It’s gotten to the point you can leave home, run all your errands and pull back into the garage without ever getting out of the car. The other day I drove through Starbucks, the bank, the cleaners, the pharmacy, dropped mail in the big blue box, picked up a salad at Wendy’s and headed for home. I was at an oriental buffet recently and noticed they even had a drive thru. I couldn’t quite figure out how that would work.

Now there are even drive thru liquor stores, wedding chapels, and confessionals. I suppose if a person drinks too much and gets married he could ask for forgiveness from the convenience of his car. That’s a little disturbing. The one that bothers me most is the drive thru funeral home with the large viewing window. Honestly have people gotten that busy?

As convenient as the drive thru is, patience is required, especially at fast food restaurants. Even with the screen that shows the order, when you pull up to the second window you can end up with a cheeseburger, onion rings and a Sprite even though you ordered a chicken sandwich, fries and a Dr. Pepper. I used to pull over to a parking space to check my order. Now I stay at the window.

It seems I get behind a car full of people who have no idea what they want every time I decide to drive through Wendy’s or McDonald’s. It’s as if none of them have ever been there before. The driver usually ends up yelling at his passengers flailing his arms and talking with his hands to the little box as if the person taking the order will understand better.

I do enjoy driving through especially when it’s raining buckets, 100 degrees, or below freezing. Sometimes, though, walking in to a place of business and seeing people is part of the shopping experience. But, we Americans love convenience. When I Googled the drive thru, I found out it was pioneered in 1930 in the United States. Of course it was. We’ve always been on the cutting edge of finding ways to avoid getting out of our seats.