It is an awful - anti human trend. When I traveled through Europe, I stayed at a London airport hotel where ATM type bots took care the check-in/out process. My flight was cancelled and the airline assigned to hotel to me. It was awful and I felt demeaned. Not much choice in this case.
The next leg took me to Madrid. At the airport, and boy I was hungry, was the familiar MacDonald sign... and I was going to treat myself with a dose of yummy poison - something I do maybe once a year... However, approaching the counter... there was none. It was an ATM order bot, pay with card only. I felt used, unappreciated, like cattle being led to slaughter. I did not order anything and went to a Spanish food place a hundred yards further.
I also shun the automated supermarket check out machines. Where are the people who depend on jobs like check out clerks. Have they been found to be no longer needed? Who decided that?
While the CFO and HR or a company may decided that, we do -- too by using it. I will NOT support the disposal of human work and a friendly smile in exchange for a soul less, cold, money hawking machine that serve no one but heartless people.
Who then is able to pay for the goods sold using a bot. It's not the struggling mother of two who depended on her job in the hotel, at Mac Donalds, or the supermarket.
I have nothing against automation and technology. In fact, I am a techno gadget kinda guy. I love my toys. I love inventions that support humanity. I despise those that put hard working families out of a job and into poverty.
Let these people know, folks! Vote with your wallet. Do not use their degrading 'services'. Remove them from the landscape, those cold businesses that have lost their humanity. Because who is next?
ch @globocop