The Villages - the fast food capital of the world - this is a concern? With all that's going on in this world!

I need something to think about when I take a break from easing world hunger, cleaning up the streets of San Francisco, fighting the drug cartels, and ending the invasion of Ukraine.

A lot of people seem to be concerned about AI replacing humans. This is another aspect.

The government needs to stop paying people to stay home instead of working. Nobody wants to work anymore because they know they will get paid.
Plus, raising the minimum wage fixes nothing. Everybody who got a $5 increase in pay still made less overall because all the businesses raised their prices to cover the increase in salaries and part of the inflation we have been experiencing is due to these increase in salaries.

You got that touch screen right. I have not been to an Olive Garden for years. My last image was of a small child playing some game on the touch screen while wiping drool from his mouth and nose with those same hands. Saw the wait staff come in and remove the dishes, a quick wipe of the table, and reset the table for the next customer. The touch screen was merely repositioned.

Spoke to the manager about observation and was told that it was corporate policy that cleaning be performed after every use. Good to know that policy protected us.

You might ask, why bring that up in a thread about automation? Touch screens are part of the process of automation. Get rid of the people and transfer the work directly from customer to robot. Who controls the touch points? Only a good well-trained manager with a well-trained staff. Are they building that into automation?

Enjoy your next fast food or any dining experience knowing that corporate policy is protecting you.

Fast food restaurant revenues have been growing except during the pandemic.

Revenue for Limited-Service Restaurants, All Establishments, Employer Firms (LRRAEEF2722513) | FRED | St. Louis Fed

We'll never have to worry about a robot not washing their hands.

No. Have to cover equipment cost first and it will then decrease overhead and increase profit. It helps solve the worker shortage, nobody wants to work in the service industry anymore.

And don’t forget to add in pink slim beef.

Exactly:

1950
Minimum wage: $0.75/hour.
Gas: $0.27 or 22m.
Movie ticket: $0.48 or 38m.
Rent: $42 or 56hrs. (All figures represent the average cost of a movie ticket, a gallon of gas, and the median rent.)

In California they passed a law to pay fast food employees $20 an hour minimum wage. Robots will be getting a lot more work.

Won't happen because the aim of automation is not to bring prices down. It's to push profits up. The real losers will be the employees who will be out of a job. That's why I NEVER use the self-checkout lanes. I'm willing to stand in line for a few minutes to save someone's job.

To set the clock or not. . .
 

It was *so* painful to not only set that clock, but also to set it up to record your programs. Turned out that there were just enough motivators for me to break down and get it done - not the least of which being that I learnt from my peers the term "twelve o'clock flasher". The best thing about the internet coming along in the mid-nineties was that I finally had so much better *access* to my peers. Best invention ever - the internet, not the VCR's.

Will this bring prices down? Absoultly not! You only have to look as far as a Winn-Dixie Publix, walmart, or Target to see the automated checkout lanes.Did their prices go down?

Why in the world would a business owner forced to pay unskilled employees 20 bucks an hour (who often think they are doing their employer a favor by showing up) not think about replacing them with a machine?