Secretary-Professor Reich nails it again

Mr. Jack Box, Job Slaughterer

She's already assistant manager

While on a long drive a while back, I stopped in to grab some caffeine at an off-the-interstate Jack in the Box. While I only bought a soda, I noticed something a little disturbing. It was a machine in the lobby that looked like an ATM, but apparently had something to do with placing an order.

I didn’t give it much thought until reading a book about automation. Given my interest in the Jetsons economy, I decided it was important to investigate further.

Apparently, these have been around at some JitB’s for years. Starting in San Diego, they just now seem to be taking off. There is much speculation that the economic downturn has made these kiosks a worthy investment as businesses seek to cut labor costs.

Yelp.com told me that there was one at the store on Maryland Parkway, near UNLV. Unfortunately, their kiosk was broken. Which really sucked because I skipped lunch that day.

Two days later, I was passing by the store at Torrey Pines & Charleston, and saw one of these machines near the counter. I pulled into the parking lot, grabbed my camera, and decided that dinner was going to be a little different tonight.

When a human says this? Creepy.
When a robot says this? Adorable.

The machine was quite inviting. In fact, it went out of its way to remove any doubt.

And so the adventure began. I progressed through a series of screens, with numerous options. Given that I’m a slightly picky eater, I loved that I could easily take things off the pre-set recipe without having to make up an allergy to fend off order-taker judgment.

After cycling through my order, including options for upgrade (i.e. more calories at a discount!), I was ready to pay. Having no “Jack Bucks” I chose to use cash. Soon after my order was placed-I was lucky 909-I played the exciting “waiting game.”

Where's the "hell yeah!" button?

The people in the back did their work, while the guy behind me took to the screen, while the front counter remained unoccupied. Within a few minutes, I was handed my food and I was ready to go.

Before I walked out I chose to inspect the product, something fellow picky eaters will understand must happen before you leave, lest they’ve soiled a good meal with unwanted ingredients. Jack-in-the-Box is notorious for selling the two tacos for 99 cents, yet forgetting to add them to the bag, so it never hurts to check the order anyway.

Despite having pressed “no” to the Add Cheese screen, there was cheese on my sandwich. Not the end of the world, as I was just trying to avoid those calories. So I left and pondered what had just went down.

Some dismiss the impact that ATM’s, automatic check-out stands at the supermarket, and other machines have had on our economy. In many cases, technology has enhanced our ability to do things and increased our quality of life. When President Obama made a remark about ATMs, those forces questioned his judgment. Rather, they used the opportunity to continue their mission to discredit the man.

On a recent Fareed Zakaria special about jobs, a commentator explained the difference:

            When you use technology for innovation, you create jobs…In the last decade, [the

            move to technology] was more “efficiency-driven,” not so much by innovation.

Less order-takers means smaller payroll, less shifts to be covered when someone calls in sick, less time taken to replace employees who leave or are fired, and higher profits. Scaling up the machine technology creates short-term jobs for machine makers-assuming they’re not themselves made by robots-and a handful of maintenance guys to keep them up to date, or repaired when somebody spills their milkshake on it. Can an order app be far away?

Human error=diet plan thwarted!

Overall, I have to believe that the trend towards automation is quickly eliminating low-wage, entry-level and part-time jobs. All those jobs creating and maintaining the Orderbots require higher levels of skill and education. How many Orderbot repairmen would you need, after all, if these things work well, even with all the restaurants in town?

"Job-creator" no longer?

The most frightening part-the one that sent a chill up my spine-was the cheese making it onto my sandwich. That was a HUMAN error.

Which led me to wonder-how long until Mr. Box-who sought the Presidency in 1996-replaces all those food preparers in the back with Burgerbots & Frybots?