The in basket: My invitation last week for readers to explain
why smokers often have their car window half-way down, and why
people without children in their car willingly endure the
limitations of drive-up windows brought a lively response.
Two dozen readers weighed in on one or the other.
The in basket: My invitation last week for readers to explain why
smokers often have their car window half-way down, and why people
without children in their car willingly endure the limitations of
drive-up windows brought a lively response.
Two dozen readers weighed in on one or the other.
Today I’ll share their thoughts on drive-up windows and save their
thoughts on smokers for Friday.
The out basket: Stanley K. Stout, Nancy Briggs, Dennis Halstead,
Don Taylor and Ira and Sue Carr were among those who pointed out
what should have been obvious to me – physical disability makes
drive-up windows a valuable amenity for those for whom it hurts to
get in and out of the car.
Jo White wrote, “There are days I do not get dressed to go out or
want to cook. So I go to a drive-through for my lunch or dinner in
my PJs.”
Charlee Wilcox expanded on that thought. “Sometimes they aren’t
dressed for public viewing, they haven’t combed their hair, brushed
their teeth or are just too tired to get out of the car. Maybe a
hangover with red eyes and they smell like a dirty bar. The list
goes on and on..”
Kathi Trostad had lots of reasons. It’s unsafe in some parking lots
to back out of a parking spot to leave, notably the Bank of America
and post office in Silverdale. The drive-through spares her from
exposure to cigarette smoke and perfumes. She knows a foster mother
who couldn’t take her charges into a store because they stole.
Two others – Steve McDermott and Val Deacon – saw cigarettes as a
motivating factor for just the opposite reason. The driver doesn’t
want to put out his smoke to go inside, they suggested.
Nancy Briggs also says drive-up bank windows are safer. You don’t
have to expose yourself to robbery at an ATM. And they keep you out
of the weather if there’s a roof over the window.
Bryan Garrett says, “Lazy, that’s all it is, people are lazy and
the drive-thru facilitates our desire to minimize movement. With
the products mostly sold at drive thru’s and our energy output
reduction, our physical appearance reflects our choices…maybe that
is why I can’t see my feet.”
Don Taylor was clearly ambivalent. “Let’s not start a campaign to
discourage driving through,” he wrote. “That’ll cause longer lines
inside.
“If we have another gas crisis like ’79, the first thing to shut
down should be drive throughs,” he continued in the opposite
vein.
“What I want to know,” he concluded, “is what is so exceptional
about the coffee kiosk on Kitsap Way just east of the Taco Bell.
I’ve seen nine cars lined up there at 10 a.m. The last three were
waiting in the road.”
The Carrs (an appropriate name) added “Many years ago the bank in
Hadlock taught us to turn off the engine when at the drive-up
window to avoid asphyxiating the tellers and we still do that
automatically.”
Lastly, Jerry Harless invokes a reason NOT to use drive-thru
windows, taken from the movie “Lethal Weapon II,” in which Joe
Pesci exclaims, “Always walk up to the counter. You know why? They
know you’ll be miles away before you eat your food. They **** you
in the drive-through.”
