SAN DIEGO — Robots versus real life. How would you like your order taken?
Companies continue to be creative as they keep up with rising costs. For one Tierrasanta man, it was too much to take after a trip to McDonald’s.
"Are you kidding me? You can't use cash in a McDonald's?," Daniel Miley said, laughing.
Human-to-human interaction is becoming somewhat of a thing of the past if you’re craving a Big Mac and fries.
Miley shared his fast food frustrations, online.
"I posted it on NextDoor and it got like 21,000 views in like 48 hours," he said.
Miley says he rarely even eats fast food, but he and his wife give into the grandkids sometimes. When they went to the McDonald's in Tierrasanta he says there was no one to take their order, only a kiosk.
"She had trouble navigating the kiosk and this is a woman with a bachelor's degree in microbiology," he said.
Ordering he says, was problem one, then came time to pay. The Mileys had a gift card for $25, that his wife had just won at work, but their total was a little more.
"Came out to 26 and some change. She stuck the card in there, but there was no way to pay the balance in cash. So she had to use her debit card, for a buck," he said.
Humans do still work there, but hundreds of people commiserated about the technology online – while others said times have changed.
"There were comments saying I'm stuck in the 60s," Miley said.
Many point to the rising minimum wage, now at $16.65 in San Diego.
Pablo wrote online, "Robots can't call in sick. Robots don't need healthcare."
Sherry from El Cajon agreed and wrote "their old model of split shifts was not working anymore. Machines don't care."
Kay on the other hand says, "just go through the drive thru – you can pay with cash and get a person."
McDonald's tells us kiosks have been in California since 2016 and at the Tierrasanta location, since 2019. They added they're always innovating, to offer customers a convenient experience.
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