4 ms·

I have an example that illustrates this. Just this morning I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. I gave my order, they entered it, and it showed up correctly

I have an example that illustrates this. Just this morning I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. I gave my order, they entered it, and it showed up correctly on the screen at the drive through. However, the order taker read back something completely different (than what they just entered). Since I saw that the order in the system was correct I ignored that and simply said "sure that's right." This is why I prefer an interface that bypasses the human order taker. They may say one thing and do another. Even in my case, they may have then thought "well he confirmed what I just said back, and that doesn't match what the screen shows, so I'll fix it to match what the customer agreed to." Then I would have the wrong order. That can't happen if I interact directly with the order system.

mrisoli 9y ago
English is not my primary language and I live in a country where I don't speak the local language which is not English, I have consistent issues with miscommunication. Once I went to a McDonald's and ordered some double cheeseburger with no onions, when the order came it was just the buns with no meat. Especially in a place like McDonald's where they serve several people familiar with the menu, the staff seems annoyed if you don't know what the ingredients of one of their menu items are and often don't handle specific requests well. It's not just language issues, my ex-girlfriend always asked a lot of questions when ordering at restaurants, sometimes checking with me, you can visibly see the waiter getting tired or annoyed because of this, not coincidentally, there is always some minor screw up with the order because they forgot to write something down. The same happens if you go to a restaurant with 20+ people and the waiter comes in to take everyone's order, the chances of making a mistake goes up.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  I know! Reading your food order verbally from a paper-printed menu to a human who needs to memorize or write it down and walk back to deliver it to the food prep area, seems to be such an error-prone and ambiguous way to order a product. Doubly silly that often the waiter will simply take the order and enter it right into some kind of computer or kiosk. Just give me the damn computer! It's shocking that the vast majority or restaurants still do it this way.
  - nkrisc 9y ago
    Red Robin lets order (and pay) from a kiosk at the table. The only problem with it is you're eating at Red Robin.
  - toomanybeersies 9y ago
    I guess it depends on what type of restaurant you're going to. If you're going to a cheap, fast service restaurant then sure, I'd like to have a tablet I could use to order from. But if I'm at a good restaurant, a server is actually part of the service. They can give you recommendations on dishes, and wine matches, and help you get exactly what service you want. Also the human experience is just part of the fine dining experience. It would be really strange if I want to Eleven Madison Park or Bouchon and they just handed me an iPad to order my food from.
    - Nullabillity 9y ago
      > They can give you recommendations on dishes, and wine matches, and help you get exactly what service you want. That just sounds like a very poor database.
      - arbie 9y ago
        It's actually a very rich database. It's not just simple pairings, but includes nuances that would take many different fields to capture: Dish X can be made vegan, but tastes better if you then order with extra seasoning.
  - gurkendoktor 9y ago
    Discovery can be bad too. If you don't eat meat or pork or whatever, you often have to go through the menu in O(n) and look for your options. And then maybe it's a dish they've stopped making months ago, but printing new menus would have been to expensive. (OK, that won't happen at McDonald's.) With a tablet, you could filter the list with a single tap. I've thought about building such an app a few years ago because I'd love to use it, but I have no idea how you could sell it to restaurants. It seems most places are too conservative and cash-strapped to tie themselves to proprietary tech.
- tootie 9y ago
  I'm a native English speaker and once received a Big Mac with no meat from a McDonalds in America.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
enos_feedler 9y ago
I remember when Google rolled out a hands free payment system at McDonalds and the identity verification step involved speaking your initials to the McDonalds employee. Despite so much automation (not even needing to pull out your phone) the system totally failed on the verbal interpretation of the initials: "Did you say "J" or "G"??" and gesturing the shape of the letter with fingers.
- userbinator 9y ago
  Relatedly, I've found it a little unfortunate that, whenever I'm asked to spell out something to a human, chances are the receiver has either never heard of the NATO Phoenetic Alphabet or doesn't understand it.
Spooky23 9y ago
Be careful what you wish for. The Burger King at the NYS Thruway rest stop just north of NYC has one. Think McDonalds has them on Long Island, but I haven’t used one. It’s awful — probably an order of magnitude more awful than dealing with a non-English speaking cashier. As with anything digital, it’s a sales funnel designed to trick you into ordering whatever their profit driver is. Have fun not buying a value meal.

mrisoli 9y ago

English is not my primary language and I live in a country where I don't speak the local language which is not English, I have consistent issues with miscommunication. Once I went to a McDonald's and ordered some double cheeseburger with no onions, when the order came it was just the buns with no meat. Especially in a place like McDonald's where they serve several people familiar with the menu, the staff seems annoyed if you don't know what the ingredients of one of their menu items are and often don't handle specific requests well. It's not just language issues, my ex-girlfriend always asked a lot of questions when ordering at restaurants, sometimes checking with me, you can visibly see the waiter getting tired or annoyed because of this, not coincidentally, there is always some minor screw up with the order because they forgot to write something down. The same happens if you go to a restaurant with 20+ people and the waiter comes in to take everyone's order, the chances of making a mistake goes up.

ryandrake 9y ago
I know! Reading your food order verbally from a paper-printed menu to a human who needs to memorize or write it down and walk back to deliver it to the food prep area, seems to be such an error-prone and ambiguous way to order a product. Doubly silly that often the waiter will simply take the order and enter it right into some kind of computer or kiosk. Just give me the damn computer! It's shocking that the vast majority or restaurants still do it this way.
- nkrisc 9y ago
  Red Robin lets order (and pay) from a kiosk at the table. The only problem with it is you're eating at Red Robin.
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  I guess it depends on what type of restaurant you're going to. If you're going to a cheap, fast service restaurant then sure, I'd like to have a tablet I could use to order from. But if I'm at a good restaurant, a server is actually part of the service. They can give you recommendations on dishes, and wine matches, and help you get exactly what service you want. Also the human experience is just part of the fine dining experience. It would be really strange if I want to Eleven Madison Park or Bouchon and they just handed me an iPad to order my food from.
  - Nullabillity 9y ago
    > They can give you recommendations on dishes, and wine matches, and help you get exactly what service you want. That just sounds like a very poor database.
    - arbie 9y ago
      It's actually a very rich database. It's not just simple pairings, but includes nuances that would take many different fields to capture: Dish X can be made vegan, but tastes better if you then order with extra seasoning.
- gurkendoktor 9y ago
  Discovery can be bad too. If you don't eat meat or pork or whatever, you often have to go through the menu in O(n) and look for your options. And then maybe it's a dish they've stopped making months ago, but printing new menus would have been to expensive. (OK, that won't happen at McDonald's.) With a tablet, you could filter the list with a single tap. I've thought about building such an app a few years ago because I'd love to use it, but I have no idea how you could sell it to restaurants. It seems most places are too conservative and cash-strapped to tie themselves to proprietary tech.
tootie 9y ago
I'm a native English speaker and once received a Big Mac with no meat from a McDonalds in America.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

enos_feedler 9y ago

I remember when Google rolled out a hands free payment system at McDonalds and the identity verification step involved speaking your initials to the McDonalds employee. Despite so much automation (not even needing to pull out your phone) the system totally failed on the verbal interpretation of the initials: "Did you say "J" or "G"??" and gesturing the shape of the letter with fingers.

userbinator 9y ago
Relatedly, I've found it a little unfortunate that, whenever I'm asked to spell out something to a human, chances are the receiver has either never heard of the NATO Phoenetic Alphabet or doesn't understand it.

Spooky23 9y ago

Be careful what you wish for. The Burger King at the NYS Thruway rest stop just north of NYC has one. Think McDonalds has them on Long Island, but I haven’t used one. It’s awful — probably an order of magnitude more awful than dealing with a non-English speaking cashier. As with anything digital, it’s a sales funnel designed to trick you into ordering whatever their profit driver is. Have fun not buying a value meal.