Walk With Me.

Set a spell

The gate had only about a dozen seats close on a view of the ramp. The rest of the area was taken up by what appeared to be restaurant seating. In the center of each table was a tablet sized device that kept cycling through options like Shop, Eat Drink and Play. Being nothing if not experimental I pushed eat. (Understand that when you fly from the west coast to the east you leave between 5 and 7 AM in the morning so I was hungry! )

A menu was served up and I selected a sandwich, swiped my credit card on a device affixed to the table that also included power outlets. Right there is when the new-fangled thing went off the tracks. At no point did the technology tell me what was going to happen. The only saving grace was a tiny message in the lower left corner that said, “order being prepared.” I was looking for a way to ask a question when that message changed to, “Order being delivered.” Five minutes later a young man who spoke a form of Caribbean influenced English showed up. He was courteous but obviously didn’t understand a word I spoke.

I got my meal in about the same time it would have taken in a “normal” restaurant. But it seemed longer. And it was actually way longer than a fast food place.

Ponder with me

Should technology be substituted for personal service? If so, when? What should drive the decision?

This is not my first rodeo with technology slowly taking over in the restaurant business. My favorite Thai place now uses electronic order pads that the waiter or waitress enter your order into connected by wi-fi to the kitchen. The same device is used to present your bill and accept your Credit or Debit payment.

I stopped by a newly renovated McDonalds the other day. You are greeted as you come through the door by a kiosk with touch screens for all your ordering and payment. My guess is that two people per shift are eliminated by this technology. I bypassed it and ordered at the counter.

Let’s walk on

Two things disturb me:

· There was very limited concern about the user interface in the device on the table in the airport. A simple explanation that the order would be delivered would have relaxed me no end. It wasn’t there. Maybe I’m too old for this brave new world or perhaps the engineers that defined the interface should be forced to use it with obscured eyesight or be exposed to the travails of users that have never seen it. Development needs to understand the end user.

· I have little doubt that we are going to see ever more of technology encroaching on low paying jobs in situations like restaurants. Shouldn’t we be looking at ways to automate the rest of the fast food business? Or perhaps that is already in the works.

The other side of that is that there are some jobs that can’t be automated—at least not at the moment. The harvesting of crops comes to mind. All of the noise about illegal immigrants in the United States is based on racist reasoning not economic logic. Yes, we can automate some of the stoop labor but we also have to modify the produce. That results in what my ex called, “Strip-mined tomatoes.”

What is the best use of technology. How do we make it work for everybody?

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His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development for independent professionals on and off-line.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com