Burger King turns to AI to flame broil employees who aren't friendly enough The bot’s nagging will continue until morale improves. Burger King is rolling out a new employee-facing AI that, among other things, will listen to employees’ customer interactions to ensure they’re being friendly enough - as if working in fast food weren’t hard enough already. Burger King announced a wider rollout of the BK …
Just when you think flipping burgers is amongst the most thankless, poorly rewarded jobs in the developed world, the pea brained management of Burger King find a new way of showing employees how poorly regarded they are by those who earn the money that pays their ungrateful white collar salaries.
The PHBs should be contemplating to add a friendliness surcharge. Quite simple concept:
Corporations are convinced there is no job that cannot be improved with AI.
I for one feel the C-Suite could be replaced with AI. Given CEO / CIO / CFO are always highly conservative and hesitant to change, why not save quite a few bucks and replace them instead of Jill, Luke and Keith on the conveyor belt.
I can't buy from McD. Only been in their stores three times over the last sixty odd years while travelling somewhere and on all three occasions I was refused a big mac cheese burger because they were still serving the breakfast menu. I just go elsewhere. I thought the manager's head was going to explode at one of them when I just said "No problem, I'll buy a cheese burger from the burger van in the car park outside". He was absolutely livid that someone else was selling burgers near his store.
Me too... when I go to McDs at 4 or 5 in the god damn morning, it's because I WANT A BURGER!
If I wanted a goddamned breakfast, I'd go to the Denny's or Waffle House across the street!
And McDs does the nastiest, most plastic breakfast on the planet. I feel like I'm eating the foam photography model for the ad, and not actual food.
Hmm here in Peterborough uk, on Maskew Avenue (locals will know) on one side of the road is a Wendy’s and directly opposite it is a Burger King, then further down there is a mobile burger van outside B&Q and there might still be one in the retail park at the end of the road.
Not that I have been in any of them but………
It's been a few years since I was in those parts but tucked away off Manor Royal in Crawley - alongside the building formerly home to Invest, there was a bun truck that did absolutely gorgeous fresh steak sarnies.
You can keep your burgers. My mouth is watering at the thought of that steak. Dunno from where the lass got the meat but it was always top notch.
There's a couple of decent vans on Manor Royal that do not just fairly decent burgers, but also a very nice chicken curry and a few other bits like the classic fish finger sarnie. Plus one in the car park of Wicks which also does a cracking burger.
That said, McDonalds, Greggs and Starbucks all opened up on Gatwick Road (side-by-side or across the road from each other) and they seem to be doing trade so I hope the vans don't go out of business as a result. There is a 4th one about to open in the same building as Greggs, but I forget offhand who it is (as I don't particularly care).
I'm trying to work out which building you're referring to, so I can see if the steak van is still there (or if it's one of the ones I mention above).
As someone who grew up in Crawley aka 'The Gulag' I am amazed that there is something good in the shithole other than the Plough next to Ifield Church but even that went to hell when it stopped serving proper King and Barnes ales.
Once upon a time I went to a McD's just outside Buffalo, NY after an overnight ride from Atlantic City. They served me a Big Mac and god it was horrible, tasteless and ugh. I've not been back to them, BK, /Wendy's, KFC or any other of the chain Fast [redacted] outlets since and I intend to exit from this world without breaking that pledge.
Generally, roadside burger vans are far better than the chains.
"Chip and Sign was introduced with Chip and PIN in the EMV spec for debit and credit cards.
So weirdly, no.
When I typed "Chip and sign" I did not mean "Chip and PIN", I meant "Chip and Sign"."
Ooh that's interesting. I genuinely had never heard of chip and sign, but now you make me think about it more, it's pretty obvious. I think I was stuck in the thought process of how an automated terminal would do chip and sign. Thanks.
2 issues: means going somewhere and buying something I don't really want.
2nd issue: Very few of them left.
Asda dropped cash back last year.
Tescos only do it at the customer service desk, you have to buy something there, not the main tills, and only at the larger stores, the locals/etc just tell you they have a cash machine outside.
As far as every American, who was once out of the bubble for a Month of more, and every German/Spanish/etc, who moved to the US during their lifetime, told me (partly directly, partly youtube channels):
That does not work that way in USA. Americans are generally not taught how to handle money, they are taught how to spend money, since that is the USA way to express being successful. The consumerism is pushed to such extremes that Heinz adjusted their inflation-prices not by the amount of inflation, but over three times by the amount of inflation. And the USA society, which pushes "show that you can afford the expensive" above everything, fell for it and the sales increased. It got bought even more than before Trump caused the inflation. Just check the official Heinz press releases. And before anyone downvotes me for being offended: My sources are mentioned in the first line: People which experienced both sides in their real life.
Have you a banking hub in a nearby town? - they are useful for stuff like that.
Do you not also have a PIN for chip and sign card?
We care for a disabled relative (who has chip & sign card - but her card also supports a pin number) - I know it works in *some* UK ATMs as I have done the button punching (including PIN) at an ATM while she sits in her wheelchair beside me.
> Have you a banking hub in a nearby town? - they are useful for stuff like that.
Banking hub: yes. Can do anything except cash, for that, they tell me to go to a branch.
> Do you not also have a PIN for chip and sign card?
Do you know what you call a chip and sign card with a PIN? A chip and PIN Card.
The entire point of Chip and Sign is for people, like me, who can't remember PINs
> We care for a disabled relative (who has chip & sign card - but her card also supports a pin number) - I know it works in *some* UK ATMs as I have done the button punching (including PIN) at an ATM while she sits in her wheelchair beside me.
If you add a PIN to a chip and sign card, when you put in into a PDQ it will match on PIN verification, and not move to Sign verification, rendering the card useless to me.
The way the authentication is determined is there is a list of authentication types on both the card and the PDQ.
The first they match on is the verification the PDQ will use.
The order is:
Online PIN
Offline PIN
Online Signature
Offline Signature
No verification
The best my bank can offer is a cash card. Which I would have to write the PIN down for.
But it doesn't matter, as that card only works in the bank's machines, and the nearest machine is a 36 mile drive, across a toll bridge.
I am in the UK and most of the big supermarket branches have a (no charge) cash machine on site.
Our rural area suffers very badly from lack of banks.
There are however some banking "hubs" in a couple of the towns where you can go and get cash / do a bit of pay in etc (different day for each "banking" group if you need anything very specific to your bank that cannot be handled in a generic way)
I mainly use cash & it's no real hassle getting hold of it via ATMs (& I live in a a rural area where only small towns nearby)
I can't use a cash machine, it doesn't matter now little they charge, they can't take signatures.
The banking hubs tell me "Cash? You need to use a cash machine. Oh? you can't? Go to the branch"
To get cash I need to:
Between the hours of 1000 and 1400 on a weekday: Drive 36 miles, including a trip across a toll bridge, park, go to the branch, get cash, drive home.
In my time/lost income, milage, 2x tolls, parking, it costs me £180. Plus what ever I'm taking out.
"I mainly use cash & it's no real hassle getting hold of it via ATMs"
I'm glad it's no hassle for you to get hold of cash via ATMs, BUT I CAN'T USE CASH MACHINES, THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT.
"I have no issue with stairs, I don't get why people in wheelchairs have to have ramps"
seriously, the kiosks reject my cards ...
Kiosks? You mean those disgusting shit-infested touch screen things? Eeuurghhh. If somewhere has such a low regard for their customers that they provide those, I'll shop elsewhere, and if that's not an option I'll go hungry until a more civilised option is available, even if that means waiting hours.
When I worked as front-line telephone support, I knew (and so did everyone else) that managers often listened-in on our calls, and there was no way to know unless we were told. I didn't object to this "snooping" because I wanted to do the best job I could, and the feedback from my manager was usually very helpful.
To my mind there isn't much difference between a human listening to me and an AI doing the same thing as long as the results are close to the same. That is the part the BK AI needs to get right, and get it right from the word go.
It doesn't resemble meat.
"The words 'Share and Enjoy' were displayed in illuminated letters three miles high near the Sirius Cybernetics Complaints Division until their weight caused them to collapse through the underground offices of many young complaints executives. The upper half of the sign that now protrudes translates in the local tongue as 'Go stick your head in a pig,' and is lit up only for special celebrations. "
When it comes to "near-future scenarios where malevolent AI rules", I'm hard-pressed to decide which would be worse: this, or having T-1000 Terminator units striding over mountains of skulls where our cities once stood.
Still, it makes lots of money for Altman and Huang and Nadella & their ilk, so it's all good, right?
Reads like the beginning of "Manna":
https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
"The goal of the software was to replace the managers and tell the employees what to do in a more controllable way. Manna version 1.0 was born.
Manna was connected to the cash registers, so it knew how many people were flowing through the restaurant. The software could therefore predict with uncanny accuracy when the trash cans would fill up, the toilets would get dirty and the tables needed wiping down. The software was also attached to the time clock, so it knew who was working in the restaurant."
I remember reading that story about 25 years ago, and it's the very first think I thought of. I am truly grieved to see anything close come to pass, but maybe it was inevitable.
The ending of that story reminds me of Musk's Neuralink, which didn't turn out to be a winner. Maybe in time, but I'm betting Manna will enslave and/or kill us all by then, which segues into any number of sci-fi franchises (Terminator as some have said, or maybe The Matrix).
Sorry for bad spelling, and too late to directly edit: thing, not think. Although nowadays it might be called a "thinkpiece".
(Also, based on another post, it hasn't been a full 25 years yet. At my age, all time estimates over a decade carry a plus/minus 5-year margin.)
Oh, a book hint! Thanks! Is this the same Marshall Brain who did "Win32 System Services: The Heart of Windows 98 and Windows 2000 (3rd Edition)" ? Oh yep, he is!
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Try selling something nice, even desirable.
It works for the local bakery, and the most they ever need to do is to ask "is that everything?" - and they don't even do that every time!
The result: well, Tuesday I was sent in for precisely two sticky buns, to go with our afternoon cuppa, and I came out nibbling on a couple of the cheese straws that were just sitting there, at the far end of the shop, being all warm and aromatic at me. Glad the wife doesn't read El Reg or a great tutting would be heard.
Actually BK, McDs, and Wendys are all circling the drain because of their outmoded business model.
They're still stuck in the '80s-'90s trying to sell fast really cheap crap. Unfortunately, because of inflation, their stuff isn't so cheap any more, but it's still crap.
Meanwhile, Culvers, 5 Guys, Shake Shack, In-N-Out, Whataburger, etc are killing them because they sell decent food, even though it's not cheap. Granted, a meal at 5 Guys is $15-$20 per person, but you eat a burger with real meat and lots of it, on real bread, with the specific real toppings you asked for, plus a metric assload of fries. You come out saying "that was a GOOD lunch" not "well at least I'm not hungry any more"
Culvers also sells stuff like pretzel bites, good onion rings, cheese curds, good fish (sometimes even walleye when it's in season), butterfly shrimp, reubens, and pot roast sandwiches, which are all things BK & McDs can't compete with.
I remember the last time I was at a Wendy's. They had one of those newfangled customer ordering kiosks that McDs started, that was all the rage.
You know what it was? It was one of the registers turned around. Seriously. They were expecting me to ring up my own god damn order.
That was 5 years ago, and I haven't been back since.
BK, McDs, and Wendys are only surviving because there will always be the "I only have $4 and I'm hungry" crowd.
5 Guys is $15-$20 per person, but you eat a burger with real meat and lots of it, on real bread, with the specific real toppings you asked for, plus a metric assload of fries.
Worst fast meal I ever had? A 5 Guys in Ealing. At least, pretty certain it was. It was late, we were hungry, aching feet and we just wanted to eat and get back to the holiday let. Cold, unwelcoming building, staff who expected you to know the menu inside out (it was our first ever – and obviously last – time), bland food, and to top it off, one of the party spent the next day throwing up all over Buck House*.
Best burger I have ever had? The Bakewell Pudding Shop, Bakewell (duh!) and to complete the meal, actual Bakewell pudding.
The pudding survives the postal service quite well so, since we are no longer in the area, puddings are occasionally ordered for a treat.
M.
*Tickets to BH were "annual" so this gave them the excuse to revisit later in the year to see what they had missed the first time around.
"one of the party spent the next day throwing up all over Buck House." "excuse to revisit later in the year to see what they had missed the first time around."
I didn't initially read that as "missed seeing" – more identifying those parts that had escaped an emetic coating on the original visit.
It's been a long time since I have been there but the Bakewell Tart Shop was worth a visit too. Not as fancy (the shop too), and somewhat different to the pudding - Go to one for a sit down snack, and then try the other for a take-away?
Actually BK, McDs, and Wendys are all circling the drain because of their outmoded business model.
They're still stuck in the '80s-'90s trying to sell fast really cheap crap. Unfortunately, because of inflation, their stuff isn't so cheap any more, but it's still crap.
Just find a local place that serves good food and patronize/recommend the hell out of them. In my Midwest USA town there are fast foods aplenty, but the local hole in the wall bar serves the best burger anywhere (locally sourced meat, perfectly grilled to medium rare as requested) , and their specialty, freshly made potato chips (crisps to the right-ponders). They also keep a bottle of A-1 sauce on hand for my husband and I, since we asked nicely the first time we came in.
The only fast food we ever purchase is Popeye's spicy fried chicken, haven't found any other fried chicken to top that.
I'm not sure that's entirely true, most McD's I pass are very well frequented so they seem to be doing ok. Other fast food joints maybe not so much.
I'm not sure why, I think McD's has about the worst most tastekless food but the premises are usually cleaner (reletively) than BK or KFC. KFC for some reason are usually filthy.
These joints are emergecy stops for me, there is no pleasure in eating their wares.
They all rely on teenage staff working on low wages, expecting the poor buggers to smile as well is pushing it a bit far.
100% agree. I will not go into these junk food chains even if they were giving the stuff away.
Local restaurants, cafes and food vans I use a lot, same when I go away. I am fortunate enough to have a bit of disposable income so always tip well as I appeciate what they do. I will never spend money at a chain as it will no doubt be boring and tasteless crap sold by outfits that pay minimal tax.
Not to forget that the arsehole MBA's (but I repeat myself..) who think that upselling is a good idea. When this happens in a shop I will walk out. When I order something, assume I know what I want. If I wanted a doughnut or some other shite that you are trying to push on me, I would have bloody asked for one.
I am sad enough to email the company and tell them exactly why I did not spend my money with them, after all ''your feedback is important to us...'' If more people did this the fucking shitshow would stop.
Which means ?
Presumably "present" opposed to "absent" is intended to mean attentive.
As others have indicated the food in the these multinationals is not inexpensive (possibly "cheap"depending on your EN locale.)
In AU there are quite a few competing burger franchises in larger centres and in the small towns the perennial family business that does burgers, steak sandwichs, chicken, chips etc to order (che egg baconi extra;) - either of which for much the same outlay although taking longer, do provide something actually edible.
Currently Vietnamese "Banh Mi" is all the rage here. A shredded pork Banh Mi (Thit?) seems to be about the price of a Big Mac and I imagine considerably more pleasing. The lunch specials in our asian restaurants are invariably cheaper than a "burger and fries" in a multinational franchise.
Can I have Peas with cheese please = 3 x Please,
You want Peas? Fuck you = 1 x please + 1 x thank you.
"We believe hospitality is fundamentally human," the company rep told us. "The role of this technology is to support our teams so they can stay present with guests."
Maybe get rid of the giant screens that only sell 'meal deals' unless you hunt through the many sub menus.
Mines the one with a whopper, no cheese, no coke and no soggy chips in the pocket.
my daughter works for KFC (between career choices) and to be honest dealing with some customers which tempt even Mother Theresa to say "F@#k you"
Some of the things she has had to deal with
1. A complaint that therre was a hair on te burger, even though the hair was black and all the staff were blonde
2. Russain truck driver making sexually explicit comments
3. Threats of physical violence because the customer felt they did not get enough chips
To be honest with you after a 8 hour shift and dealing vast hordes of the unwashed with unrealistic demands (No the chicken is not hallal because the Bird throat slitter was off today) while churning out products that can only vaguely be classed as food, while deaIing with obsolete IT systems pressed on them by cheapskint franchise operators while basically getting minimum wage I'm impressed any that raise a response other than "kill me now"
> "it's not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts," the spokesperson said.
It's absolute about that. Nothing more. It's a stick to beat employees with.
When the revolution comes, after we've finished with everyone who needs to be up against the wall, we'll introduce laws forbidding companies from telling such bare-faced lies.
With declining traffic BK has stumbled onto one of the real world problems of fast food workers, they know nothing about hospitality, so I see this as a positive move.
hospitality in retail has died with this generation, if you are just taking the job for the money you will not want to understand hospitality but the customer is King, don't forget that.
> 4. Writing country music.
I am mainly electro, but sometimes, sometimes folks, there are things which you can only express with country...
Views tech as a way to compel employees/people to do what they want.
Another sort views tech as a way to unload employees, so they can do the job.
The second sort might have the please and thank yous offloaded to the AIssistant provided to each human.
They'd be no less sincere.
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