6.14.04
Outsourcing fast food
I've noticed recently that fast food drive-thrus are using a recorded voice to greet customers. Often times, these recordings are suggestive selling commercials you are forced to sit through before you are able to talk to a real person. Now, I'm not trying to be picky about the type of service I recieve from a grease-n-go restaurant, but I find it really impersonal to not even be welcomed by a live human. I can only assume that:
1. The drive-thru is soooo busy/lazy that they need help to simply say "hello" and state the current promotion...before they get your order wrong.
2. Corporations care so little about their customers that they feel that flesh and blood is worth too much to be wasted on petty, paying customers.
Likely, a little of both is probably true. The power of the dollar has been seen as the "root of all sorts of injurious things" for thousands of years. It wasn't until recently, though, that the injury has been boldly showing its insult face to face. While I'm not going to get into the whole debockle of [1]outsourcing, I've been very plain in feeling that a company's public face should not be the point of it.
Tech support (public face) should be peers of the customer they are supporting. Why? Simple. They are the ones that leave the lasting impression of anything further about the company and their service. Shouldn't the same ring true about fast food places? I already expect to get my order wrong by an ignorant teen that doesn't appreciate "work ethic." Now I have to get use to getting my order wrong after I listen to the faux person, without the lasting benefit of a warm, "Welcome Taco Bell. You wanna try our new chicken Chalupa?"
[1] Assumed outsourcing to other countries.
6:02 pm in stupidity | 1 person viewing0 ramblings so far