Eight to One

By Jim Hagarty
2016

When are the robots going to get here?

Of course, they are already here. ATMs, motion sensors, etc.

At one of our local McDonald’s Restaurants, 20 years ago, there was a bank of seven or eight cash registers and there was a human being standing at all of them at busy times of the day. And there were lineups at every till some times.

But things changed. That building was knocked down a few years ago and a new, more efficient one took its place. In this new restaurant, there were only three cash registers. The emphasis was now on the drive-through traffic which had increased over the years.

This summer, self-serve kiosks were installed. You can use a touchscreen to order your food and pay with a debit or credit card in the appropriate slot there.

Today, I went inside to get a coffee. There is now only one till.

The times they are a changin’.

Author: Jim Hagarty

I am a 72-year-old retired journalist, busy recovering from a lifelong career as an unretired journalist. This year marks a half century of my scratching out little fables about life. My interests include genealogy, humour and music. I live in a little blue shack in Canada and spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble. I am not that good at it. I also spent years teaching journalism. Poor state of journalism today: My fault. I have a family I don't deserve, a dog that adores me, and two cars the junk yard refuses to accept. My prized possessions include my old guitar and a razor my Dad gave me when I was 14 and which I still use when I bother to shave. Oh, and my great-great-grandfather's blackthorn stick he brought from Ireland in the 1850s. I have only one opinion but it is a good one: People take too many showers.