Her Attitude Does Not Compute

(I’m a customer in a popular fast food restaurant, picking myself up some dinner after a night church meeting. This particular fast food franchise has added kiosks in all stores where you input your order, pay using a debit/credit card or cash, receive a receipt with a number on it, and then wait for your number to be called. You no longer give your order to the employees, which allows them to focus on cooking the food and handing out orders when finished in a quick and efficient manner. I’ve used them several times in the past and have always received my order within minutes. Just after I have processed my order, I stand off to the side, waiting for my number, when I notice a woman with four kids standing near the counter. She does not have a receipt.)

Employee: *walking around and checking on the status of customer orders* “Excuse me, ma’am, what’s your order number?”

Woman: “Oh, I’m still waiting to order.”

Employee: “Do you need help with the kiosks?”

Woman: “No, I want to order at the counter.”

Employee: “Oh, we use the kiosks now; it’s much faster, and we–“

Woman: *cuts him off* “I refuse to use something like that. I want proper, real customer service as the counter. Are you telling me you do not do that anymore?”

Employee: *clearly having no idea what to say* “Uh, well, we use the kiosks because it allows us to focus on—”

Woman: *looking quite annoyed* “I don’t care. I refuse to use technology. Don’t you know they’re trying to steal everyone’s jobs? This is just ridiculous!”

Employee: “I can help you with the kiosk if you don’t know what to do, but—”

Woman: “I absolutely refuse to use computers! They’ll put everyone out of a job! They’ll take over your job!”

Employee: “But ma’am, I can—”

Woman: *in full-blown rant mode* “I never use computers. Ever! They’ll put everyone out of a job! They’ll take over your job! I’m not going to shop somewhere like this; you’re not getting my money! I’m leaving!”

(She proceeded to storm out of the store with her kids in tow, leaving the poor employee — who looked like he was only about sixteen — looking quite confused. The surprising part is that the woman in question looked like she was only in her mid-thirties; how she refuses to use computers and modern technology in this day and age is baffling to me, not to mention that her kids likely use computers every day at school! Maybe new technology like kiosks will cut down on some jobs, but it will also create more — after all, someone has to fix the machines when they break down!)