Drive-thrus are staples of the fast-food industry. As such, customers generally expect them to be fast. But sometimes long delays can happen that are well outside of the workers’ control.
One Wisconsin man found that out over a Taco Bell intercom.
‘And yes, it’s going to be an hour wait’
A Wisconsin content creator (@steenie0911) shares footage her husband recorded at a Taco Bell drive-thru. The video has more than 181,000 views.
At the beginning of the video, her husband tries to discuss an unusually long wait time over the intercom. An employee answers, “Yes sir, there’s only two of us in the store right now. And yes, it’s going to be an hour wait.”
“It’s a one-hour wait for tacos?” the husband asks. The worker reiterates, “Yes sir, [there are] only two of us in the store. We are short-staffed.”
The husband points out that nobody else is in the drive-thru. He asks if Taco Bell could still make his order since “it won’t be that big.”
“Yes, sir. Give us one minute, please,” the worker responds. “I never said we couldn’t take the order … [The hour wait is] for everybody’s orders, not just yours … We’ll make the order.”
The creator’s caption reads, “If you can’t make a drive-thru order. Why have it open?”
Viewers largely came to the workers’ defense in the creator’s comment section, with one person saying, “Don’t be rude, don’t you hear he bout to cry!!!”
“Man, I wish everyone would just work retail at least once in their life for a year,” one commented. “Just to understand situations like this.”
But the creator seemed to think something wasn’t adding up.
“By two people he means there’s one person on the line and one person … taking orders,” a viewer said. The creator replied, “At that point, close.”
“Don’t you think if he had that option he would have?” another viewer pushed back in reply. “You heard him the first time you should have decided then if you were gonna order or not and there not continued to ask so you can record and post it online. [There are] other fast food restaurants.”
A fourth viewer said, “That Taco Bell has been short staffed for years now. I don’t understand how they are still open.”
Is Taco Bell really short-staffed?
Staffing problems are well documented across the fast-food industry, though things appear to be getting better. FSR Magazine reported earlier this year that “after years of labor shortages, the restaurant industry is now at a point in which staffing levels are improving.”
According to the magazine, a National Restaurant Association report found 22% of operators were understaffed in 2025, down from 78% a few years earlier. Still, 62% called recruiting and retaining employees a significant challenge, and turnover averaged more than 120% a year.
Taco Bell is no exception. Restaurant Business reported during the 2022 omicron surge that Taco Bell CEO Mark King described “little spikes” in shortened hours and closed dining rooms. The article said McDonald’s restaurants were open about 10% fewer hours because of staffing, and that fast-food chains were leaning on drive-thrus, which bring in most of their business.
A 2023 HungerRush survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers found that 36% thought major chains were most affected by shortages. Thirty-three percent named longer waits for food as a pressing problem.
As for who decides to close, industry standards appear to point to operators rather than line workers. Restaurant Business attributed decisions on hours and closures to individual operators and chain leadership.
@steenie0911
Subplot News reached out to the creator via TikTok comment, as well as Taco Bell via email.
