Same. The number of boycotts I can't join because I was already avoiding the company is really saddening lately

I go there only because they are the cheapest of the three places I can go to get lunch from work. I would never advocate for them though. The entire experience is ass from the service to the food.

Besides that if you need ai to monitor your people to make sure they're being polite you've already lost. Maybe work on making working there not an absolutely miserable experience.

I literally have not stepped inside of a BK in over 10 years. Not for ethical or boycott reasons. I just got tired of having stomach pain every time I ate there. They have the worst food of any restaurant fast or not. Their fries left a weird waxy dry taste in my mouth and their “burgers” felt like a stack of wet paper towels.

How people can still eat there is mind boggling.

If an AI can scam old people out of their retirement I dont understand how the drive through attendant isn't just replaced with an AI yet. I know easy to trick and all that but that's the one job most people hate at fast food. Add like 5 speakers so people can place 5 orders at once and then have the person go to work making food instead of taking orders.

Taco Bell has already automated the drive though orders at a number of locations. The staff still have to listen to the conversation to make sure the AI agent doesn't go off the rails. I bet they've got some fun stories

Because AI is more likely to say "fuck you" and then rant about how the Holocaust wasn't real.

That’s it! I’m going to Carl’s Jr instead.

Fuck you, I’m eating!

I prefer to be the one saying please and thank you. They're providing a service to me, not the other way around. As for my money, we both know most of it is going to the owner.

They could say "fuck you die" and as long as they didn't spit in my food I wouldn't give the slightest shit. I came for a burger not useless platitudes.

I hate living in a dystopian novel.

That sounds like something from a 40k novel.

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. Manna also had “help buttons” throughout the restaurant. Small signs on the buttons told customers to push them if they needed help or saw a problem. There was a button in the restroom that a customer could press if the restroom had a problem. There was a button on each trashcan. There was a button near each cash register, one in the kiddie area and so on. These buttons let customers give Manna a heads up when something went wrong.

[…]

Or, “Jane, when you are through with this customer, please close your register. Then we will clean the women’s restroom.”

And so on. The employees were told exactly what to do, and they did it quite happily. It was a major relief actually, because the software told them precisely what to do step by step.

Manna – Two Views of Humanity’s Future – Marshall Brain

I used to work in the service industry. Holy crap, do I end up extra nice to anyone dealing with the public.

I suppose it's my service industry persona coming out in a way. But I'll be extra patient, extra kind, use the name on their name tag, ask how their day is, do basic banter. Just generally be happy to interact with them.

• by buying and consuming our food you agree to everything in perpetuity.

But normal software doesn't make line go up 3000%, you understand

Why would you want something that is simple, energy-efficient, fast, and reliable... when you can use AI and have none of those things?

I bet the franchise owners are forced to purchase and use the AI.

I've been pushing to implement a "stupid bitch fee" for repeat offenders.

When the customer asks "what the hell is this 20% surcharge on my bill?!", employees are required to tell them that it's "an extra fee for having to deal with your stupid bitch ass".

Then, the carrot: "If you start acting right, we might consider removing your stupid bitch fee at a later time, pending approval."

The frontline employee would of course receive a large cut of the fee, say 75-80%, with the rest going to the business.

This would obviously be a win for everyone.

• The business gets that little extra bit of cash (it at least helps cover expenses incurred by stupid bitches doing stupid bitch things)
• the employee is compensated appropriately for having to deal with hazardous stupid bitches on the job (easy morale boost)
• the stupid bitch is punished for being such a stupid bitch using a language they might actually understand - money

Stupid bitches always seem to come back, so this could be a reliable income stream for any business with a stupid bitch problem, which is most of them.

I made my pitch to several area businesses, but I haven't heard back yet.

Yeah but it would take some amount of skill to set that up. With AI you can ask it how many times an employee said "please" and "thank you" and it will give an answer.

Of course the answer may be just made up, but you don't care, you provide the numbers to your boss and get bonus points for being hip to the new AI tech. Your boss doesn't care because the numbers all go into a database which another AI will "analyze" and the company can say they are a data driven AI native company and billionaires buy more shares. They don't really care either because at some point when they all see each other at whatever is the present day version of Epstein Island and they'll all decide to all short AI all at once. They make money on everything with AI hype when the stock go up and they'll make more when the whole thing crashes.

You just gotta understand how the tech business works!

I assume the employees in the kitchen have to yell pelase and thank you after someone orders through the kiosk.

Like the places where everyone has to yell welcome when someone enters. I turn around and go somewhere else when that happens.

If they’re wearing headsets I’m assuming it’s for the employees working the drive-thru

Some Burger King executive read this and said "A punny AI name, I like that! We should make one called Patty, get it?"

And then they did.

Ask your senators to stop subsidizing them with your tax dollars.

Though it was MacDonalds that lobbied for it, BK benefits too. Boycotting isn't enough.

You already did it! Congratulations.