i’m a 4ish month old green bean, so i’m only a little more comfortable than you are. i had shitty training. besides the point. dto, especially solo dto&dtr, is very stressful. the headsets aren’t the greatest and i definitely understand with the cars driving by. usually when that happens to me, i’ll just stop talking until the vehicle is past and say “i’m sorry could i have you repeat that? whatever just drove by was really loud”. other things i say when i can’t hear on dto:
a quick “im sorry?” usually does the trick once, followed by an “ahh okay”
“sorry could i have you repeat that? im having trouble hearing you”
“im so sorry could you repeat your order? im having a little trouble hearing you”

the best thing you can do for asshole customers is just to stay on script. might piss them off more, but we don’t get paid enough to deal with it. someone makes a snarky comment through dto i just say “alrighty is that going to be all for you today?” and it forces them to either pull forward or continue ordering.
i was doing mobile bar a couple weeks ago and this lady came to ask me about her drink, yelled at me because my store has a fly problem and apparently she saw a bee in the cafe and it was my fault? lady i’m 17 get off my ass. i said back to her “okay. what was the name on your order?”

I’m six years in and I still can’t hear people or find the right button half the time 🤷🏼‍♀️

It gets better though! You develop the ability to somehow regurgitate their order without listening at all. Sometimes I’ll repeat something back and still not process it and have no idea what I just said or what their order is 😁

\-I always ask people to wait when something especially loud is happening, and explaining to them why after.


\-Asking loud vehicles to cut their engines

\-I do prep while talking to people. Like, I'm usually pouring inclusions while asking what size they wanted their drink.

Good luck!

Training happens differently at some stores, I'm sorry they tossed you on DTO like that. I'm also at a DT 10 feet from a 6 lane highway. At the end of the day, it's just coffee. If they're rude or in a rush, that's their behavioral issue, not on us. Don't let them stress you out.

Anyone gets upset we can't hear them in DTO, you can tell them "Hey, the road just really loud and I can't hear you very well. A little louder?"

Or if they're really rude, "Your car is a little loud, I can't hear over it. Can you say that a little louder?"

When they get to the actual window, you can say it again, or blame the headsets. Point at it and say "These things are terrible, I can barely hear anything!"

In every case, be polite. I know customers really get on our nerves sometimes, but the better service we offer, the faster they go away.

sorry they put you alone for your first day! just do your best, you'll get the hang of it.

you know what food items you need better than anyone in the store because you can look up at the order screen, so if this car needs a cake pop and next car needs a sandwich you can go start the sandwich, bring cake pop back, send car off and get the sandwich by the time the next car is pulling up. or if two cars from now needs a banana bread, go ahead and start it while you start greeting the next customer to order -- and slow it down so that by the time you get to "what can we get for you today," you're already walking back to the registers.

you'll also start to understand orders from just a word or a syllable after months working here. this comes with experience. for now, just do your best.

Umm i dont have any tips bc i used to work in fast food so i learned the pos fast and the way its designed just makes sense to me. My only advise would be to set at YOUR pace bc ur soloing. Dont let anyone make u feel bad for asking to repeat or make u feel rushed! Just mention ur training and ppl understand. I still dont know where some random things are. Maybe ask if u can take some extra time to go over it!