I didn't want to write another restaurant review, like, ever. But every time I go to one of my local fast food places, I have nearly the same experience at each one. Tonight, I was frustrated enough to specifically want to "Tell The Bell", but of course I didn't get a receipt, and without the store number I can't actually go submit a satisfaction survey. I'm Yelping because I've got to put this somewhere it might be seen by a reputation-minded manager.
I've lived in this tiny corner of the place where Kettering, Moraine, Dayton and Oakwood meet for now 20 years. Until just last year (if memory serves), our Taco Bell was this dinky little job in an awful lopsided parking lot on a great big business block on a major boulevard (Kettering Blvd going North into Dayton / S. Dixie going south into Moraine). Going through the drive-thru felt like a risk to your auto, the parking lot sucked, the restaurant itself was tiny and a little gross, and you had to drive through more sucky parking lot if you wanted to go North, vs making a frightening turn to exit Southward as incoming cars were coming in from that road. It was a nightmare of left-turns. It was juuuust competent enough, though, so we went there for years and years.
Last year (or the year before) it was closed and just a short while later, they began building an entirely new one on a more accessible side of the street. The construction seemed to take forever, but once it was open, everything was great. The parking lot was good, the inside was big and clean, and the tacos were always crispy (or soft, depending on what your taco was supposed to be). They even had late hours, practically the only fast food joint around here that did these days. And that lasted for all of about 6 weeks. Then it dropped down to the sub-Grand-Opening level of "yeah, we're still Taco Bell, this isn't special and neither are you." And that's fine, that's what fast food is. No one likes it, not the customer or the employees, but we all participate because it's convenient for the moment.
Sometime over this past year, though (just like the nearby McDonald's and somewhat close Burger King and Chipotle which are over on Brown), it seemed like all the urgency had gone from the staff. For the last, I don't know, 6 months maybe, things have been largely the same: if you want a fast-enough experience in the drive-thru, you have to be the only one in said drive-thru. If there is a line, you are guaranteed to wait between 5 and 20 minutes, usually tending toward the latter.
According to the texts on my phone, I had been waiting about 10 minutes when I texted my room mate about the speed of fast food in the area, a subject on which we agree with each other vocally as a means to relieve stress. 7 minutes later by the messages' timestamps, I was one car away from getting to the window. At this point one car had passed by the drive-thru thinking better of it and one car waiting at the end of the line had driven off out of impatience as well.4 minutes later, my room mate replied, and it was shortly after that when I pulled off.
I want to point out about my specific visit tonight that the girl at the window was, apparently, training. I'd never seen her before and she seemed entirely overwhelmed by the circumstances of learn-by-doing fast food training. I would probably have broken down in stress in her position. I'm not faulting her. Or, I guess I am by writing this, and I feel bad about it, but my complaint is really not about tonight, but about the fact that this sort of wait is entirely typical at this Taco Bell. This is the first new face I've seen at the window in a few months, so it can't be that every single time I go, they're training someone new. They just seem, in many cases, to be taking their sweet time.
I don't know what sort of lethargy has invaded every fast food restaurant in the near-to-Carillon area, but it's not just Taco Bell. That doesn't really make it okay, though. I don't need them breaking their backs; it's a low-paying and monotonous job. But I'm trying to spend 4 dollars on tacos or taco-like foods, and it's just absurd to have to wait so, so long every single time. I'm sure the workers are all of them lovely people, but...just, jeezey pete... read more