demanding job.

The Company’s Perspective: Faulty Data and Bad Decisions

From the company’s point of view, this practice creates a major problem: bad data. When employees manipulate the timer, it doesn’t reflect the actual service time. Management is left with skewed metrics, leading to poor decision-making:

Misguided changes: If the data suggests that drive-thru times are meeting targets, corporate might ignore deeper issues like staffing shortages, broken equipment, or inefficient workflows.

Customer dissatisfaction: Instead of focusing on what really matters—accurate, timely service—companies prioritize meaningless metrics, driving away loyal customers who are tired of being treated like pawns in a numbers game.

Employee morale: Employees are demotivated when they realize they’re judged on a system that doesn’t reflect reality. High turnover is the natural outcome.

A Lose-All-Around Situation

This timer-hacking practice is a textbook example of a system that fails everyone involved. Customers leave annoyed, employees feel foolish, and companies end up relying on faulty data to make critical decisions. What could have been a tool for improvement has become a superficial metric that erodes trust and efficiency.

The solution? Companies need to ditch the timer as the sole measure of success &...

After working a long hard day I was very tired, I did not want to go home and cook so I decided to stop by this location to pick up my dinner, as I walked in to the restaurant to place my order in person, I was greeted with a welcome and a smile by Sarah one of the employees there, she was very professional and courteous and very helpful in helping me to decide what to eat, she recommended the bourbon bacon burger which I'm glad she did, it was the most favorable and delicious burger I've ever had, she told me to pair it with an Ice cold lemonade and a nice cold frosty to finish it off, Ithe service was fast and my order was accurate, she handed me my order with a beautiful smile and told me to have a great rest of my day, I will definitely return to this location and hope that Sarah is there to take my order once again, this has been one of the best dining experiences I've had In a...

I come here a lot it’s always clean and svs be fast my only problem is the food don’t be fresh the fries be dark gold fresh fries are light gold or the grease must not be clean over all the place is kept nice the food can be fresher within appearance and taste I worked food svs hospitality for 12 yrs I can taste the difference the fries be old tasting like they set up but over they need to just work on fresher food taste and appearance somebody had to say it then I’m looking at the reviews others are saying the same thing the food be cold and not fresh stop calling the managers and corporate it’s not working cause judging the comments this is an on going problem instead call the health department on they behinds cause every time I come here it’s something not fresh or taste like it set up all day, they better get it together they lucky Marvin Zinder not alive to...