Now, Which One Was That?

"I HATE the way they have those windows set up at McDonalds, " I told my husband.

He looked up from the Solitaire game he was playing on the iPad and said, "Huh?"

"I mean, how confusing can they be," I complained.  "You place your order at the drive-up speaker and then they tell you to proceed to the first window."

"So what's the problem?" he asked.

"Well, what's the first window?" I replied.  "Technically, they have you stopping to pay at the second window."

He looked at me like I was nuts.  "No, they don't," he said, slowly and clearly like he was speaking to a two-year-old.  "You pay at the first window.  It's simple."

"But actually that's the second window because you pick up your food at the first window.  The first window is at the head of the line and the second window is behind it," I explained.  "If they really wanted to be clear, they'd say 'Proceed to the first window you come to' and then there would be no confusion."

My husband shook his head.  "You're the only one who thinks like this," he said.

"Think about it," I countered.  "If you wanted to be first for something, would you want to be at the beginning of the line or at the end of the line?"

"At the beginning of the line, of course," he answered.

"So if you're in a line of cars pulling up to two windows, the first window you come to is actually the second window along the wall because the first window is the one after it, at the head of the line.You've got a whole line of cars who have to get past the intermediate window in order to get to the 'prize' window (the FIRST window) to get their food, right?" I told him.

He stared at me.  "I swear I don't know how your mind works.  Nobody else comes up with this stuff," he said.

Today I stopped at McDonalds to get a cup of their specialty coffee.  I drove through the drive-in area, placed my order, and the clerk told me to drive up to the first window.

"OK, I can do this," I thought.  "I'll stop at the second window and get it right this time."
I drove up to the window but no one was standing there.  "Aha," I thought.  "They finally got it right."
I started to drive up to the next window but some frantic motioning from the other window stopped me.  A clerk was leaning out the window, beckoning me to come back to pay.

So I put the car in reverse, backed up and gave her my money.  I toyed with the idea of going inside and telling the manager how they needed to change their instructions OR change the signage on their windows but I was too embarrassed to take the time.  I had forgotten that I still had the car in reverse when I gave it the gas to continue on to the FIRST window to get my coffee and nearly gave the guy behind me (and myself) a heart attack.