Waiting at the drive-through drives me nuts

LOOK. I UNDERSTAND we have huge and pressing issues in our world. My neighbor just got arrested for robbing a local sandwich shop. We can't come up with a budget compromise for Illinois - my suggestion to trade Chicago for Montana has fallen on deaf ears. We have unrest in the Middle East, Russians are hacking our elections and sailing off our shores, and don't even get me started about massacres in Sweden and trips to Florida costing us gazillions.

But really, here's the massive issue facing us today, and it dwarfs all our other problems. Namely, why do young people in big pickup trucks decided to unload five years of change at the bank drive-through?

Open drive-through lanes are beautiful things.

I prefer to go into the bank most of the time, especially if Angus or Tucker is with me, because the employees love the dogs and they get treats. One time I even got a sweet State Street Bank sippy cup. It literally pays to go into the bank and get great personal service.

But there are times when we are going to the store that we use the drive-through. It's just more convenient. We stick the deposit in the tube thingy, and two minutes later we have a receipt and more treats for the dogs.

This morning, all three lanes had vehicles in them. So picked the lane with only one vehicle. Unfortunately, it was a massive Ford F-150 about the size of the WCU Building. I waited. And waited. And waited. The other two lanes emptied out. The fumes from the truck started to make my head spin, and I don't need any extra help. So I backed up and swung into an open lane, next to the pickup truck.

The young guy behind the wheel never looked up. That's because he was tapping on his phone. You can get a lot of bidness done while waiting at the bank drive-through, you know. Or win at Minecraft. They are both important. He got done at the same time I did, and I saw the teller give him a blue bank bag.

In other words, this guy was probably putting a week's worth of deposits and business into various accounts.

I'm not very good at waiting, so it's probably my fault for growing impatient.

But here's a little drive-through etiquette for you, if you are able to get out of your vehicle and like to socialize. If you want to open up a checking account, see how much you owe on your mortgage or want to take out a loan, go inside. If you have a massive deposit and it will take the teller a while to go through everything, go inside. If you want to shoot the breeze and talk about the weather, go inside.

You might even get a treat for your trouble.