[psmith2.0]

I honestly don't know which is worse...dealing with marble-mouthed, surly and unhelpful fast-food employees. Or not.

Didn't get together with Mom today for our usual Sunday lunch/hang out, so around 5:30pm, I swung by Taco Bell for the first time in probably 7-8 months (was craving a burrito). I walked in, and gone were the nice, earthy colors and decor that it was the last time I visited, last summer. For a fast-food place, it looked quite nice...comfy tables, stone work, nice paint/colors (like a Mexican Panera..."upscale" fast-food, which all the joints have gone to, trying to look like Panera or Starbucks, dropping all the gaudy circus colors, cartoon mascots, etc. This Taco Bell is now grey, white and black and looks like what I imagine the break-room/cafeteria to GEICO or Wells Fargo looking like. No color, no playfulness or cool decor, color, etc. Looked like something out of Office Space, honestly. "Yeahhhhh, I'm gonna need that hot sauce in an hour, mmm-kay?"

Anyway, in addition to the decor change, I noticed the three employees behind the counter just promptly ignoring the shit out of me. A woman who came in behind me started using this big touch-screen kiosk thing. I whispered "are we using this now, vs. humans taking your order" and she said "yeah..." and rolled her eyes, signifying that she was with me on this (I hate that kind of stuff...I didn't fill out an application to work a fast-food shift OR a grocery checkout line. YOU take my order and ring my groceries up and bag them for me, that's how it works.

Anyway, she gets done and I proceed to order my bean burrito and small Dr. Pepper. Everything you touched, brought up a related screen where you could make choices (extra this, hold/light that and all sorts of scrolling customizations). When I was trying to order mine, I kept encountering additional screens, and, doing the quick math, I knew it would just take me forever, despite being an iPhone owner since July 2017 and well versed in how touch-based selecting/scrolling works, it was still just a cumbersome, goofy interface that I didn't want to wrestle with for 10-15 minutes. I asked the kid behind the counter "can you just take my order? It's very simple and you're standing right there...I don't wanna be screwing around with this touch-screen until 9pm, and, at the rate I'm going, it's looking like I might. I'm hungry!" He chuckled (surely mentally calling me every variant of "Boomer" he muster) and said "I'm sorry, sir, we're not allowed to do that."

So, ordering a simple thing took me endless clicking/scrolilng, then the little card slider attached decided to show its ass and not work and so I had to pay a human anyway. The whole thing was just stupid. I told both the woman before me and the employee "there's no way this is more efficient and helpful, at least to the customers. It's Sunday afternoon and nobody's here. How much of a zoo does this turn into during the weekday lunch rush, or a Friday/Saturday night teen-fest outing. The woman smiled and said "no kidding! This is a sad joke of tech!" and the employee just shrugged, wanting my "Boomer" ass gone.

There's no way this setup is going to go smooth and easy on a crowded, hectic day. It was a flaming pain-in-the-balls today with just me and church MILF (updo, dress, hose and heels) in the dining room. I don't know if this is a nationwide switchover, but I assume it is. In any case, any Taco Bell fans here, be prepared for a slight wait/learning curve the next time you make a run to the border (followed by the one to the toilet this place always triggers).

All the burger-flippers and counter-help demanding $15/hour...you just got replaced by a big iPhone on a mounting bracket. There looked to be a much smaller crew in the back, building the food, as well. So I don't think anyone, customers included, got what they wanted from all this forward-thinking change. It's weird to go into a fast-food place and have no interaction with dead-eyed teenagers who hate your guts for merely waking up today and not being one of their buddies or classmates, or sharing one of their seven hair colors.

From what I saw today, this new way wasn't friendly, easy, time-saving or efficient. I'd be interested to hear Mr. Taco Bell (CEO) talk about their reasons for this, and how long it'll be a pain-in-the-butt and become second nature. The interface isn't friendly or intuitive, once you get a coupele of levels in. Almost too many options/scrolling. I just want a bean burrito, assholes. This doesn't need to be turned into a science fair project, local highway construction undertaking or NASA mission. In theory, this should be the easiest, quickest thing in the world, and you people have made it not. This is progress? Employees standing around not helping customers? Everyone happy?

[drewprops]

A few years ago a busy eye care center near me installed a set of pre-registration kiosks and MERCY you should have seen the traffic jam of old folks who had NO FLIPPING IDEA how to use them.

Plus the scanners were buggy.

At one point they had at least three workers out there doing the work that had previously been handled by three workers.

People with budgets are in love with spending them.


...

[kieran]

Honestly, I prefer the screens. Makes it super easy for me to get in and order what I want without waiting in a line of people all ordering with one cashier.

Most of the fast food places in NYC have had these for a few years at this point.

I completely get why putting 6 of these up is much more cost effective than having 3-4 people taking orders at the counter.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, I see that sort of thing. They like the appearance of being forward-thinking, tech-driven, but it really throws a monkey into things. I mean, I’m not ancient or touch-screen-ignorant and I was still having to undo/redo stuff. The day a retirement home bus pulls in there, during lunch rush, somethings gonna go horribly sideways. Growing pains incoming, for sure. I just know I never wanna go back. When I’m ordering food, I prefer a human be on the other end. But I’m old-school about some things. Doesn’t make me wrong, I just didn’t see, today, how this is going to be an improvement/step up. If that touchscreen goes down or freezes/jams up, does the whole joint just shut down for a shift while some taco IT types come in a get it all working again? Sometimes the old way works just fine. I kinda wanna drive over tomorrow and be a fly on the wall at lunch and see what a time-consuming c.f. this actually is when the joint is busy and has more than two customers who aren’t in any sort of hurry or on a 30-minute lunch break.

You get some meone’s like my mom standing there trying to place an order, it’ll be 20+ minutes, bless her heart, and everyone else is gonna be making murder/assault plans.

Was just an eye-opener, that’s all. This all happened in the span of time I’d not gone there. Also, I didn’t recognize any employees from “the old days” behind the counter. Looked like an all-new crew and manager types. There’s an outgoing, friendly guy who’s been there forever who’s real friendly and efficient/goid with the register, the kind of person you want in that position, easily handles all the special customizations and altered orders, he just knows where all the keys are on the register. He always keeps things moving, has a good connection to customers, etc. I was not that today. I was all over that interface, making a mess. I’m just thankful I didn’t have a bunch of people behind me, tapping their toes and loudly huffing/puffing, making me nervous/rattled and even slower than I was!

Just an overall horrible experience, which I’ve never really had at this location over the decades. I can see them bringing the humans back soon if today was anything g to go by. Here’s how slow I was: about 2/3 into my ordering process, and rolling my eyes, grpusing, mumbling “shit!!” and “grrrr!”, the oldest employee they had, a black lady who looked to be at least 68-70 - think Louise Jefferson, came out from behind the counter and said “young man, let me help you”.

“Thank you, ma’am,I really appreciate that. I’m really hungry and just not thinking clearly. I promise I’m usually a little more on the ball!”

“This machine looks to be whipping your rear end, sir…I could tell you were getting frustrated”. (I got the distinct feeling “white motherf…don’t know shit!” was left off, but it seemed where she kinda wanted to go. I don’t blame her. Today, I would’ve let her! “Apologies in advance. Just please make my burrito show up ASAP?”

So she helped and it was great. I’d accidentally ordered three because the confirmation/add to order but is kinda vague/unclear. In theory, I could’ve accidentally ordered two of everything and only noticing when my bill was $700-800.

[Matsu]

My kids' orthodontist, who we've been seeing for the last 2 years, just got bought out by some group looking to expand the practice, seems they've bought a bunch over the years and now have quite a few locations. I'm not 100% sure what the operational model is. Seems like all the orthodontists stay on under one umbrella so now there are 13 locations. Maybe all the billing/admin gets consolidated under the corp and each location continues paying the orthodontist at their location as an associate?

Anyway the first thing they did is install one of those sign-in kiosks in the waiting room. I walk in. Admin who made my appointment (and is always very pleasant) tells me to, "Sign in to let them know you're here." (you have to pass the desk to get to the kiosk)

I can't help myself. I ask, "What, you can't tell that I'm here already?"

[psmith2.0]

Sounds like me!

I imagine it’ll all go to this sort of thing as time rolls on. In some places it makes sense maybe. I don’t see the benefit/application in a burger or taco joint. Yesterday’s scenario just struck me as a solution in desperate search of a problem. “Is the way we order cheap, shitty fast food for decades suddenly passé and just not cool enough for Generation i touchscreen/app fetishists and “influencer” diishits? The goal is just to have nobody interacting with nobody? Not sure that’s anything to strive for/prioritize. Stage 4 social retardation is already a real, existing thing. This can’t help.

[Matsu]

I was actually sort of annoyed because the redundancy makes even less sense in a medical context. In the new era of infectious disease control, how does it help to have multiple people touch the same screen for no good reason?

[kscherer]

In that situation, you're supposed to use your tongue.

If you use your imagination, you can almost taste the taco meat.

[psmith2.0]

Ugh!

[psmith2.0]

On the way home from dinner at my Dad’s last night, I stopped at a Wendy’s to get a Cobb salad and Orange creamsicle frosty (limited time!) for my Mom. The drive-thru line was very long, so o parked and went n to order. Halfway across the parking lot I thought “is this gonna be a Taco Bell replay? Me on some touch-screen order kiosk taking forever while others behind me wait impatiently?” To my relief, I walked in, to the counter, and greeted by a short-haired cutie saying my favorite words in the food-service racket “Hello, may I take your order?”

She did and I was out of there in about four minutes with Mom’s salad and frosty. The salad looked pretty good. For $7.99, it better!

So, Wendy’s hasn’t transitioned to the self-order system, I’m happy to see (I don’t do fast food much at all anymore, but when I do, I love a Wendy’s burger and their rough-cut, skin-on fries. I’ve had neither since mid-summer (just like Taco Bell the other night).

Fast-food, anymore, is neither fast or convenient/affordable. If I’m gonna drop $12-15 on an iffy burger/fry/drink combo, I’m just gonna go sit at a real restaurant and be waited on/served and enjoy a steak, Caesar salad, seafood, Italian, fajitas, etc. Real food, on a real plate, with real utensils, etc.

[709]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 If I’m gonna drop $12-15 on an iffy burger/fry/drink combo, I’m just gonna go sit at a real restaurant and be waited on/served and enjoy a steak, Caesar salad, seafood, Italian, fajitas, etc. Real food, on a real plate, with real utensils, etc.

Along that vein and in the theme of the thread... what is it nowadays with no-menu restaurants? I swear, every other place I go to eat has a little stand on the table with one or two QR codes that you have to scan to pull up the menu/drinks on your phone. It's fucking annoying. Give me a proper, full face-covering menu that I can put down to let you know I'm ready to order*. Not these stupid web-sized tiny walls of text and titles (never optimized for mobile, usually a pdf you have to finger zoom your way across). It irks me so.


*If there's even waitstaff. A few places force you to place your order on the phone and they just drop it off to your table – then they fuck off forever leaving you to scrounge for condiments and silverware. Please leave 20+% tip though!

[kscherer]

Robots will eventually replace all human labor.

Humans will be fat, sassy batteries for the AI Industrial Complex.

[psmith2.0]

Not me. In places that have gone to that "do every-damn-thing yourself", I "tip" MYSELF by not wasting money on giving it to people no longer actually doing anything. I figure I'll be washing dishes in the back before it's over. I'm sure that's already a thing in some trendy, hipster eateries.

Everything that just used to be normal, easy, run smooth, etc., has, in 2023-2024, become an overly-complicated, cumbersome pain in the ass, it seems. Always involving/requiring my damn iPhone too. When I go out, that's my time to mute the thing and leave it in my pocket, untouched for 90 minutes or so. Don't make me have to pull it out to go on a treasure hunt for a menu, etc.

Part of going out to eat is to relax/unwind, not sit and do all the things yourself that others in aprons and bowties USED to do for you.

I guess we can just blindly go and blame that on COVID too, huh? Everything else is. The wheels just fell off about two years ago, at every level (shopping, dining out, etc.) and nobody seems all that interested in putting them back on, so I'm getting to where I don't sweat it or feel guilty about pulling back on my tipping. Your mere existence and employeedom aren't enough to warrent a tip, sorry. DO something, dammit, and I'll reconsider. I've always been very generous on that front, but bring me a soda or some more breadsticks, not just stand against a wall 30 feet away and occasionally look in my general direction. What's tip-worthy about that?

I don't make these stupid-ass rules and new approaches, so I'm not helping fund/cover any of it either. When I walk into a place and I'm greeted, seated and meated (food brought to me, my beverage kept full, etc.), I'm thrilled to reward good work of those things. I'll leave 20-25% easily, often more if things are just really dialed-in and a great experience. I'm not a cheapster, never have been. But you do kinda have to work for it. That's the arrangement. I don't tip anyone, anywhere, for just lumbering around and dragging ass/ignoring me completely. I shouldn't have to.

On a somewhat-related matter, I'm seeing "tip jars" at all kinds of places these days. When did this become a thing? There's one at my nearby Subway, and my thinking is "when you hired on here, you knew the job was to stand behind that glass thingie and make sandwiches for people. I hope/assume you're already getting paid for that (or quit, if you're not). WTF am I 'tipping" you for there, already doing what you're supposed to be doing? If you line up the pickles real good, I'm supposed to drop a few ones into the jar? Uh, no. Make my sandwich, then shut up and move to the person/people behind me and make theirs. That's your only job/expectation there. This stupid trend of late of just fucking tipping EVERYBODY, for everything - including what they're supposed to already be doing - annoys me, and I don't play along. I'm not tipping for the Subway "sandwich artist" to NOT mess up my order. The default is that you don't, and your salary compensates you for scooping that tuna and sprinkling the salt and pepper. I'm not paying enough attention, frankly, to assess how shit-hot of a job you're doing to mentally calculate how much extra to throw into the tip jar that wasn't there 14 months ago.

And I don't wanna hear any food service worker bullshit laments about "I live on those tips". Fine, then go work in a restaurant where busing tables, carrying big, heavy trays and dealing with large, demanding parties is part of the gig, and you do get tipped accordingly. Fast-food workers have never been a "tipping" thing, but, during the pandemic, a bunch of podcasters apparently determined that it was. Yeah...

Sorry, everyone's just conspiring to make eating out and flaming pain-in-the-balls for me anymore, and I'm kinda lashing out this week. You'll live, I promise.

[Matsu]

On tip jars. I think it just speaks to the relative capacity of the people putting their hands out. Sometimes it's just the best they can do, or think to do, which is not to say you should be obligated to pay out.

I'm seeing the tip option built into a lot of debit card readers. I often wonder if anything I put in the digital tip jar ever goes to the workers? In some places I get the impression the owner pockets the whole thing.