Chili's new touch screen devices For or Against?

[thesmokingtexan]

THere is a voice activated system it is called the Waiter Really thourgh those voice systems never pick up what I am saying. That is a whole topic by it self. Those dam auotmated phone answering services. AAARRGGG they make me so angry.....

 

[lochinvar]

Sounds kinda nasty. Just another reason I use cash, no germs, no fraud, minor threat of armed robbery.
As to the kids and restaurant behavior, my mother always said when we were out or had company, that was the proving ground. If we failed there, the lessons were stricter and rewards were taken away. Of course, I think I read the other day that, not only should you not spank, but you should not scold or put your kids in timeout. I think the kids from Lord of the Flies are conducting these parenting studies.

 

[woodsroad]

What y'all are talking about is exactly why I haven't left my house in over 13 years. The whole damn world keeps changing, but I just want to stay put. When I was a kid, the world never changed. It'd been the same forever. Then WalMart and the gubbmint got together with those vaccines and interweb stuff, now look at it. Whoop! Gotta go, just got a text that's more important than y'all.

 

[lordnoble]

Just another reason I use cash, no germs

Umm... Not quite. The cash is just as nasty.
-Jason

 

[dochudson]

in europe (spain, france, italy, greeece) our CC never left our table. we have normal wait service as far as orders but when it came time to pay the waiter brought a handheld device in which you scanned your own card and entered a pin# to pay.

 

[northernneil]

Well I guess I will play devils advocate. If the germs on the tablet are the main concern, how do you open the door to the restaurant? Do you handle cash ever? Are you afraid of public washrooms? These are all areas that I would assume carry just as many, if not more germs than the tablets mentioned in the original post.

Also, how would the germs on a tablet be any different than the germs on a debit machine or ATM?

 

[ddavid]

At BJ's, another chain restaurant, they made a new app that you can download on your phone that lets you pay from your own phone. But the waiters don't really encourage or push you into it, they just say if you use it you get five dollars off your fist purchase. I like this, although I have never used it, because if you are in a rush you can pay before the waiter comes to your table, plus five bucks off.

 

[redbeard]

Funny, I just went to chillies the other night and saw that. I recently read something so,we here about wait times being greatly increased due to technology taking the time of the customer. This is a way to keep your tables filled and people waiting which in turn looses you business by people leaving. I also thought it was pretty gross to be touching the screen, then picking up your food. But I am kind of a germ a phobe anyways.
And to answer the comment above, if you wash your hands germs are not that big of a problem. As long as you don't wash your hands then throw your towel away and open the door with your just washed hands, which is now dirty because not everyone washes their hands ad you just touched someone's pee.

 

[woopigsooie]

I agree with the posters who pointed out that there are lots of thing just as "germy" that we come in contact everyday. I actually like the things because it allows my wife and I to get the bill paid and get out faster. However, I can totally understand you being upset that you are nearly forced to use the thing.

 

[escioe]

As if one needs another excuse not to frequent Chili's.

 

[northernneil]

And to answer the comment above, if you wash your hands germs are not that big of a problem.

So would this theory not also work for the tablet then?

 

[lochinvar]

Listen Lordnoble, don't you talk about my cash that way! The little that is left is very sensitive, you'll hurt it's feelings

 

[thesmokingtexan]

And to answer the comment above, if you wash your hands germs are not that big of a problem.
So would this theory not also work for the tablet then?
-------------------------------
Yes I could wash my hands after but then I would have to get up and leave my kids at the table to do that. Also I could touch the inside of the toilet or walk around and let everybody in the restraunt suck on my finger and wash my hands after that and probably be alright to. But I am not going to do that.
Everybody that has eaten all day is touching the thing before during and after they eat. Not like the door knob where it is quickly used one time to open the door and granted yes somebody could leave some germs behind but it is little different than people immediately touching the screen after liking the sauces off their fingers. I don't know maybe I just don’t like change so I am making a bigger deal but it just seems so unsanitary.

 

[gregprince]

About 50 years ago my father worked for a major American corporation. One day he observed that the corporation was purchasing from overseas a product that they manufactured themselves here in the States. He came home and said, "That's the end of America as we know it, when we refuse to spend an extra nickel to keep our own people employed." He was a wise man.

 

[thesmokingtexan]

So true

 

[tuold]

I never used to be a germaphobe until recently. One of my coworkers at the hospital would always use his elbow to punch the elevator buttons because he didn't want to get germs on his fingers. It wasn't too long after he got a nasty staph infection on his elbow! His doctor told him to use his fingers in the future because they are designed to resist picking up germs from surfaces and elbows are not.
I also noticed one of the clerical staff consistently uses his pen on the elevator buttons. Trust the Lord but pass the hand sanitizer!

 

[woodsroad]

Hospitals are one big petri dish, rife with stuff just not found in most places. Sort of an arboretum of exotic bacteria. But if you limit your contact and keep clean, the risk is minimal. I worked in a hospital for six years, back before everyone wore face masks and gloves. I was a phlebotomist (drew blood). We didn't have sharps containers and nobody knew what AIDS was. I washed my hands constantly and never contracted anything, save when I stuck myself with a lancet and picked up the Hep C antibodies.
Most pathogens are anaerobic. They will not live very long out in the open air. As long as surfaces are kept clean (not even sanitized, but just free of detritus) and you wash your hands (not with anti-bacterial soap, just plain hand soap) you will be fine. The real conduit for infection is on the other side of the swinging door, in the kitchen. It's the stuff that you never see that will get you. The chef with Hep C, the dishwasher with his own excrement under his fingernails. The waitress with meningitis. The cole slaw that was in the salad bar for two days, and now it's a side for your under cooked hamburger.
Which brings up the other problem with eating out. They feed you crap that you would never eat at home. Chemicals, low quality ingredients, enough salt and fat to kill Chuck Norris. Stop looking at eating out as a treat. It's a dangerous place.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I went into a Taco Bell a few years ago that had replaced the counter person with a giant touch screen and an ATM terminal, so that you placed your own order and paid with either a debit card or cash. Then your food was slid through a slot. I hated it, and apparently so did most, as it switched back after a few moths of no one going there.

Back when I was a single, I would go to places like Taco Bell or WalMart just to have some interaction with people. And, I'm fairly sure these dumb ideas are from some manager suggesting that the job would be so much cooler if they didn't have to talk to the customers.

Doing business is about people. As much as online retail is killing B&M businesses, we seem to still need these interactive outlets in our society. But, it's a Catch 22. The more we buy online, the more we kill our social outlets. To save a buck, we kill our main streets, our interactions, our social skills.
In one more generation, we will be devoid of our socials skills and rely on handheld devices for everything ...just as the maniacal masterminds have planned, muah ha ha.

 

[thesmokingtexan]

Woodsroad - great now I'll never be able to eat out again. Ignorance is bliss.
Just joking I have worked in the fast food industry before in my youth and there are some preparation tactics that would make your skin crawl. Just for an example my first job when I was 16 was at a popyes fried chicken and to season the chicken I was told to dump raw chicken into the same sink that the dishes and everything else was washed put the seasoning on and flipp it around for 15 minutes then put it on trays so that it could be fried. I was not required to vela the sinks first. At the time I just did what I was told in retrospect that is disgusting.

 

[dochudson]

seriously the germ thing is way overblown. everyone that ate there always used the door handles to get in. that cash you are using is the worst offender of all most cash has enough cocaine residue that drug dogs can alert to it. unless the guy had an open sore on his elbow he didn't catch anything from using his elbow. are you guys licking the touch screens? never use ATMs? common sense is your friend wash your hands correctly with soap and water. how many guys you figure have hand their fingers in those bulk jars at the B&M?