When I stay in a hotel, the receptionist's job is to stand nearby while I type my reservation details into a panel. When I pay at the supermarket, the checkout

When I stay in a hotel, the receptionist's job is to stand nearby while I type my reservation details into a panel. When I pay at the supermarket, the checkout person's job is to stand nearby in case I have trouble with the self-checkout machine. When I walk through the gates on the metro, the assistant's job is to stand nearby in case the tap-to-pay machine malfunctions. When I stand on the rail platform, I grit my teeth when the automated tannoy announces "sincere apologies" for the late running service. When I take delivery of mail, the delivery guy's job is to beep the barcode and take my signature on a touchscreen. When I get an Uber, I wonder if the driver is aware that we are both helping Uber build the databases intended to power their driverless cars. Robots can help or hinder, but it is their owners who are steadily depersonalising our daily experiences, particularly for city dwellers. They are determined to de-skill the remaining human workforce in pursuit of ever tighter margins. This will continue until the humans are so obviously obsolete that it becomes literally unimaginable that such roles should continue.