Maintaining Human Connections

“Will you be using your mobile app today?” Hearing that in the drive-thru rankles me even though employees are complying to training. I’ve been labeled a demand-resistant sorta soul, which explains my “By-golly-I-will-NEVER-be-using-that-mobile-app-since-you-obviously-really-want-me-to” attitude. (Now and then I have the slightly sinister inclination to download it just to order and pay for a large cup of ice water - if that would even work. But I digress).

That phrase WAS foreign to these ears. I didn’t hear it growing up for sure, so for a while I couldn't decipher the syllables recited over the wires, or wirelessly through the air, as is the case these days. If the spiel was too fast or staticky, I’d try politely to ask “Excuse me?” and I would hear it again, maybe slower and clearer, maybe not. Now I take a deep breath to quell the demand-resistant urge until it’s my turn to talk…to a menu billboard/screen that will start asking me if I’d like my usual when AI gets even more entangled in the process.

The whittling away of human interaction irks this boomer, so much so that I’m curbing my drive-thru habit. Parking my car and walking into a brick-and-mortar might be less bothersome if my joints have more practice. I’m retired. What’s my hurry? (Some days and/or in some locations, drive-thrus are not the way to receive refreshment readily - to get technical).

It’s been so long since I’ve entered some establishments with drive-thru lanes, that I might not be fully prepared for AI infiltration inside. Surely there could never be a walk-up kiosk that requests my order, delivers it to me via a robotic that ‘sees’ where I’m seated, then comes to whisk the trash away as I leave. You can bet if asked, “For here or to go?” that I will be staying to watch the show.