Sonic is a pretty great place. It's convenient for the customer- all you have to do is park, press a button, order, and your food comes out to you shortly after! Working at Sonic is fun, but can become very overwhelming very quickly, especially when you're a carhop. Our number one job is customer service, which can be hard because sometimes customers can be a little ~difficult~, to put it politely. Here are some secrets to making your visit awesome for both you and the Sonic employees!
How To Order
Step one- ordering your food! Please make sure you know what you want to get before you press the red button. Many Sonic locations don't have employees whose sole jobs are to take orders. We're all multitasking to take orders, make food and drinks, and get the orders out to customers. If you don't know what you want, please save us all time and wait until you have your order finalized. It helps us to get your food out to you faster! Also, if someone in your party has an allergy, let us know so we can prepare food accordingly.
When you do call in, please turn down the music in your car. I can't count how many times I haven't been able to hear a customer due to music or people riding shotgun. This helps us to get your order out quickly and accurately- you wouln't want to send back an incorrect order that was incorrect because we couldn't hear you due to music that was too loud! Also, make sure you speak up and speak clearly, as sometimes there is feedback in the microphone system that makes it difficult to understand what you're saying. Additionally, only the person in the driver's seat should order, as it is very hard to hear those in the backseat when they're trying to order. Please be patient, as we really are trying our best to hear you accurately.
Finally, when your order is complete, and the person taking your order asks you if everything looks correct on your scren, PLEASE look over everything to ensure that your order is accurate. So many people will say it looks correct, then when the food is delivered, they will say their order is incorrect. Don't just say it's correct when you haven't looked over the screen. It saves us all time in the long run if you correct your order before it goes into the system and the carhops have to run back in side to fix what should have been a correct order.
General Etiquette
If you have children, PLEASE do not let them run around the patio or the parking lot. We don't want anybody getting hurt, and when they run around there could be a collision with another customer, a carhop, a structure on the patio, or (I hope this never happens) a car. Also, please make sure your children don't press the button if they're not going to order. It's distracting for us and it wastes our time when we have to answer the speaker, realize it wasn't an actual order, then cancel the order.
There are "No Smoking" signs out for a reason. Keep your cigarettes, Juuls, vapes, whatever you have in your car. Many of our employees and customers are non-smokers, and even if they do smoke, it's annoying when the air constantly smells like cigarettes, and its extremely disrespectful when smoke gets blown in your face. Even when you're ordering in your car, wait until after you get your food to light up a cigarette. I am personally a non-smoker, and I really hate it when people blow smoke in my face or have their lit cigarette in hand when they give me money. You never know when your carhop is a non-smoker or has allergies or asthma, so be respectful and wait until you leave the restaurant to smoke.
Make sure you keep the volume down! If you were in a sit-down restaurant, you wouldn't blast your music from your phone or a speaker, would you? When your music is too loud, it makes it hard to hear other people when they order, which in turn can lead to us messing up an order. Just don't blast the music, and on the patio, please don't scream or yell. When we take orders out to the patio and we're trying to match the food to the customer, it's much harder when everyone is yelling and nobody can hear anyone. Also, please turn your headlights off. The patio and walkways are well lit and there's no reason to leave your lights on.
Please don't hang around for hours after you order. We're happy to have you here, but we also need to keep parking spaces open for other customers.
When you leave, don't race out of the lot! It's extremely dangerous to do so. There are carhops crossing the lot to go to cars, there are people getting in and out of cars, and a kid could be on the loose. Parking lots are one of the worst places to brake the speed limit. The Sonic parking lot is not where the next NASCAR race will happen, and you could hurt yourself or others.
When You Get Your Food
Yay! Your food is finally here! Your carhop has arrived and is reading the items off of the receipt. While we do, please don't grab food off of the tray! You'll get your food, we just have to read your receipt to make sure the order is correct. Unless we hand something to you or ask if you can hold something, please don't grab your stuff until we hand it to you!
If something is wrong about your order, let us know, and we will try to fix it! However, don't be rude. Carhops will sometimes make drinks if the other fountain workers are completely overwhelmed, but usually, we're not the ones who make your food or drinks. Don't take your anger out on us. If we mess up, we'll fix your order. There's no reason to explode if your order is wrong. It's just food, it's definitely not the end of the world, and we all make mistakes sometimes.
Please please PLEASE DON'T HIT ON US! It's really obnoxious when we're trying to do our jobs and we get creepy comments. We're here to work, not to get hit on. We can't give out personal information on the clock. And it's important to remember that many carhops aren't 18 yet, so not only is it creepy and distracting to us, but there's a good chance that you're flirting with a minor. If you think your carhop is flirting with you, there's a good chance that she (or he!) isn't actually flirting, but just trying to be friendly, funny, and polite to provide good service. Save the flirting for someone who isn't on the job.
If you need any extra napkins, ketchup, or condiments, please let us know what you need all at once. It'll help you get all of your stuff ready faster, and it saves us from running back and forth from the store to your stall.
Please don't dine and dash. If you drive off without paying, it always comes out of the carhop's tips, which we depend on to make money. It's stealing, and it's also a terrible thing to do.
And finally, please remember to tip your carhop! We don't make minimum wage (I make $4 an hour), so we depend on tips to make our money. Unless your carhop was actually extremely rude or provided awful service, please tip us. Sure, it would be nice if we made minimum wage, but that would likely drive up food prices for you and even if we did make minimum, it would still be polite to tip. Don't have cash? If your store doesn't have card tips, ask your carhop if he or she has Venmo. We work super hard to ensure customer satisfaction, and we are always multitasking (cleaning, preparing trays, sometimes making drinks, etc), so be sure to tip!
I know this seems like a lot of information, but most of it is common sense! Sonic prides itself on providing excellent customer service and delicious food. By remembering these tips, you'll make your next Sonic run awesome for you and all of the employees!
