Farewell, the ashtray girl

Tonight I got to witness the wonders of technology first hand. You always read about the way that computers are replacing more and more jobs, rendering so-and-so number of people unemployed and la-de-da. Well, it’s a lot more real when you see it happen to a co-worker and friend.

We just installed a new cashier system, where every waiter directly inputs their order into a computer terminal, and then it automatically gets printed out in the kitchen, increasing efficiency enormously. Unfortunately, it also rendered the cashier person obsolete. And that’s all she knows. That’s it. That’s been her job depuis l’époque. They don’t really know what to do with her here, so they’ve just stuck her on sick-leave for a while. And now we’ve got a black touchscreen instead.