OT- Robots coming to McDonalds

[adama]

^ would not bet on that, Microsoft had to pull there’s, turned out to be some what of a Hitler loving racist!

 

[Speedie]

'Hey metal brain....you call that food'

 

[toolsteel]

Saw on the local news this weekend that a "prank" caller called a local Burger K... and convinced the employees that he was calling to warn them that their restaurant was filling with odorless gas, and they needed to immediately start breaking windows or the place was going to blow up. They did....they broke out a bunch of windows.....thousands of dollars in windows and lost business.... apparently they have some real rocket surgeons at that location. $15 an hour????? hmmmmm

 

[JNieman]

Dead giveaway to anyone that watches TV or movies.
I haven't watched TV....... AT ALL in 6+ years, minimal for 10 years. Never heard of that movie.

Well it was pretty popular when it came out 17 years ago.. and has since been quoted ad infinitum by any disgruntled or simply sarcastic employee in most work environments I've ever been in.

People who don't watch TV are like vegans, crossfitters, and Texans.

How do you know when you're talking to one? They just told you. AGAIN.

 

[Philabuster]

Never heard of that movie.

Watching "Office Space" should be mandatory by anyone who has ever worked in the corporate world. Sort of like the Dilbert cartoon strip, but better.

 

[TDegenhart]

I wonder when a computer will be able to troll as well as I can. Then I can retire.

Time for a Turing test.

Tom

 

[dkmc]

Watching "Office Space" should be mandatory by anyone who has ever worked in the corporate world. Sort of like the Dilbert cartoon strip, but better.

I get to skip it......never worked in the "corporate whirred"

 

[moglixglobal]

Wow, thats great that McDonalds will run by Robots. Well in Japan, one hotel is running by robots. I forget the name of the hotel but few days ago I have read this on techinsider. Tech world changing very fast.

 

[Newman109]

Watching "Office Space" should be mandatory by anyone who has ever worked in the corporate world. Sort of like the Dilbert cartoon strip, but better.

That was a great movie! I once worked in an office like that for my last employed job. My boss was exactly like the Lumbergh character. - always nosing around the office with his cup of coffee in hand, bothering people who were trying to work. He never did a lick of work in the ten years that I was there. He came in at 10:00 a.m. and left at noon. Then he came back at 2:00 p.m. and left at 3:00. No one noticed because he never did anything anyway except criticize his crew when he was there. When I left, he was the only one who skipped my going away luncheon. LOL.

Working in an office is a terrible thing but it can cause you to want something better, like self-employment. It worked for me!

 

[scott.livesey]

Motoman had a robot fixing and serving drinks 10 years ago, even wore a tux. it would be interesting to program a robot to build a sandwich and then wrap it, probably take less time than teaching a 16yo with their head stuck in their cell phone.
scott

 

[SIM]

Whether this clip is true or not is really a moot point as it is really only a matter of time.

Same reason we automate the machine shops production work is the reason we will see more automation in the fast food business.

Pay____(fill in the blank)for someone to lift a basket of fries (that already has a timer and buzzer when done), toss into the warmer, give a shake of salt or spend a few grand on a robot to do...Pay that one time and the position comes in on time, no breaks, no long bathroom runs, no txting , no searching the internet, doesn't get sick, does not have to leave early...

Need another robot to squirt the Special sauce, add tomatoe, ketchup...really its not rocket science robots required.


As to people being able to live on minimum wages paid to these workers...THESE JOBS WERE NEVER MEANT TO SUPPORT FAMILIES. They are first jobs, after school jobs, parents looking for a few hours work when kids are at school...or to fill up a day when kids are out of the house and put some money in hand.

 

[Mike1974]

Things will definitely head toward robots......5 questions though #1 will they program the robot to completely ignore me while it "talks" on a cell phone about useless crap? #2 Will they program it to screw up the simplest order occasionally just so that us oldsters can have the feeling of human interaction? #3 Will this make it easier or harder for them to steal my card number and buy car parts on Amazon? #4 Will there be a "manager" robot yelling at the other robots "Queso.....that was a Queso burger".....like my last visit to one of those places? #5....will it be able to make change without using its "fingers"?

Swear to god (I know, I know...) I once paid with something like $10.25 for a $5.25 order and confused the poor girl so much she had to call a manager over....

 

[JNieman]

As to people being able to live on minimum wages paid to these workers...THESE JOBS WERE NEVER MEANT TO SUPPORT FAMILIES. They are first jobs, after school jobs, parents looking for a few hours work when kids are at school...or to fill up a day when kids are out of the house and put some money in hand.

From the genesis of the Federal "minimum wage" in our nation, began by FDR in 1933:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14673

In my Inaugural I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

This seems to indicate that you are wrong. There was absolutely no intent for there to be any business or job built around labor that is paid less than a living wage which provides a decent living.

Perhaps it's the very existence of McDonalds, as it is today, that should go. Maybe it's a reformation of the 'fast food industry' which thrives only on providing absolute filth at a price that most people cannot resist, based on wages that this country was never intended to tolerate.

Adjusted for inflation, the highest the minimum wage has been was in 1968, at $1.60 ($10.71 in 2013 USD) and it has trended steadily downward ever since.
Minimum wage since 1938 - CNNMoney

List of Presidents who have approved of Congressional raises to the minimum wage:

FDR (D), Truman (D), Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), LBJ (D), Nixon (R), Ford (R), Carter (D), Bush (R), Clinton (D), GWB (R), Obama (D).

It would seem, given history, that there isn't much difference in party affiliation between those that support, and those that stand in the way of, a fair minimum wage in the spirit of its origin. Trying to make this a "minimum wage benefits democrats" seems disingenuous.

If you buy into the vitriol that "businesses are republicans" and "poor people are democrats" then it would seem to me that you should an elevated minimum wage as it will result in higher consumption/consumerism of those directly affected. Their money goes further - it's spent more. It stimulates the economy by changing hands more often, and by being much less likely to be saved or simply accumulated.
How The Poor, The Middle Class And The Rich Spend Their Money : Planet Money : NPR
It's expensive to be poor - Apr. 23, 215
Tax cuts: The rich are harder to stimulate than the poor | The Economist - evaluation of the effects of Bush era tax cuts on low and high earners.

 

[JNieman]

I wonder if people thought of ANYTHING ELSE besides McDonalds when they thought of "minimum wage" if the outlook would be different.

 

[Miguels244]

I wonder if people thought of ANYTHING ELSE besides McDonalds when they thought of "minimum wage" if the outlook would be different.

But then they wouldn't have the glory of righteous indignation.

 

[Scottl]

Pretty much everything I've read in recent years seems to indicate that automation will eventually take over all but a few jobs. Fast food is an obvious choice for a number of reasons.

Even though wages are low the prices charged are also very low. Cutting labor costs will increase profit margins. Health insurance costs are a key ingredient in labor costs for full time employees as are workers comp costs in an industry with a high rate of minor cuts and burns.

Much of the critical thinking has already been done making employees operators rather than skilled help. Process times are automated and even the cash registers are designed to reduce the need to think. Increased use of smartphone apps for ordering and payment reduces the need for humans for customer service.

Since the bulk of food is pre-processed elsewhere eventually all that will be needed is someone to open cartons and load machines, as well as reporting machinery problems or facilities issues for correction. With technology one or two people could maintain a good sized fast food restaurant.

Another issue that will drive down the need for labor is the increasing number of corporate owned vs franchised outlets. large corporations are more likely to finance automation than individual owners who deal with employees face to face. The coming world of increased automation will be very impersonal.

 

[Miguels244]

I have been to restaurants where the ordering was via ipad on the counter...food was delivered, not served.
It was pretty unpleasant.

Pretty much anything except personal services and art will be automatic soon enough.
Or rather, too soon.

 

[Scottl]

I have been to restaurants where the ordering was via ipad on the counter...food was delivered, not served.
It was pretty unpleasant.

Pretty much anything except personal services and art will be automatic soon enough.
Or rather, too soon.

I'm afraid so. Even many personal services may be replaced by more sophisticated machines and the technology exists today that could make "art" customized to an individual's tastes.

I am old enough to remember elevator operators. The old elevators would not stop exactly at floor level and the operators had to jog them to final position to keep passengers from tripping. As soon as the controls were perfected building owners found it cheaper to install them than pay the operators.

I have visited high tech companies where the "receptionist" is a touch screen unit in an entryway and you enter the name of the person or department you wish to visit. I always find that quite creepy.

Voicemail Hell:

"for food press 1, for water press 2"

2

"what color flowers do you want?"​

 

[Miguels244]

Blech...
I also hate the trend to have professionals do things that aren't their job because of automation.
Used to have a travel agent...now it's book it your self.

 

[JNieman]

Blech...
I also hate the trend to have professionals do things that aren't their job because of automation.
Used to have a travel agent...now it's book it your self.

Scheduling meetings/appointments, calendar management, all that fun secretarial / personal assistant work.

Engineers doing their own drafting.

so on so forth..