The Future Is Now!
According
to Jaunted, Sydney, Australia, (Down Under, Bottom of the World, just go south
till you hit it, if you see penguins you went too far) has moved ahead of the
once mighty United States in the quest to make the Jetsons era a reality.
The Aussies
now have robo-restaurants. Well, not completely robotic - there's no robot
waiters or robot bus boys, or sadly - robot bartenders, but they do have touch
screen menus and ordering. That's pretty much completely awesome.
I was a
little too young for the whole automat craze, if indeed it was a craze, back in
the day. I always loved these restaurants in the movies and wanted to get
little dishes from small compartments in walls. I've suggested doing our
kitchen like an automat but Mary has, somewhat inexplicably, refused to let me
proceed with my plans. She seemed less than enthusiastic about my plans to redo
the family room in the style of an Egyptian tomb, too. Women....
Anyhoo, this
new, twenty first century version of a restaurant is better - since the food
isn't sitting in the little compartments all day, for one thing and it will do,
at least till we get robot bartenders. You check out the screen, order what you
want and when it's ready, a human (couldn't they at least put them in robot
suits?) will bring it to you. I see this as something that I wouldn't mind
whatsoever for a low or mid range sit-down restaurant like say a Chili's or
Mimi's. Definitely wouldn't like it that much for a fine dining restaurant. Though
there have been some wait staff in a couple of trendy spots that would have
given a computer a run for its money in the impersonal service department.
For that
matter, why don't fast-food emporiums have touch screens with a slot to swipe
your credit card? Seems more efficient and don't forget the benefits inherent
in the I-Don't-Have-To-Deal-With-A-Sullen-Teenage-Counter-Service
kind of way.
