Editor’s Note: When Ethan texted me to ask what topics he should write about in the coming weeks, my default response was to rack my brain for the topics I’ve recently debated with Jon and friends. When he asked which topic would resonate most with Jeff, well… that was much easier to narrow down.
Overall, I would view this post as a satirical rant. Having worked at McDonald’s, I want to both punch Ethan and nod along while I use the points in my app for a free hash brown. Maybe this inspires a certain someone to write a counterargument article? Who knows. Either way, I regret everything; enjoy rage reading.
AI has created quite a mess not only in the job market but in the overall economy. Companies are leveraging themselves to death to deliver the economic abundance needed to build data centers and infrastructure to accommodate dramatic technological shifts. Some people, myself included, have genuine concerns about what physical outcomes AI will have in our everyday lives. How much will this displace people in the job market? Will there be a necessity for universal basic income? Will AI invade the internet and create machines to rise against the human race? Some of these fears are more warranted by the evidence than others. However, I do think it’s important to be optimistic and acknowledge the major benefits this technology could offer. Better healthcare, infrastructure maintenance, self-driving cars. All of these things have a worthwhile argument to be made if AI can deliver successfully, but for the sake of the common person and a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, there is one industry I’m ready for AI to rule over completely. The fast food industry.
Something very important has been lost among my fellow Gen Z’ers. We have lost the ability to have enforced gratitude. As a 27-year-old husband and father, I’m no stranger to how difficult life can be, and I understand the complaints of many young people who are struggling. Yes, everything is more expensive, the job market is extremely competitive, and the American Dream feels like a myth in the rear-view mirror. My biggest annoyance with people genuinely concerned about these problems is that they offer no solutions to the problems they complain about. I hate to sound like a boomer (the most naive generation in American history), but there is value in the “pull-em-up-by-the-bootstraps” argument. This rule doesn’t guarantee success—some people genuinely work hard and have little fruit to show for it. I want to say, point blank, I have all the sympathy in the world for those people. However, the people for whom I have very little empathy, regardless of age, sex, or belief system, are the people so lazy they can’t even get my fast food order correct.
A long time ago, people understood work. There are starter jobs, and then there are careers. An argument in today’s culture is that everyone should be able to afford whatever they want, regardless of the job they work. To most, this argument is laughable, but unfortunately, a loud minority who will go to their grave with this belief. Some fast-food businesses have stayed successful because they know their job: Take the order, make the food, and give it to the customer. For something so simple, we still have too many horror stories today about trying to get a good meal after a long day of work, only to have the order wrong because the people working are too busy on their phones and hitting their vape pens. It’s time we let AI take control over these simple responsibilities.
To be blunt, there is no excuse for getting a freaking McDonald’s order wrong today. Apps on our phones now take over a third of that responsibility. I CAN GIVE YOU THE ORDER! At this point, employees’ only responsibility is to prepare and hand the order through a window. I hate to sound like a jerk, but seriously?! Why is this controversial? Apps and online ordering have made it so fast-food workers literally only have one thing to worry about: the quality of their product. Yet this opinion will be looked at with disgust because “I’m discounting people’s lived experiences.” You know who has the most right to be angry? The pilgrims who still take their precious time to walk into an establishment and still have to say what the workers screwed up. These situations are incredibly uncomfortable. No sane person enjoys going up to someone to say, “Hey guys, this order is wrong.”, only to be met with a look of disgust because you dare to say someone failed. If you’re someone saying that “apps have made things worse,” I feel for you, because I sense you were not properly loved as a child. Let’s not forget the points associated with online ordering that allow for those little wins. The free hash brown, coffee, or quarter pounder. What, you hate free stuff in exchange for making their job easier? Please grow up. You bet, you better be giving me free stuff in exchange for eliminating the workload, with the fact that you screw it up 10% of the time.
I’m being provocative just for the sake of it, admittedly, but am I wrong? I get life is difficult, but can’t we have the simple pleasure of not worrying about a wrong fast food order? Apps are a step in the right direction, but it’s time for the robots to take over. Whatever it takes to get a McDouble and a large fry with no fear of failure.