McDonald's Partners With IBM To Automate Drive-Thru Lanes (cnbc.com) 118
McDonald's said Wednesday it has entered a strategic partnership with IBM to develop artificial intelligence technology that will help the fast-food chain automate its drive-thru lanes. CNBC reports: As part of the deal, IBM will acquire McD Tech Labs, which was formerly known as Apprente before McDonald's bought the tech company in 2019. McDonald's didn't disclose financial terms for either transaction. "In my mind, IBM is the ideal partner for McDonald's given their expertise in building AI-powered customer care solutions and voice recognition," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the earnings call with analysts Wednesday.
The Apprente technology uses AI to understand drive-thru orders. This summer, McDonald's tested the tech in a handful of Chicago restaurants. Kempczinski said that the test showed "substantial benefits" to customers and employees. In June, at the same conference where he disclosed the Chicago test, Kempczinski shared McDonald's strategy for tech acquisitions. "If we do acquisitions, it will be for a short period of time, bring it in house, jumpstart it, turbo it and then spin it back out and find a partner that will work and scale it for us," he said. CFO Kevin Ozan said that less than 100 employees will leave McDonald's to work for IBM.
The Apprente technology uses AI to understand drive-thru orders. This summer, McDonald's tested the tech in a handful of Chicago restaurants. Kempczinski said that the test showed "substantial benefits" to customers and employees. In June, at the same conference where he disclosed the Chicago test, Kempczinski shared McDonald's strategy for tech acquisitions. "If we do acquisitions, it will be for a short period of time, bring it in house, jumpstart it, turbo it and then spin it back out and find a partner that will work and scale it for us," he said. CFO Kevin Ozan said that less than 100 employees will leave McDonald's to work for IBM.
Buzzword Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
"If we do acquisitions, it will be for a short period of time, bring it in house, jumpstart it, turbo it and then spin it back out and find a partner that will work and scale it for us," he said.
That is the biggest stream of buzzword bullshit I have read in a decade. Why doesn't he just Walmart it while he's at it?
Re:Buzzword Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
The meaning of what he is saying is clear to me.
It is an effective strategy that delivers the technology that McDonald's needs without bloating them with long-term investments outside their core competencies.
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The synergy is between McDonald's ability to bring it into the house, and IBM's skill as a partner who knows how to work.
I thought it was clear enough. But then, I'm an IBM shareholder.
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Let IBM get the McFlurry machines [slashdot.org] working reliably first, then maybe they can upgrade the drive-thrus.
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If I get brain cancer and try eat at McDonalds, and IBM saves me, I'm gonna call that a job well done.
I doubt IBM would be willing to come near those machines. If McDonalds buys that company and spins it off to IBM, they're going to replace the whole PCB with something normal, they're not gonna fuck around with "fixing" it.
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Essentially, that the acquisition was meant to build the value of the startup they acquired and form it to meet their needs, and then kick the investment/f
They'll be sorry (Score:3)
IBM will squash it flat like other companies they acquire, and then McDonalds will have no support.
McDonalds should realize that they are in fact a technology company, like everyone else. That's why they have been putting microchips in their burgers ... impurifying our precious bodily fluids...
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I, for one, can't wait until the drive-through lanes misunderstand every other word you say and require constant repetition, just like our "AI" voice assistants and automated customer service phone systems used by most huge companies these days.
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The tech in advanced AI systems to recognize voice is pretty good. Notice how many auto-generated captions there are.
Not sure what system you're using but I'd love to see it. I've never used or seen anyone use a voice-capable device or customer service lines where they didn't have to constantly repeat themselves. Every time someone tries to impress me with "Alexa, turn on the lights", it's usually the 3rd or 4th time before the lights go on.
Also, auto-generated captions are absolutely terrible. Since YouTube got rid of user-generated captions, the quality has declined precipitously. In videos of Americans speaking English
Scottish voice activated Lift (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
The auto subtitles are pretty good these days, as are meeting minute takers. I note that for the latter, people start to talk in ways that the minute takers can recognize. In time, everyone will learn how to speak computer. If ye canno fit da shoo ta da fooot, fit ta fooot to da shoo.
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I, for one, can't wait until the drive-through lanes misunderstand every other word you say and require constant repetition
Isn't that the current situation though?
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I always found their touch screen menus a bit icky, but when COVID hit they became deadly too.
We may have to re-think replacing humans with touchscreens. I'm not sure voice control is that much better, because when it doesn't work the first thing most people try is removing their mask and shouting at it.
Why yes, Watson. (Score:2)
I would like fries with that.
Hot cherry bendover (Score:3)
This will bd a sad day when bored kids cruising in cars can no longer prank their classmates manning the drive in speaker . Such a right of passage to order a fur burger with French thighs and a hot cherry bend over
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Rite of passage
A ceremony of joy to celebrate the transformation of boys into men.
Or in that specific case, from maggot into cockroach.
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They can still prank the order-taker but it'll take the form of buffer overflows or 'and 1=1; drop table mcflurry_maintenance_log or something like that.
Re: Why yes, Watson. (Score:2)
Extra big-ass fries?
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Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson decide to go on a camping trip. After dinner and a bottle of wine, they lay down for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend.
"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replied, "I see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?"
Watson pondered for a minute.
"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets."
"Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo."
"Hor
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The cop asks Heisenberg "Do you know how fast you were going?"
Heisenberg replies, "No, but we know exactly where we are!"
The officer looks at him confused and says "you were going 108 miles per hour!"
Heisenberg throws his arms up and cries, "Great! Now we're lost!"
The officer looks over the car and asks Schrodinger if the two men have anything in the trunk.
"A cat," Schrodinger replies.
The cop opens the trunk and yells "Hey! This ca
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This site is for real ...
https://mcbroken.com/ [mcbroken.com]
The last time I went through a McD's drive thru (Score:2)
About 20 years ago, my kid was hungry. Hit a drive-thru, was told to go wait in the parking lot. 20 minutes later they brought out the cold greasy mess. Haven't been back since.
With the advent of "smart" phones, it should be easy to just order, go inside and pick it up.
Re:The last time I went through a McD's drive thru (Score:5, Insightful)
If you do it that way it's no longer a drive-thru. And it doesn't save time. The problem isn't the line of people waiting to give their orders either, it's the long wait afterwards that may happen. AI taking customer orders really doesn't solve any problems that customers have, it instead solves the problem of how to get rid of yet another minimum wage employee.
It replaces employees (Score:2)
Seriously, 1 company owns every apartment complex in a 30 mile radius of me (save a few slums where your car gets broken into nightly and your home daily). My rent went up 8% this year.
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You arrive at a fast food restaurant and see a long line of customers waiting to order. Which will get you your food first: standing in that line, or taking out your phone and ordering online?
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Ordering with the app can bypass the order intake process. But often there is only one employee taking orders and vending the orders. So the vending of the orders is slowed because there is not a dedicated picker for the dining room customers.
Taco Bell is better with this. The order taker will just stand there at a busy store and take order after order. Someone else picks and announces the food.
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Are you trolling? Which restaurant takes orders while there are orders ready to give to customers? I want the name and the address of that restaurant.
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That's not how it goes! The proper wording is this:
You arrive at a fast food restaurant and are in a maze of twisty long lines of customers waiting to order, all alike.
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When you say the problem isn't X it's Y, you've gravely misunderstood the problem.
The long wait afterwards is due to a delay in taking the order. If you can pre-order before you get to the speaker, someone can start 3 quarter pounders instead of 2 and have them done at the same time. If someone is ordering 4 different customized value meals, they can have it in while they are waiting.
You've simplified the problem to the cooking process and assumed that there's no way to optimize orders to make the cooking
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The scenarios was show up at the fast food place, place the order on a phone, then go inside. The food doesn't come faster that way really. It would work if you ordered from home and then drove over, a lot of places do that now. But when placing the order out in the parking lot isn't any faster than going inside and placing an order there it doesn't make much difference. Now, if the place is really busy, then waiting in line is annoying, but I haven't seen long lines in a long time. But maybe that's ju
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AI taking customer orders really doesn't solve any problems that customers have, it instead solves the problem of how to get rid of yet another minimum wage employee.
Drive-Thru Window hasn't been a discrete position in fast food for awhile from what I can see. Back when I was working in fast food (in high school, over 20 years ago) it was. But somewhere in the 5 or so years after that cordless headsets and battery technology advanced to the point it was practical to use them for an entire business day. So they started having the person who worked the window wear the speaker/mic on their head and sent them to do other tasks in the kitchen. Someone drives up they give the
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Drive throughs are usually faster, unless you've got one of the aforementioned wankers in the line (here in the UK, 9 times out of 10 they're in a Range
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G McDonalds already does this, with curbside delivery and in-store pickup via mobile app. Quality can still vary by location and time, but they are pushing people to automated forms of ordering to focus on speed.
(Speed is relative; quarter pounders are always slow [think 5-10 minutes], but in the time of COVID being able to park and not snake through a drive thru line and get food at curbside is nice.)
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There are stronger metrics at McD for fast/on-time drive thru orders. So those orders get priority.
It's an easy cheat to only have one register open and let customers stack. There is no sensor that tracks the number of grumpy customers waiting in line. So you are a sucker if you wait in line to order. Best to use the app, order from the parking lot and then go inside to pick up. Going inside only saves time if there are more than 6-8 cars in front of you in the drive thru anyhow. Or perhaps if the store
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With the advent of "smart" phones, it should be easy to just order, go inside and pick it up.
You literally can do that now. Probably not smart to judge an entire multi-national franchise based on a single data point from 20 years ago. Especially since I would describe McDonald's as "dry, stale, and acceptable" rather than greasy. You're not going to get a good hamburger there.
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With the advent of "smart" phones, it should be easy to just order, go inside and pick it up.
You literally can do that now. Probably not smart to judge an entire multi-national franchise based on a single data point from 20 years ago. Especially since I would describe McDonald's as "dry, stale, and acceptable" rather than greasy. You're not going to get a good hamburger there.
Ignore them.
Saying "I don't go to McDonalds" then slagging them off is right up there with "I don't even own a TV" or "I'm a Vegan" on the wanker point scale (Double Snob Score if you also include the word "Ethical"). McD's has improved a lot in the last 20 years but even back in 2001, it wasn't that bad. Realistically you'll get better burgers at 5 Guys, but often I don't feel like driving into the town centre, parking, paying £15 + £2 for parking and spending half an hour when I just want a
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Incidentally, the Apple Pies at McDonalds have gotten really really good lately.
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Counter Automation (Score:4, Interesting)
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I *love* those things! One less possibility of a "lost in translation" error with my order.
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I *love* those things! One less possibility of a "lost in translation" error with my order.
Indeed. I always prefer a kiosk over a human. Less chance for errors and less Covid.
I enjoy human interaction, but I prefer mine non-transactional.
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I'd take a human, the kiosk is probably covered in COIVD. Any surface that is high traffic, has people touching it all the time, people breathing all over it, is a danger zone.
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I'd take a human, the kiosk is probably covered in COIVD. Any surface that is high traffic, has people touching it all the time, people breathing all over it, is a danger zone.
I thought we were past this. COVID isn't commonly spread by surfaces, but by airborne transmission. [apnews.com] That's why it's important to wear a mask.
Standing in front of a living, breathing person seems like a higher risk. It's trivial to wipe down a surface and wash your hands. It's much more difficult to clean the air.
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One less possibility of a "lost in translation" error with my order.
Not when speech recognition is involved.... The computer is just as bad at that as the people on the other end of the drive-through speaker.
And most people can't navigate their cars precisely/accurately enough to use a touch-screen from the driver's seat.
So I'm not sure how they're expecting this to have good results.
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Wait? They have these in drive thrus? I was referring to the ones in the lobby. I know McDonalds and Taco Bell both have them. Not sure who else.
Touch screen in a drive thru would be insane. Just use their damn app and be done with it.
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That happened to me two months ago.
Re: Counter Automation (Score:2)
So you want it so pranksters can order 999 hamburgers and Mc Donald's to start making them before payment?
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Does anyone like the automated kiosks they have inside instead of a person behind the counter?
Yes. They are nice because it's a lot easier to see the full menu (which is doubly useful in foreign countries).
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Everywhere in Maccas in Australia. I love them it speeds things up.
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I think the kiosks should have a mode where it goes to the standard point of sale interface that the orderer taker sees. Some millions of people already know how to use that interface and it allows for adjustments to orders quickly.
Happier and happier! (Score:2)
Yay! Another terrible, terrible wage slave job disappears as a curse of humanity!
Oh how some politicians hated those jobs and rose to power decrying them! Well, we should all be happy now.
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IBM? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm guessing the next we hear about this will be when they pull the plug because IBM couldn't deliver the goods. That seems to be the standard IBM contract these days.
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The AI will, however, be able to tell the customers that they can't produce milkshakes because the mlkshake machine is broken.
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"Livable wage" (Score:4, Insightful)
Advocates of the buzzword "livable wage" take note; this is what a livable wage looks like.
It's absurd to expect all jobs ( regardless of skill level ) to expect to pay enough for a single parent to raise some kids on it. We understood, not that long ago, that there are some jobs which just aren't that valuable...which is why they were appropriate for teenagers. You cut your teeth on those jobs, then went on to "bigger and better" things, thankful to never have to work that job again.
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I don't disagree, but right now so many restaurants can't get people to work at any semi-reasonable wage, that automation might be the only way some of these places can stay in business. Even at $15 or $20/hr, a lot of restaurants near me simply can't get people to work - the government pays them more to NOT work.
Re:"Livable wage" (Score:5, Insightful)
Even at $15 or $20/hr, a lot of restaurants near me simply can't get people to work - the government pays them more to NOT work.
The govenrment stopped paying people the extra pandemic unemployment back on Labor Day [cnet.com], and those states which cut unemployment before the federal government did saw no job growth from people filling jobs [nytimes.com] once those benefits were cut.
Further, despite what employers are saying, people who do apply for jobs [businessinsider.com] either don't get an interview, or aren't hired anyway.
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Re:"Livable wage" (Score:4, Insightful)
Talked with a long-time server at one of the nicer local restaurants lately, and he said that another local restaurateur had reacted to the pandemic by offering servers $15/hr plus their tips. He essentially sucked up all the best servers still in the industry in town, unless they had long-time customers who were attached to certain restaurants and would always request to be in their section (like we do with him). Because even if you get great tips, an extra $13/hr over "server" minimum wage adds up fast at $100+/shift. You have to have a large client base that is loyal to you as a server but wouldn't drive to another restaurant 20 minutes away to eat with you.
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Give them some time to fail and then re-evaluate your position.
Re:"Livable wage" (Score:4, Insightful)
that there are some jobs which just aren't that valuable...which is why they were appropriate for teenagers.
That's why all these fast food and retail outlets are always closed between 7:00am and 4:00pm - so their workers can go to school.
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that there are some jobs which just aren't that valuable...which is why they were appropriate for teenagers.
That's why all these fast food and retail outlets are always closed between 7:00am and 4:00pm - so their workers can go to school.
That's why those periods are worked by retirees or women whose kids are old enough to be in high school. Or the 20-something that lives on mommy's couch, spending what disposable income he has on pot, Cheetos, and X-Box points.
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UBI, the only remedy. I get it that we need a livable wage. But if you make it so that only business models with low risk and high profit are able to exist, the economy will get worse and quality of life will plummet. Think about what will happen to people who provide services that many people barely need? For example, if it costs $1000 to get a lawn mowed, many people would just do it themselves. Who loses? Someone who needed $50 and would have mowed your lawn for $50 loses. If it costs $1,000,000 to open
Netherlands does it just fine (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, why do you care? If it's just a few teenagers what does it matter if they're paid more, and why are you even talking about single moms?
Oh, and it's been proven that high minimum wages don't cause unemployment [bbc.com]. Guy won a Nobel price. Peer reviewed up the Wazoo.
And before you bring up that tired old talking point about the Netherlands not having minimum wage, their gov't negotiates high wages for all employees on their behalf. What the hell else would you call that when the gov't is setting the wage if not a minimum wage?
These long since debunked talking points getting modded up by bitter angry dudes who've got sweet ass jobs they've had since the 90s are getting tiresome as fuck.
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Oh, and it's been proven that high minimum wages don't cause unemployment [bbc.com]. Guy won a Nobel price. Peer reviewed up the Wazoo.
The link you provide does not say that the findings concluded that high minimum wages don't cause unemployment. From the article:
No job loses is not the same as having no effect on unemplyoment. The results concluded that introducing a minimum wage did not
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It's absurd to expect all jobs ( regardless of skill level ) to expect to pay enough for a single parent to raise some kids on it.
No it is not.
If you think otherwise you are an arsine asshole and should be removed from this planet.
Re:"Livable wage" (Score:4, Interesting)
In Norway McDonald's pays $20-25/hour, and more for unsociable hours. They have not been replaced by machines yet.
The food costs the same as it does in the US too.
Higher receipt totals, perhaps (Score:2)
The food costs the same as it does in the US too.
The price of a Big Mac may be similar, but you won't find a Dollar Menu in Norway. For that reason, I'd suspect that the receipt totals are higher in Norway than in the US, as customers are pushed to select a double cheeseburger due to the nonexistence of the McDouble.
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I think the $25/hour wages more than make up for the loss of the dollar menu.
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You can set a different minimum wage depending on the age of the employee. That's how it's done in .nl: teenagers get the opportunity to do an entry-level job, adults are considered to need a livable wage.
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Advocates of the buzzword "livable wage" take note; this is what a livable wage looks like.
It's absurd to expect all jobs ( regardless of skill level ) to expect to pay enough for a single parent to raise some kids on it. We understood, not that long ago, that there are some jobs which just aren't that valuable...which is why they were appropriate for teenagers. You cut your teeth on those jobs, then went on to "bigger and better" things, thankful to never have to work that job again.
For those of us who live in countries that pay livable wages... We know this is utter bollocks.
Even in the US, I've never been to a fast food restaurant there staffed by spotty faced youths you'd find here in the UK, it's usually latinos who work for sub-livable wages because they've no choice. Even here in the UK the standard of living has improved so much that the pool of school aged labour isn't nearly big enough to meet the demands of the fast food industry. Kids aren't "cutting their teeth" working
Squeezing the shit out of a buffalo nickel (Score:2)
Understandable (Score:1)
IBM did help the Nazis to automate their lanes as well.
Yay! We can have McFlurries now. (Score:1)
Go Watson! I knew you were good for something! (Score:2)
Next up, Watson gets the Nobel peace price
But will they be able to automate... (Score:2)
Automation isn't coming (Score:2)
If you think you're safe your not. Every single employer is gunning for your job.
And if you do survive the layoffs good luck surviving the social strife that's coming. Here's a guy literally calling for an armed insurrection [i.redd.it] in broad daylight. You don't do that when you're running not running out of stuff to lose.
And then? (Score:1)
And then?
AND THEN????
McDonalds has gone mad (Score:3)
At my local McDonalds, they turned off the front-order kiosks "due to covid safety protocols".
They also eliminated the human cashiers due to staff shortages. Literally, there's a sign by the drive-thru telling you to park, order via the app, and proceed to the window ONLY after you've ordered & paid.
Here's the catch: their Android app refuses to run on rooted phones.
Just in case you missed the logical connection... there's no longer a way to order without using their app, and their app won't run on a rooted phone. So, if your phone is rooted, you're now banished from McDonalds.
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First, my local McDonalds(and all other McDonalds nationwide) still accept drive thru and walk in orders, meaning your issue is entirely local to one specific store.
Second, I just downloaded and installed the McDonalds app on my rooted Android phone. This means that your issue is with your phone, specifically.
This is the definition of a Personal Problem.
Re: McDonalds has gone mad (Score:2)
Are you using Android 12? Magisk can hide root and pass SafetyNet with Android 11, but Magisk's author removed root-cloaking on Android 12 after getting hired by Google.
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Interesting.
An App should not be able to tell if a phone is rooted or not.
So much to Android "not gathering data".
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Same with many games and banking apps. The irony is they're more than happy to let me access their services on my PC (or if they have one, their website using a browser on the same phone!), but heaven forbid I do so on a rooted phone. It's nuts.
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Magisk Hide
John Wu removed Magisk Hide a few months ago: https://www.xda-developers.com... [xda-developers.com]
Replace The Cooks. (Score:3)
They are the ones who spit in the food.
Intercom!! (Score:2)
Step 1: install a decent intercom system where people can actually hear each other, rather than the virtually universally standard shitty intercom that everyone but Chick-Fil-A uses!
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Why is an intercom required at all? Just speak to the person who's standing in the window anyway.
Re: Intercom!! (Score:2)
I don't even bother ordering at the drive through anymore. I use the phone app and either go in my get it or just tell the drive through operator that I ordered online, SPECIFICALLY to avoid communication issues due to shitty intercoms or shitty English skills.
Haha, drivethrough should be fast (Score:2)
A: I'm sorry Dave I can't do that (Score:2)
Q: HAL I'll have a McFlurry please.
Maybe they should get IBM to fix the soft serve machines.
I see: ROI (Score:2)
So, not only do we almost not need ditch diggers, we'll not need anyone at fast food.
So, tell me, McD's CEO, who's looking for ROI, exactly where are people who don't have college degrees supposed to get a job?