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 so fucking stupid. I’ve worked in hospitality, saying please and thank you just comes with the territory no one needs to be checking if you do it.
In a cafe that’s the whole service (in my country at least): being friendly to people, and providing a nice place to hang out and have a coffee, the actual beverage is secondary.
Saying please and thank you is such base politeness. You can easily be rude or cold even when you do use them, and conversely, be absolutely lovely without using them at all.
People don’t go to burger king for the pleasantries, the amount of politeness you should expect is the same as anyone else walking down the street.
Policing politeness with technology is stupid. People should ask each other how they’re going genuinely. Not from a place of corporate greed.
Fuck this capitalist dystopia.
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
I’m currently watching Handmaid’s Tale for the first time (the show, not the movie. I haven’t seen the movie). I’ve never read the book either so no spoilers please. Anyway, it’s eerie how many things are lining up. Like you said, supposed to be a warning, not a guidebook.
I feel like I’d have an existential crisis if I started watching that show these days. Good luck.
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?
God dam, that’s horrible. Unfortunately it’s not my department but I should let you know your not alone, now hold on a sec while I transfer you to purgatory
I’m so glad I can mouth off to customers in my line of work, not that I abuse the privilege but sometimes a customer needs to be told they are a fucking idiot and they could of flooded or burnt the place down.
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”
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.
Clutch those pearls harder m8
So…instead of AI doing the work…AI is going to be the Boss?
Fuck. That.
And middle managers everywhere don’t see the writing on the wall somehow.
Thing is, I’m sure they do. But they’re middle management so they can’t do shit about it. Executives that think this stupid shit up have their heads so far up their ass they don’t understand how incredibly dumb their ideas for what AI does actually are.
Idk, one of my co-workers on another team specifically brought up to their manager that what it’s currently being trained to do is basically a majority of the managers job and he didn’t get it.
Maybe he does and was just playing it off though 🤷
Well some people are just stupid too lol. I bet most of them see that threat. Some also want to try and be the one that stays behind because they did all the AI stuff not realizing it’s all going to fail lol.
I don’t think it’ll completely fail, you are overestimating the average middle manager ;)
Sure. Some of it does work. I use AI all the time which is why I know how bad it is at a lot of things. x)
It’s going to fail to provide the absurd gains these idiots executives keep claiming. Of course I suspect all the layoffs and stuff they’re doing, they’re just using “AI” as a cover for their own incompetence (over hiring during COVID among other things).
My joke was less about how good AI is and more about how bad most middle managers are :p
This is going to be the boring dystopia we all experience.
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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.
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.
Does “thanks, mother fucker, have shit ass day, and please go fuck yourself” bring up my numbers?
The AI says you have a 120% compliance rate.
Damn, beat me to it. As a former cook, I support this message.
I love you
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.
Using humans like robots, what a wonderful idea!
Please do not, that’s disgusting, thank you.
That sounds like a big steaming violation of workers rights.
Is surveiling workers fine where this is planned to be executed?
This will be a US only thing. Because as you said everywhere else has laws.
McDonald’s really isn’t much better, and really there’s not much stopping them from recording everything and deleting it after it’s seen review. Basically just more reasons to try and fire people then not pay for unemployment insurance it appears.
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.
If they want to lean more into the branding, they should do something like make the BK uniforms more regal. I’m thinking flowing robes, little plastic crowns, that sort of thing.
plastic crowns, I’ll settle for nothing short of genuine gold and gems, thank you very much.
“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.
