The company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness.
This is the worst timeline. 1984 was a warning not an instruction manual.
And Idiocracy was a comedy not a documentary
it was too optimistic
If only we lived in a world where the President of the United States went and recruited the smartest person in the world to solve the most difficult problems
In a way, that is what DOGE
attempted to bewas sold as…by people who don’t understand what smart is supposed to mean…andended up getting griftedwas really a grift, because that is as far as they all can imagine smart to be.DOGE was the grift, run by a grifter
They really did us a disservice being fucking hilarious the whole time
My SO works at a callcenter and they get dinged for the use of what they call “tragic phrases.” These include, but aren’t limited to:
- “Unfortunately”
- Words/phrases that imply uncertainty like “should”
- Words/phrases that imply non-commitment like “I can’t do that” or “that’s against policy” or “that’s not my dept”
- So-called sloppy words/phrases like “No problem” or “hold on just a sec”
Its fucking ridiculous. They pay some outside vendor for training and guidelines.
As a customer, I would feel much more comfortable talking to someone who doesn’t sound like they have a gun to their head.
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non-commitment like “I can’t do that” or “that’s against policy” or “that’s not my dept”
Ok, I’m not a native English speaker but… I have the feeling that they don’t know what non-commitment means. Unless it’s commitment to fuck the customer, but then, why bother to offer a call center?
I’ve come to accept that “no problem” is just some people’s way to say “you’re welcome” but I still really dislike the sound of it right after I say thank you for something completely normal.
Cashier: “Here’s your change.”
Me: “Thank you.”
Cashier: “No problem.”
My brain: “Oh… I didn’t even think it could have been a problem to hand me my change, but I guess I’m glad to hear that it was not in fact any problem.”
You aren’t speaking the same language, apparently:
I love to see that kind of intercultural reading being made. In good faith, I respect it and disagree with its internal logic. If you think help is expected of you, you will not offer any mention of whether or not it’s a problem for you, period.
What about people who say “my pleasure” or “I just came”
So…instead of AI doing the work…AI is going to be the Boss?
Fuck. That.
This is going to be the boring dystopia we all experience.
Jesus Christ. I don’t trust any syrupy cheerful, fake happy, overly polite, “I’m sooo sooorry you had the slightest inconvenience” type customer service. No, I’ve done that job. You know you don’t give a shit. I know you don’t give a shit. You know I know you don’t give a shit. We both know you can barely afford to live. The world is spiraling. Pretending otherwise is insufferable. Just be honest and give it to me jaded, bitter, and cynical like we both deserve.
The Fallout style corporate dystopia isn’t coming in the future. It’s today. It’s right now.
The Outer Worlds is more an active corporate dystopia of our flavor.
I went to Wendy’s the other day, and they have this automatic pre-recorded English-fluent woman cheerfully ask for your order. While an actual person didn’t indicate that they were ready, I know they won’t do a second intro message either way, so I started to order. A heavy spanish accent comes over the speaker “Fucking wait, god.” My only thought was “Fair enough” and I waited.
Whoever implements these systems is crazy. We don’t pay people enough to be policed that heavily.
That’s a very generous reaction to being cussed at for following instructions. I have no problem being asked to wait. I actually appreciate having someone acknowledge that I’m there by telling me to wait. But damn. Keep it classy.
Please do not, that’s disgusting, thank you.
I love you
Not at all dystopian. Orwell would approve!
Orwell was a British police officer in Myanmar, breaking up labor organizations and suppressing an independence movement, so…
Probably he would
Damn, you ain’t kidding, but at least he wrote all about it in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_Days
That style of moustache went out of fashion very rapidly after that photo
Pro tip to BK: I probably wouldn’t even notice the lack of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. I would, however, be significantly happier if you stopped making them say “You Rule”. Seems like they have to say it as both greeting and a “your order is finished”. It’s just unpleasantly cringey.
“Please, go fuck yourself. Thank you.”
Could do a compliment sandwich. You got really nice shoes. You’re appalling and pathertic. Fuck you. You got really nice watch.
I used to work for a consultancy that tried to bill themselves as experts in VR/AR. This is back in 2017 or so. We helped a client make a 3D tracking system with VR/AR applications, and this client let us kind of run with it.
Anyway, I was sort of head of this AR/VR thing, and we were always desperate for free advertising, so I somehow got pulled to provide my thoughts on the impact of VR/AR on the grocery store industry for an article in “The Grocer” or some other industry mag.
Leading up to the call, I was trying to think of what I’d say. My thoughts were on building out virtual grocery stores to test customer reactions before building them for real. Bring in some test subjects, see how they plan their route, how they react to different placements of goods. Track their eye movements to see if the new end-cap design is working. Time how long they spend in the store, etc. Are the aisles too narrow and claustrophobic. I got the idea from another client who was using VR to test out new detergent bottle concepts (apparently a one-off of a blow-molded bleach bottle is crazy expensive).
Well my consultancy had been purchased by a multinational conglomerate a year or so prior, so I got a phone call from some C-suite ass who wanted to brief me on what they wanted me to say to the magazine.
His idea was a service where you could have a store employee wear some kind of camera rig so the customer could sit at home in VR and pilot the employee around the store. This would essentially replace curbside pickup, but with the added benefit of “allowing the customer to pick which apple they want out of the bunch.”
I resolved to ignore that advice, but the whole magazine thing ended up falling through anyway. I quit within the year.
Forcing them to say please and thank you will not fix the issues with Burger King lol.
That is the shittiest fast food place. I loved it as a kid but it’s gone way down hill. The food is awful quality and the employees don’t care about anything because they aren’t paid a living wage. I stopped going a while ago when they gave me a drink full of moldy ice. I took my kid because he wanted to try the king of burgers. He was so disappointed lol
That is the shittiest fast food place.
Arby’s. Long John Silver’s. Subway. And Burger King isn’t run by overt bigots like Chick fil A. Not that they’re good or anything, but they’re McDonalds tier.
I took my kid because he wanted to try the king of burgers. He was so disappointed lol
Kid learned about royalty early.
Fuck I gotta stop doing to BK now too?
I can’t understand why anyone which is 20+ years old want to go to a fast food chain anyway.
If they need food, fast? I’m not sure what age has to do with it. Why would anyone over 20 not want to go to a fast food chain?
High blood pressure?
So no more Burger King then, great
