Chili's and others already have tablets on the table to let you order and pay completely with out human interaction. Except for delivery of food and drink refills you have no interaction with a waitress; therefore I do not tip there.

They never have hot enough for my taste.

I started at $1 an hour at my first job (guess when). And 25% of that was withheld in taxes. A few years later I made $3.50 an hour at a much better place that prepared me to start my own graphics business a year later. I've had my own businesses ever since, and I no longer count my income by the hours I put in.

Not only does the consumer lose, via higher prices, but all the entry level workers lose big time, via lost opportunity, which is even worse. If the price rises enough, you can stop buying. Where does that entry level worker go?

Yes! I was about to mention the Automats, circa 1950s. Of course, they still need human help behind that wall of glass doors to prepare and replace the food purchased. That just eliminates waiters and tipping. My favorite thing to buy at the Automatic was an orange-frosted "glace cake". What a treat! I can still taste it.

The social do-gooders who want everyone to have a "living wage" have decoupled wages from earnings (what the work is worth). They have no clue that minimum wage will impel price increases, soon leaving the lowest earners right back where they are. A snow-balling disaster.

The things the government CAN legislate are the very things they don't want to. They're putting all kinds of restrictions on our soldiers, making any war unwinnable; they're hog tying the cops, making the streets unsafe; they're passing weird laws, freeing criminals to commit more crimes. Yet, they think they can run the economy. Go figure.

My little company is working hard to automate our production. If we cant, its going to china. One way or another, we cant and wont pay $15 per hour for what we have to get done. Add another $$ to the cost of a big mac, and I just will cut down the number of times I get one.

My entry job was washing dishes and bussing tables, didn't last, moved my self up to becoming an entrepreneur, mowing lawns and pulling weeds. And as soon as had enough smarts I moved into Hi-Fi and Stereo (anyone still remember when stereo came into being?) and electronic sales, then became a rocket scientist in the space program until I was ordered to become a soldier, then because we went to the moon while I was away, I became a field service technician, supervisor, and finally a service manager for a rather large company. Also during that time I tried 20 years of having my own business run by someone else until government regulations and taxes got the best of it. Without knowing what a crappy job dish washing and bussing tables was personally for me, I'm not sure I'd be as secure and retired as I am. If they had paid me a lot of money washing dishes would that have become my career? I hope not, for sure. I tell my kids, now my grandchildren, get a good education and save as much as you can for retirement. My grandson just started college and just got a great job in food service in the cafeteria of an on campus sorority. I'm sure he will enjoy that job, but hopefully not too much. His friends are all somewhat jealous of his job. Sometimes food service has other benefits besides good pay.

If it cost me more I will charge more than the cost raise to me, that’s how you get ahead.

In the end they will still be at the same low percentage, because every other profession will demand a wage increase citing McDonalds and the new min wage as examples and excuses for their desire to have higher wages. So if these folks earned 2.6% less than others, then they will still earn approx. the same percentage less in the long run and inflation will go up.

IF you want more money why not improve yourself and your value, don't just demand more pay, because others earn more. Look at what they do for a living and learn those skills.

Yes, you are right. The ruling class knows exactly what it's doing. However, the LIV moochers have no idea what The Law of Unintended Consequences is.

Imagine your delivered pizza being brought by a driverless car. Will it sit there in the driveway honking away until you come get it, or send it by drone from the car with an appendage to ring your doorbell. And then it would take your credit card, suck it into a reader, crunch it up and fail to spit it back out. All in a cashless society, of course.

It seems like the full fledged robot circulating out in the public is a ways off? Drone delivery all the way from the pizza place would get you a cold pizza. More likely they would just phase out delivery service, not enough Prius's to go around. Motivation to perfect the replicator.

Ah, technology. Viva the horse and buggy! I'm in a mood today.

I was trying to think of some cute parody. Perhaps Robbie the Robot at the Mickey D's take-out window getting orders screwed up and melting down as in Forbidden Planet. It doesn't work, because sdesapio's scenario is all too real and all too possibly soon. Brother! We old farts are sure leaving you a screwed up planet.

I think this is a great example of 'hoist on your own petard'. Yeah: go ahead and raise the minimum wage...we will just 'out science you'.

Jan

I'm looking forward to the robot restaurant kitchen as well, this way there won't be spit (or worse) inside burgers.

Oh they understand it very well, Suzanne, very well indeed. No sooner do they get their way, they start formulating the reasons why it failed...those greedy capitalists, etc. just look at Cloward-Piven for an illustration. I read about an interview with Frances Piven recently. The question had to do with the billions that have been dumped into Great Society, and why it hasn't had the desired outcome. Naturally, their theory was remarkable correct, but the greed of some malcontents higher up the food chain made it impossible to...yada, yada, yada.

Yes, it is. Liberals don't understand The Law of Unintended Consequences.

It is just so silly that people do not understand that entry level wages will always be entry level wages. If you force them up, then everything else goes up and who ends up paying the price? The consumer! Minimum Wage will always be a certain percentage below other wages. It always balances out. Why not make it $100.00 and hour? Or $1,000.00 an hour? So silly.

Actually robots will be a big improvement in some cases.

When I grew up in NYC there were Horn and Hardart restaurants. little cubicles with glass fronts that showed you what was in them and you put in a quarter or what ever for the food. there were people continually filling the spaces. so we are headlong going back to old technology. all the poor people will ultimately storm these places when they do not get what they have become accustomed too. good bye america

That reminds me, the last time I was a drive-by customer at Taco Bell, I asked for "the hottest sauce you got."
(I'm always super polite with food handling kids so they won't spit in my food or deliberately mess up an order).
Anyhoo, when I got home I found I had mild sauce.
Yes, that may have been the hottest sauce they had at the time.
But I don't think so.

Well said! Kind of like the no tipping. :)

For a lot of restaurants, I would rather be served by robots and other automation with a consistent high quality product than human workers with bad attitudes and erratic quality.

Dog, I always enjoy your saltiness. :)

No it doesn't unfortunately!

But that fact never stops them from trying.