What are the ethics of a fast food drive through lane?

If you don’t eat fast food or you don’t use drive-though lanes, spare us.

This morning on the way back from the hardware store, I stopped at a fast food place for coffee and a croissant. You place your order at a microphone on the side of the buildings, then make the turn and are in the pickup line. Distance from the microphone to pickup window is probably 75–80 feet.

I placed my order as usual, then made the left turn. There was a grey pickup truck in front of me, at the window. I was second in line behind him.

I waited. And waited. And waited. After more than five minutes of waiting – I was looking at my clock – I bailed. I pulled out of the line onto the driveway, left the store. Hungry, but time was ticking…

Clearly I cost the store in the sense that (maybe) they had prepared the food for me; and now they were going to toss it.

On the other hand, there’s sort of a social contract that ‘fast food’ implies ‘fast’, not sit back for a while and twiddle your thumbs.

Did I act unethically by pulling out of line and abandoning my unpaid order?