Boswells Coffee Co

So what is it, these past two years that has so bugged me about take-​away in the UK? Basically that (apart from chip shops), it almost universally misses the entire point of having take-​away: speed.
I do not walk up to the take-​away counter thinking to myself, «I should most like to stand in line for a quarter of an hour and then order my food.»
Nor do I wake in the morning aspiring to watch a counter-​jockey being forced to hustle around in a poorly designed lay-​out of a kitchen, walking nearly a ¼ mile to finally get around to preparing my relatively simple order of a toasty, chips, and a smoothie.
Is this backward form of take-​away just pandering to the British mentality? Is «Queueing» so enshrined in the cultural subconscious that a take-​away experience is looked upon with resentment (albeit surfacing in an almost undetectable fashion from the British take-​away patron’s id) if not accompanied with at least 10 minutes of queueing?
Whatever the answers to those questions, I’m grateful to Boswell’s Café for finally making clear to me that lack of speed is the system-​wide flaw in take-​away Britain.
A toastie, chips, and smoothie should be take-​away staples. These should be able to be put together with speed and aplumb by the kindly counter-​person helping to get me food.
And yet I watched the poor solo take-​away counter lady be forced to rush around with each new order, and make it all herself, walking clear across the rather large restaurant for some items, while we, the patrons, patiently waited for her to cook each item herself, and then bag them and take our payment, serving to draw out what should have been a short queue of 3 – 4 people to a 20 minute wait between getting in line and finally walking out the door. If dining experiences were bad run-​on sentences, Boswell’s would be the worst.
All the while, the eat-​in patrons where happily filing through the cafeteria line, picking up their food, and being served by the four people servicing that part of the restaurant.
The toasty was poor, the chips were fair, the smoothie was good, but when I sat on a bench in the commons to eat my food, I looked up, only to be greeted by the site of some Boswell’s eat-​in patrons who came in the restaurant after me. They had already finished their meal and were on their way.
Who knew that eat-​in was Queen’s English for «fast food.»
(Apologies to Boswell’s Havant, where I accidentally originally posted this to…)