Today's Poll: Are you concerned that a robot could take your job?

See "New McDonald's In Phoenix Run Entirely By Robots - News Examiner" at http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/

Now, if the programmers can just figure out how to 'dumb-down' the circuits of "Robbie & Roberta", to avoid them from self-assigning 50% maintenance hikes, we'll be just fine!

Ah!! Ya just gotta love the quotes from 3 Phoenix-area residents about their thoughts about MickeyD's robots, from http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/

[resident 52-year-old Tom Downey said] “Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to get a burger job. Just the thought of having to go to the state unemployment office and stand in line with those scumbags!”

[resident 42-year-old Milton Waddams opined] “The McDonald’s had my resume, I already completed two job interviews there and they said I was scheduled to work once the new store opened but they never called,” Waddams said. “I need a job I said, and I was told by Betty in HR they have my resume on file, but they never called, and Sandra told me to talk to Bill, and then I hear of the robots instead of regular humans and that’s not what I asked for. And I need the job I told them, but there’s robots, so now I’m going to have to find another place of employment. And they were big giant robots, and I said no, no robots at McDonald’s. I could set the building on fire.”

And, finally, [from the self-proclaimed 'people-person', former grill cook, Tom Smykowski], “You know there are people in this world who don’t have to put up with all this,” ... “You have to use your mind and come up with some really great idea. If anyone should know this, it’s me. I’m a people person, how many times do I have to say this? I deal with the damn customer so they don’t have to make their own burgers. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people!”

I gotta think that, if it just weren't for those "damn customers", Mr. Smykowski would be having a much better day. Afterall, he IS a people-person.

When people say they need $15 per hour (minimum) to work at a fast food place, this is what might happen. The trend has been around for awhile. ATM's and self checkouts have replaced people and cut cost.

I get flustered trying to do self-check-out at Top's. I've tried it three times with only a dozen or so items in my cart each time and inevitably the clerk has to come and bail me out. The people waiting for me to finish have that dead-eye "she's a moron" look on their faces, or at least that's what I self-consciously perceive.

I actually developed "tennis elbow" from folding towels at Bed Bath & Beyond, where I worked for about four years in Oxnard, Ca. ("Oxnard -- not just another pretty name.") After moving to Bakersfield, my arms continued to ache for months. It took at least a year for the tendonitis in my elbows to heal and today I have no feeling in the pinkie on my left hand. The nerves were shattered from all the thousands and thousands and thousands of towels I folded over the years. The towels in my own closet are, of course, professionally folded by myself, having honed the shelf-perfect appearance with pure elbow grease. A robot can't come close to my peerless towel-folding skills.

My job is making random inane comments on the Batavian. A robot could have done it except Publisher Big Howie-O knows about bots and I aint one. Although I'm not unaware that it could be an improvement if I were. It's that impulse control thing, I don't have it.

Whatever you do George, don't ever call Howard "Howie" or "Big Howie-O" to his face. I don't think he would have impulse control.

That is a term of endearment Ms Billie Jo Owens. And besides I would have to come back to Batavia. My dead body already belongs to the University of Houston Medical Center as long as I don't get hep C or Aids or Ebola or Chicken Pox again. And besides, H.O. would never hit a cripple. I self declared myself a cripple once I knew I was and everyone still agrees. Levon sang a song about me and a creek. Feel sorry for me and contribute to my begging online account. I'll wait patiently until I have enough for a couple of bit coins and a bag of Medijuana. Thank you so much for letting me make history H.O. and B.O. I loves you'se guys both. But B.O.? I have to try, with H.O. it just comes natural. I'm busting your nuts friends, that's all.

Yes, George, I know you're just being you. But it's Billie Faye, my friend, not Billie Jo.

Ed - I may be earning another reverse-Mohawk, but that last quote was a joke, taken directly from "Office Space"...

(see the 2nd quote at http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0001926/quotes)

If you haven't seen the movie, it's worth watching. If you have seen it, it's worth watching again.

Let's see the robot deal with this... http://www.stevesplace.ca/JokeBlog/2013/09/09/mcnugget-rampage-security…

Hi, Tim.
Nope, I never saw the movie you referenced. If I can find it for "FREE", I'll give it a try. Don't relish 'paying' $10 - $15 (per movie) to sit in an over-sized 'livingroom', with 200+ strangers, just to see a movie. Last time I did that was when Toy Story came out. Which I liked - especially the scene (stolen, I'd guess) from the 1932 classic, "Freaks" (That was probably one of the 'strangest' movies I've ever seen - because the cast members were, in real life, circus 'oddities'!)

Nowadays, between Netflix, Hulu (free), IMDB, Youtube, and sites like www.solie.org/alibrary/
I doubt I'll be going to the 'theater' anytime soon.

As for the quote from the robot-replaced worker you spoke of, I wouldn't say it came 'directly' from Office Space. Similar, sure, but not what I'd call 'direct'.

PS - If you've never seen "Freaks" (1932), try to find it. It's definitely "different"!

Thanks, CM. That link got my laugh track started. Yeah, there's upteen thousands of them on youtube. It never get's old. There's a Denny's down here in Port Charlotte, about 2mi. from my house. They share a parking lot with Hooters. Something tells me that the 'antagonists' in this attached link had just migrated from Hooters to Denny's. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAjtLT2EbRI

Now that I just re-watched the Denny's fiasco, I'm kinda thinking the 'McNuggets Seeker' in your link might just be the same person as the Denny' s Duelist.