My Thoughts for February 22, 2015

You’re going to love this one.  Yesterday this ole curmudgeon actually made a date with the wife to go to lunch together.  I was excited (she said yes), she was excited and off we went both babbling like it was our first date.  Wow!  When we got to the restaurant we decided to eat in the bar section; less noise and no crying kids.  I know that sounds a bit cold but after driving school bus and a hundred kids twice a day it feels relaxing to sit in a kid free area. 

As we sat down I notice what appeared to me a tablet propped up on the table.  I took notice of it because I thought someone probably had too margaritas and left their electronic brain behind. Intoxicated people are noted for that. Wrong! All the tables had these tablets. The tablets turned out to be the first step in replacing waitpersons with technology.  Yep. Couldn’t believe it, the day finally arrived.  I love technology but I don’t like the fact that big business is using it to reduce their labor cost.  That’s exactly what this device is going to do.

I had a friend tell me that McDonalds is testing kiosk ordering back east somewhere.  At those locations, when a customer walks into the restaurant to order there is no smiling young person to take their order.  Instead, the counterpersons are being replaced by these kiosk ordering machines.  How fun, a machine welcoming you in a synthetic voice; oh, joy! One has to stand there and figure out what buttons to push. Then you will have to stand there and decide how to pay.  For your efforts, you will get a tinny, “thank you,” and if you do everything exactly right a tray will come shooting down a ramp and a loud speaker voice will yell your number. 

When I was young, working at a restaurant was an entry level job.  I can remember youthful teens with big smiles, energetic can-do attitudes, learning what it means to have a job.  These waitperson jobs were and still are the training grounds for many successful youths who go on to become business and community leaders.  But now these jobs are being threatened with digital voices, glowing screens, and buttons that do God knows what.  Plus, the warm, fuzzy feeling of having a charming waitperson take your order will be replaced by an indifferent machine that will blame you for any mistakes.

Come on restaurant people, wake-up, smell the roses and keep those people working.  We need entry level jobs, it’s where our children learn work, gain experience, and achieve self-confidence.  It’s also the place where people who aren’t interested college can find a career.   I don’t want to go into a restaurant and have to start pushing a bunch of buttons.  I want to go into a restaurant and be greeted by a human being that is well-trained, warm and appreciates our being there.  Appleby’s please know as you phrase these machines in, you will phrase out curmudgeons like myself, your stockholders be damned.