[N/A] Training Your Replacement [N/A]

ARFlyer

ARFlyer

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ARFlyer
I walked over to the McDs next to the hotel for lunch and discovered they had installed a self service kiosk. I passed the thing and walked up to the counter at which point I hear this from behind me, "Sir please come to the Self Service Kiosk for your order".

Confused, I asked the lady what she meant and I get this reply "We've been told by management we are to train customers in using the self service option going forward."

I looked at her and blankly said "You know you're training your replacement??"


The story she told me was that since they are so close to Canada they are beta testing the kiosks. Canadians already use these and studies show they prefer it over talking to an actual person, especially in the US.
 
Thinking back to many of my encounters with fast food order takers, I can see where it’s likely better to use the kiosk.
 
I used one in Geneva over a year ago. Other than the thing being in French, no problem at all.
 
Walked into a McD's that only had self service kiosks. I discovered that's all they had after walking up to the counter and the guy there told me I had to use the kiosk. So, I went over, placed my order and opted to pay cash. Mr. Kiosk tells me to take my receipt to the counter and get my order. It never printed a receipt, probably because I hadn't paid just yet. So I went back to the counter, stood there a few minutes, and then walked out. Not sure if the order was ever processed.

I wasn't impressed.
 
McD is just getting ready for the $18/hr + full healthcare mandate that is certain to come during the first Warren/VanHollen administration.
 
I didn't mind using the kiosk. Just was amazed they were happily teaching people to use it. Some even were taking selfies with it.
 
ARFlyer said:
I didn't mind using the kiosk. Just was amazed they were happily teaching people to use it. Some even were taking selfies with it.
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I didn't mind either. But I did have a problem of not being waited on when I was trying to hand over some money.
 
#1 problem with kiosks is teenage employment. It's where many kids get their first job. So now another avenue of entry-level minimal-skilled jobs for youth and retirees has been/will be eliminated.
 
Used one probably 6-7years ago at some burger place at the MEM airport, forget the chain's name.
 
ARFlyer said:
LOL when's that happening? 2020??
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Early 2021. First order of business for the new administration.

I have used the kiosks. Not sure they are a step down from the usual fast food staff. Panera has them in some stores, main advantage is that they don't have a line.
 
murphey said:
#1 problem with kiosks is teenage employment. It's where many kids get their first job. So now another avenue of entry-level minimal-skilled jobs for youth and retirees has been/will be eliminated.
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According to the mysterians, all of the fast food jobs are held by people who have to feed a family of four from the income. They rather see those jobs go away than seeing them filled by students and part-timers at $9/hr.
 
I very much dislike kiosks and self checkouts. It's not that Mickey D's and Wal-Mart employees are so very helpful, but as Murphey said, it's a place for people to work. I guess I just feel like I'm helping support a job by using the human at the counter instead of the machine. Besides that, I don't really want to push a bunch of buttons when I go into a restaurant. I want to tell somebody what I want and go sit down. Everything has buttons these days!!!!
 
ARFlyer said:
I walked over to the McDs next to the hotel for lunch and discovered they had installed a self service kiosk. I passed the thing and walked up to the counter at which point I hear this from behind me, "Sir please come to the Self Service Kiosk for your order".

Confused, I asked the lady what she meant and I get this reply "We've been told by management we are to train customers in using the self service option going forward."
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They have been doing that at Alamo car rental for a number of years. I prefer the kiosk.

Last time I told the agent I didn't think the kiosk would work because I had changed my drivers license between the time I made the reservation and the time I rented the car. She assured me it would work. It didn't. The kiosk and I were smarter than her.
 
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I almost always take the kiosk or self checkout. Mostly because it doesn't sit there judging me silently when I need to buy a roll of plastic, a rope and a gallon of bleach at 10PM.
 
Another first job opportunity for teenagers going away.
 
weilke said:
According to the mysterians, all of the fast food jobs are held by people who have to feed a family of four from the income. They rather see those jobs go away than seeing them filled by students and part-timers at $9/hr.
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Exactly, and since minim skill jobs have to be able to support a full family, mortgage, two cars, etc nowadays, those people should welcome their robotic replacements.

Mike Rowes take on it

 
Soon pilots will be replaced with robots too :(
 
CC268 said:
Soon pilots will be replaced with robots too :(
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Lol,

"Damn machine, I said no onions"

"Damn machine, I said DA was +200AGL, not -200AGL"
 
James331 said:
Lol,

"Damn machine, I said no onions"

"Damn machine, I said DA was +200AGL, not -200AGL"
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I'm building the next gen of pilot robots in my basement. Soon they will be flying the 737 and A320. My next gen robots will fly the 787. There will be no qualification of these robots, were just gonna throw them in the cockpit. It's gonna save the big execs tons of money!
 
Living on the East Coast I have learned to avoid certain food chains all together. Mickey D is on the top of that list.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
We have the kiosks in SoCal now too. Tried it and I swear it was slower than going to a person behind a counter. Plus I still had to go to the counter to pay... so why not just order there too?
 
I'm okay with the self checkouts at the grocery store, they speed the process when the counters are full. But they don't replace the checkout clerks. I can't deal with self checkout when I have a plethora of stuff that needs codes or lookups.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I'm okay with the self checkouts at the grocery store, they speed the process when the counters are full. But they don't replace the checkout clerks. I can't deal with self checkout when I have a plethora of stuff that needs codes or lookups.
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I HATE the self checkouts at grocery stores. Buggy, bitchy computer yelling at me to “place the item in the bagging area” after I already did, and then when it gets tired of that game, starts complaining of “unidentified object in the bagging area” and then finally quits and lies to me that it has requested a cashier to clear the prior error.
 
gkainz said:
I HATE the self checkouts at grocery stores. Buggy, bitchy computer yelling at me to “place the item in the bagging area” after I already did, and then when it gets tired of that game, starts complaining of “unidentified object in the bagging area” and then finally quits and lies to me that it has requested a cashier to clear the prior error.
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I have, however, ditched those on occasion when they acted a fool like that.
 
I like the self checkout at Walmart. Makes the lines with a real people working as a cashier so much shorter......
 
Zeldman said:
I like the self checkout at Walmart. Makes the lines with a real people working as a cashier so much shorter......
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A local store chain here had the large size self-serve registers for big grocery orders and they did help with the lines at the cashier registers, and I preferred them. But they recently took them out and replaced them with normal, cashier registers. Now they never have enough cashiers to handle the customers. They still have the 12-15 item self-serve registers. One cashier told me they were removed due to shoplifting.
 
I prefer talking to just about anything over talking to most people...
 
gkainz said:
I HATE the self checkouts at grocery stores. Buggy, bitchy computer yelling at me to “place the item in the bagging area” after I already did, and then when it gets tired of that game, starts complaining of “unidentified object in the bagging area” and then finally quits and lies to me that it has requested a cashier to clear the prior error.
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Just get rid of the checkout process entirely.

 
JCranford said:
I prefer talking to just about anything over talking to most people...
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"OK Google/Siri/Alexa, gimme a double Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a diet Coke at the nearest McDonalds."
 
I like the self-checkout at Wal-Mart. A lot. The only down side is that they have fewer regular lines open because of it. And it wasn't like they had enough lines open before. I can't wait for more stores to get the self-checkouts. One of my biggest pet peeves, and I have a lot of them, is standing in line waiting for someone with no motivation to move faster slooooowwwwwllllly scans each item, almost like it's a contest to see how slow she can go.

I'm looking forward to the day McDonald's gets the kiosks here. Our Panera has them, but they're horribly designed and cumbersome to order from the pick-2 menu. If I'd designed it you'd push a button for the pick-2, then you'd push a button for each of the 2 items. I have no idea how it works in reality.

To make the McDonald's kiosks effective there would have to be at least 8 of them. Because you're always going to have the people just standing in front of one saying, "what am I in the mood for today?" And pondering it for several minutes.

I was in line to use an ATM the other day and there's a woman there. I can see the screen and it's waiting for her to type her PIN. She's just standing there. After a minute I tell her, "it's waiting for you to enter your PIN". "Oh", and she just stood there. I finally gave up and left. She never moved. So yeah, I can see where there could be some arguments if they don't put in enough kiosks at McDonald's.

Now, let me tell you about cars cutting in line at the McD's drive-thru where the lane splits....
 
Love the WalMart self-checkout. Ours has two versions. One for the small number of items and the other set up with a belt for unloading lots of items. It tends to separate the couple of items self check customer from the full basket self check customer. I hate it when all the self checks are being used by slooooooow people with full baskets. Only slightly less frustrating than slow parents teaching their even slower children how to scan items. Try it again. Try it again. Try it again. ARG!
 
Fast food customers are frequently stumped by the Freestyle machine (the Coke fountain with the touch screen). A lot of 'em just stand there like they've been hit in the head with a hammer. Making more complicated food selections through a kiosk ought to be just awesome for them and whoever is in line behind them.
 
kyleb said:
Fast food customers are frequently stumped by the Freestyle machine (the Coke fountain with the touch screen). A lot of 'em just stand there like they've been hit in the head with a hammer. Making more complicated food selections through a kiosk ought to be just awesome for them and whoever is in line behind them.
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So why is it that you know what people look like after they've been hit in the head with a hammer? hmmmm? FBI watchlist this one fer sure...
 
Clark1961 said:
So why is it that you know what people look like after they've been hit in the head with a hammer? hmmmm? FBI watchlist this one fer sure...
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When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Or a slow burger line.
 
I went into a McDonalds that had these things last year. I couldn't figure it out, so I left and went to Arby's.

About 30 years ago, some of the taco Bells had ordering screens. They actually worked pretty well, but they all got removed after a few months.
 
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