The Coffee House

[JonA_CT]

Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.

I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.

*Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)

Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence. It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter. If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy. I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option. Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work. No thanks. Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?

It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.

re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.

That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.

Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).

Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.

 

[waday]

Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).

Totally agree, the items are not well organized at all. That said, I usually find all self-serve kiosks to be pretty confusing. They try to shove marketing in your face. At the Sheetz gas stations around us, they sell custom subs and sandwiches (which are actually quite good). But, the whole ordering process is as confusing to be as they try to get you to buy this sandwich or that drink. You have to find the tiny little "no" or "skip" that's usually hidden somewhere on the screen.

Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.

Yeah, that's pretty horrible. She is definitely using her privilege, because she knows she likely won't be caught. The supermarkets around us that do that will have "audits" every now and then. But even then, the person doesn't usually care, only needs to scan like 5-6 items, and usually doesn't dig around in the bags. The wife and I don't cheat it, so we don't care. The only time I get mad at the audits is when the person screws up, like (1) the time they erased the entire order and we had to have a cashier redo everything, including unbagging and rebagging, or (2) when the one teenager upturned a cake with icing on it, or (3) when a different teenager upturned a crappy plate of packaged sushi ruining it.

 

[smoke665]

Kind of shocked this morning when DW informed me that she was leaving me because of my obsession with the Monkees. I thought she was joking............

But then I saw her face!

 

[Gary A.]

Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.

I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.

*Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)

Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence. It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter. If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy. I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option. Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work. No thanks. Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?

It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.

re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.

That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.

Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).

Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.

Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...

 

[waday]

Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...

It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.

 

[JonA_CT]

Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...

It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.

and socio-economic status

 

[tirediron]

Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...

It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.

Please................


While I am a firm believer in adherence to law, I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure I'm all that against people taking action which will encourage retailers to move away from these wretched self-checkout systems. Aside from the whole, "they never work properly and/or aren't intuitive" aspect of things, why am I expected to pay the same price at a self-check-out, where I have to do the work, as at a proper check-out where there's a clerk to do the work.

 

[Fujidave]

RIP To the Queen of Soul You were great Aretha.

 

[waday]

Please................

Seeing how you're a white male, I understand your response.

ETA: With that said, I'm done with this discussion. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.

 

[terri54]

RIP To the Queen of Soul You were great Aretha.

Yes, I just heard. We've lost her.

 

[waday]

I've been calling my neighbor by the wrong name for 3 years.

His name is Rob. I've been calling him Bob. Ugh.

 

[Gary A.]

RIP To the Queen of Soul You were great Aretha.

*sigh* She will be missed.

Gary first saw her as the opening act for Blood, Sweat and Tears at the Greek. Nobody knew Aretha and we all felt antsy not wanting any delays for B, S and T. But she immediately silenced the crowd ... to a person we all felt a combo of reverence and r e s p e c t.

Sadly, B, S and T were all stoned and couldn't play a single chord without screwing up or falling down on stage. It was the only show Gary has attended where there were no calls for an encore. The spectators were all filing out when B, S and T fired up the band again to slobber all over the mics. There were a few cat calls as we all left the arena. The band was so stoned they most likely thought we were giving them a standing ovation as we moved towards the exits.

 

[snowbear137 68]

RIP To the Queen of Soul You were great Aretha.

So sad to see her go.

 

[otherprof108 10]

Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.

I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.

*Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)

Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence. It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter. If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy. I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option. Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work. No thanks. Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?

It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.

re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.

That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.

Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).

Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.

I don't see how her color or her sex enter into this. She was a thief. You attributed her action to her sex and her ethnicity. If it were a black man doing the same thing, you wouldn't trace his behavior to his sex and race, would you?

 

[waday]

Please................

Seeing how you're a white male, I understand your response.

ETA: With that said, I'm done with this discussion. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.

Good call on John (tirediron). But "privilege" was a word never occurred to me or I would use as a description for her actions. I get it, but I not sensitive enough to have used privilege to address the situation. I will keep that word in mind next time I find a white person stealing. (seriously)

I don't see how her color or her sex enter into this. She was a thief. You attributed her action to her sex and her ethnicity. If it were a black man doing the same thing, you wouldn't trace his behavior to his sex and race, would you?

Reread it. Jon is mentioning sex and race with respect to "getting away with it"--not related to the crime itself. That is, she's trusted more; thus, under less scrutiny by the store. If you've never had a store employee or manager stand behind and follow you while you shop, watching you, oppressing you, you won't understand.

Ok ok.. really really done with this discussion.