When I grew up there was, to me, no such thing as a drive in much less a fast food business.
The nearest thing to such was Clyde Hatch’s hot dog stand on East Main Street near where King’s Pizza is currently located. And you walked in to be served. But during my early teen years, after WWII, there appeared, to my knowledge, the first in Dillon of what might have been called a drive in. It was located on US301 North where Wells Fargo is now located. I do not recall the name, but the typical fare consisted of the usual ‘fast food’ hot dogs (mostly) but the majority of the business was ice cream. There may have been hamburgers on the menu but perhaps they did not reach mass popularity until McDonald’s created the revolution we know and enjoy today.
But the evolved drive in business was a slight variation of the pioneer business when you exited the car to place an order. Generally ,one then drove in, parked and placed an order either via a two way PA system or a ‘car hop’ came (some on roller skates) to the car (driver’s window) to take the order. Shortly afterwards the order would be delivered by the attendant. The point was you did not have to leave the car thus a drive in. The menu options were minimal by comparison to today’s system where the choices might be staggeringly complex. Today it’s always wise when you drive in to order at a popular fast food business that you know ahead of time what you want since there is probably (always?) someone immediately behind you in a big hurry. This is the story of someone who went to place his drive thru order for his first time in 50 years.
The wife, also a senior citizen but one familiar with the drive in system, convinced her equally senior husband, long ago retired, that it would be nice if he go to the local fast food drive in and get an ice cream dessert, a frozen concoction both enjoyed. He grumbled at the thought, but his excuses were unheard so off he went to enter the modern world of placing his first 21st century order.
He knew exactly what we wanted but when he entered the driveway to place his order, he was slightly confused by the array of messages he faced plus the rather insistent voice coming to him requesting his order. Meantime when this was going on, he remembered that he would need to pay for the order so before he completed the transaction, he fumbled trying to gather the necessary funds to pay for the order.
The driver behind was not understanding and expressed his feelings by racing the motor of his car.
By now the customer wondered what was next. How would he receive the order? He recalled in his first encounter decades earlier with the drive in system when someone simply took the order and brought it to the car. So having dutifully placed the order, he did what he thought was in order. Instead of driving to the next station, he simply pulled over to the parking area and waited and waited. No one came with his order so, disgusted with the poor service he left as a unhappy customer whose order was not filled.
Back home but without the ice cream, he had some little difficulty explaining to his wife about the lack of the order and the unsatisfactory service at the local drive in.
The next time her urge for ice cream came, it was she he insisted who would try her luck getting better service than he had experienced.
She did not try to explain.
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Bill Lee
P.O. Box 128
Hamer, SC 29547
