If you’ve found yourself feeling frazzled and frustrated trying to order from the ever-changing digital menus at fast food drive-thrus, you’re not alone. One fed-up Tim Hortons customer is calling out this aggravating trend, and her rant is striking a major chord.
“Can we bring back static menus aka just the menu?” asks TikTok creator @douceydouce1, who’s based in British Columbia. “I am tired of going up to the thing and it’s like a PowerPoint presentation with ads.”
She goes on to explain the maddening experience of trying to place an order when the menu keeps shifting and morphing before your eyes. “I don’t need the ads. I’m already here at your store to buy food,” she says.
@douceydouce1 Bring back normal menus!! 😭 @Tim Hortons #timhortons #fastfood
The real problem, she points out, is that these flashy digital displays can actually slow down drive-thru times. “They want you to hurry up because obviously, you’re in a drive-thru, so they want you to be fast and you want to be fast, but the menu keeps changing because you don’t have the whole menu memorized.”
Instead of feeling empowered by all the options, the creator says she ends up “panicking” and feeling “under pressure” to make a quick decision before the menu rotates again. “I’m trying to decide, trying to read the menu, but it keeps changing,” she laments.
And it’s not just Tim Hortons – the creator notes that this problematic trend has spread to other fast food chains as well. In fact, there was even buzz earlier this year about Wendy’s potentially using these digital boards for “surge pricing” to hike up menu prices during busy times.
Commenters seemed to overwhelmingly agree with the creator’s frustrations, with one joking, “I love to tell them, ‘I need a minute for the menu to come around again’ and purposely take as long as I want.”
Another observed, “Tim’s is the worst. Their menus don’t reflect what they even have! Some places don’t offer certain items but they’re on the board!!!”
So if you find yourself repeatedly stumped by the ever-evolving digital fast food menus, take solace in the fact that you’re not alone. This customer’s rant has clearly struck a nerve – and maybe it’ll inspire those chains to bring back the good old-fashioned static menu board.
