Not sure if I like it, but maybe after a few more visits I might get used to it. One thing that was nice is that you type what you want and the food arrives exactly as desired. I hate chives on a baked Patato and many times after telling the server I don't want chives.....I get it with chives. If the system allows for 100 percent accuracy I will get used to it real quick.

You can take your time and pick exactly how you want to build your meal. We order Jimmy John's sandwiches for delivery at the office sometimes, building your sandwich online is so much easier and more detailed than trying to spit out special instructions at the register with a line behind you.

the wait staff?

Does one tip the machine too?


Might as well grab a chow tray and go through the chow line having them slop food on it, perhaps that is the future of dining in America.

that the machine can bring the food to the table and refill your drink. Wait staff will still be necessary.

But I'm with previous posters - if this leads to more accurate orders, I'm all for it.

Other than lecherous old farts at Hooters I can't think of too many folks who eat out expressly to interact with wait staff. The food and not having to cook or clean yourself are the point surely? I'm not paying store markup, gratuity and taxes for the privilege of exchanging a few forced pleasantries with some twenty-something would-be actress with whom I have nothing in common. I'm doing it for food I can't/don't want to make delivered to me in an environment I cannot/don't want to provide

This is quite the opposite of a chow line - it's a way to communicate requirements directly and reduce one opportunity for error in the process.

I've been to restaurants that have done this and it works great.

and frankly I when I dine out, I really don't want one more thing on my table. There is enough there already with the condiments, little promo signs and I push all that to the side as far as I can get it out of my way.

I put everything on the floor. I dislike cluttered tables.

The people that make quality abacus's have been getting hammered in the last hundred years. Damn Texas Instruments... bunch of efficiency driven assholes that are destroying abacus maker's jobs. Once I saw my friend's calculator run out of batteries.. HA! By the time he replaced them I had already solved the first part of a homework problem... sucker

anytime I use the self-check out means somebody is losing hours at work.

Is the touch screen on your restaurant table also going to deliver your food to you, and refill your water? The human staff is still needed. Same goes for self checkouts at the grocery store... Those touch screens wont stock the shelves, clean the isles, and at least in california you can't buy beer, liquor, or tobacco from them.

No doubt tractors put lots of farm laborers out of work, but as humans we tend to advance things, and some must adapt to that. We don't need to throw spears for food any more due to such advancements, and I am happy about that.

Not counting the fact that someone is out of a job.

The few times I have been in a restaurants that had them, the waitstaff seemed to really encourage their use because it makes their job easier. But I wonder if they really thought this through. 20% just to deliver my food a few feet? Refill my drink? I can see this killing tips.

Any waitstaff out there with experience care to chime in on what, if any, effect it has had on their tips?


Sparhawk

It's a way for businesses to divert money from their already shockingly underpaid waitstaff.

The argument that it leads to more accurate orders is a red herring. I simply don't believe that such errors are sufficiently commonplace or egregious to justify taking it out on the servers in this way.

Just another attack on working class America. That is also why I refuse to use self-check out lanes. I am not willing to save a few minutes at the cost of some working stiff losing his/her job.

Yep you even pay with the machine and if you want to lower 20 percent, you have to move it to 15 percent. I didn't bother and left it at the automatic 20 percent. It might actually benefit the staff....maybe.

devices have been part of the economy for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

While you can avoid using them, in the long run they may become de rigueur .

as pointed out, they can lead to more accurate ordering, fast and more secure checking out and may lead to faster service.

iPads (and other wireless devices), in some places, have taken the place of the tried and true waiter's order pad/ticket book.

It is up to you to decide if you want to tip and how much.