Rage Against The Machine

I'm always interested to see exactly when national debates which have been lingering under the surface manage to bubble back up and become a hot-button issue. For example, for years there has an on-going debate in this country about the Federal minimum wage level and whether or not it should be raised from its current place of $7.25 an hour, which is where it has been for four years (it should be noted that it is higher in certain states). Now, that number seems low until you do the math - which is when see that it is actually really low. The thing is, it is not like the national minimum wage hasn't been too low for a while but for reasons I can not explain in the last few weeks the issue has moved back to the forefront. Of course, minimum wage probably should go up and with the current groundswell of support it is more a question of when not if as well as just how high it will go. In the time before that decision is made the two side of the issue have been negotiating through the media. For example, the people who represent business think it should be raised exactly zero dollars and are stumping on nation news shows about how this will hurt small businesses. The people representing the workers think it should be raised to $15 an hour and to prove the point of just how valuable this service is to America many fast-food workers have been urged to stage one-day walkouts as a protest to show what would happen if they all quit en-masse. Now, I would advise them against doing that anymore because the sad truth is they will be replaced quickly and no one will notice. But even if their protest was successful and they get a raise they may still want to find a new job because the entire fast food service industry appears to be headed for a shake-up.

When it comes to fast food the name of the game is speed and even though some chains claim they can have you on your way in under five minutes there is still nothing faster than a vending machine, which will have you on your way within 30 seconds, provided nothing gets caught on the way down. The issue with machines like this has always been lack of variety but that appears to be changing. The other day I read a story about a vending machine in California which dispenses burritos. Now, there may be some of you out there who don't see this as a particularly big deal because getting food from a vending machine is nothing new. In the last few years vending machines have come a long way because now they can give you things like ice cream without having the entire thing turn to soup before you ever have a chance to buy it. But this machine doesn't just give you a burrito - it makes you a burrito. The machine comes equipped with all sorts of setting which you work your way through, choosing from five varieties and the normal sides your taste buds require when eating such a dish. Then the machine puts it all together for you and out pops a nice hot burrito for you to enjoy in less than a minute. It will even dispense little bottles of hot sauce or sides of sour cream if you want it to. Now, the machine doesn't have as many options as, say, your local Chipotle, but it certainly is a step-up from the vending machines which only contain chips and candy. Also, the vendor claims the ingredients will be as fresh as anything you would find at a place like Taco Bell (that feels like a low bar). And here I thought the day they figured out how to dispense sodas without shaking them up was impressive.

Currently the only machine in the state is located in a 24-hour gas station which sounds gross but I guarantee you these burritos are probably no more or less disgusting than anything else you would eat at a 24-hour gas station. That's why I think this idea could really take off. I mean, have you seen some of the people who make your food at your typical drive-through place? I know no one starts off with the ultimate goal of working in fast-food but some of them have allowed their circumstances to creep into their daily routines and it has impacted their job performance (that'll happen when you have been working at a place which was only supposed to be a temporary job and are still there 5 years later). In any other setting you would never allow them to touch your food but I think the fact customers get their food and go has allowed us all to place this fact in the "do not openly discuss" section of our social contact. Maybe I have seen too many episodes of "Kitchen Nightmares" but I'm pretty sure a machine is going to be as clean as any fast-food restaurant you go to. It certainly couldn't be any less accurate, which bring me to my next point - the world is going more automated. For some reason as consumers we constantly allow ourselves to be talked out of having someone else do a task that used to be part of the service and even worse, we have convinced ourselves the situation is better. We'e already replaced most bank tellers with ATMs and grocery baggers with self-checkout aisles, so why should fast food be any different? I certainly wouldn't say these places make my food better than I could, just faster. If they have figured out a way to cut down on the time difference it could only be a matter of time before the whole operation becomes automated.

Still, there is something to be said for having a human touch with certain things. I know that most fast food is extremely regimented, with the food showing up all cut and cooked already so that the workers there are not doing much more than heating and assembling, which any machine could be programmed to do, but they can still add a little bit of humanity to the process. I keep thinking about the time the woman making my burrito at Chipotle didn't think I was going to get my money's worth because I wasn't adding sides and (after she yelled at me for having too plain of a burrito) ended up giving me a lot of extra rice to make up the difference. You wouldn't get that from a machine which would just spit out the same portions every single time and charge you the same price as the next guy, regardless of how many sides you got. Not to mention, there is something of badge of honor among all the people who worked in food services during their formative years and lived to tell the tale. I never went that route (I feel like you either go food or retail, but that is another post for another time) but I have seen the stories swapped by people who spent their summers manning a drive-through and it is a bond which makes instant friends. Crappy jobs are a staple of growing up which is why, even though going to an automated system would probably be cheaper, just as fast and slightly more accurate, I can't see it happening on a large-scale system. There are some flawed systems which we should all be willing to put up with and the youth of America having jobs which are so awful it motivates them to never work in that industry ever again should probably be near the top of  that list.