Two of the drive-throughs that YA and I frequent (especially in the summer) are Taco Bell and Dairy Queen. About eight months ago Taco Bell installed a chat bot to ask people if they are checking in using their Taco Bell app. I do have the app (it occasionally rewards me with a free burrito or fiesta potatoes) so the chat bot has actually been a good reminder to me to have the phone handy so I can give them the check-in code. At that point the system switches over to a live person to take your order.
About four months back, Dairy Queen went to a fully automated ordering system at their drive-through. I bristled at the idea but not enough to boycott my Dilly bars. Since YA and I are creatures of habit at Dairy Queen, it’s pretty simple and we haven’t had any ordering disasters.
Then two weeks ago I was by myself, getting my Dilly bar, and the automated voice had a southern drawl. I kid you not. It threw me for a loop and I spent the next hour or so trying to think back; had I completely missed that before? Then the following week when we were there, it was a male voice with a midwestern accent. I breathed a sigh of relief – I wasn’t going crazy. Then yesterday, it was a woman’s voice, but not the southern woman.
Of course, this leaves me with a bunch of questions. How many automated voice options are there? Who chooses which voice for the day (the manager, the person who opens, corporate office)? Or does the computer randomly pick voices during the course of the day? If a particular voice gets complaints, can they change it at the store level? Are the voices patterned after particular people or just AI-generated? What happens if you don’t want to order from a chat bot? Can you simply repeat “representative” until the computer gives up?
Any chat bots/automated systems driving you crazy? Or that you’ve made peace with?
Trail Baboon 
I fought with ChatGP over a simple question as to when Trump destroyed the East Wing. It insisted that no such thing had happened. We traded insults. I became pissed off at a machine! I’d been PO’d at many machines like cars or lawnmowers but this one talked back.
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Star Trek “Data” character has now landed.
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When I asked Chat GPT about it, it told me, among other things:
At this point:
✅ The old East Wing no longer exists.
🚧 Reconstruction is actively underway as part of a much larger White House expansion centered on a new state ballroom.
📅 Completion is officially targeted for before January 2029, though the exact completion date remains uncertain.
This sounds like an accurate representation of the facts. When I asked “why did Trump destroy the old East Wing”, I was told:
The Trump administration gave several reasons for demolishing the East Wing rather than preserving it, while critics argued those reasons did not justify destroying a historic building.
It then went on with a brief history. The response you get when you talk to Chat GPT depends a lot on how you phrase the question. I didn’t get any argument about the using the word “destroyed” when I posed the question. When you said you traded insults, it makes me wonder exactly what you asked.
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What are the kids who had “do you want fries with that” as their entry to working with people doing now?
I remember well taking my late neighbor on her errands, and remember well the relationships she had with the various sales folks she interacted with. That’s why I avoid interacting with automation. It’s not that I can’t do it, I just don’t see the long term benefits of eliminating human interaction (and I can be pretty introverted).
“Do not go gentle into that good night”
I refuse to merely consume for the benefit of the few who own the bots.
Happy the see the rain this morning!
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I avoid automated self-checkouts wherever possible. I’ll happily wait in line to engage with a real person.
I have scant experience with fast food. I think I’ve only patronized a Taco Bell once in my life and I went into the building for that. I don’t even remember if it had a drive-through. Robin has decided she likes ice cream sandwiches from Dairy Queen so we have stopped at a couple of those this summer. I always get out of the car and go inside to order, so I don’t have experience with automated chat systems. I can imagine the corporations are trying to work AI into those.
My experience with drive-through systems is probably dated therefore, but I always wondered why the sound quality of the speakers is so abysmal. Clarity is possible. We hear it from many other sources. But drive-through set-ups invariably have you asking the voice to repeat what they (it) just said.
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I tried to order from a Baskin Robbins drive-thru last week, and the order taker didn’t seem to be able to understand me at all. I said “I’d like two scoops of mint chip in a bowl, please,” and she came back with “Did you say chocolate chip?” and I said “Mint. Chip.” and she said “How many scoops do you want – one, two, or three?” Apparently the only words she had picked up from my initial order were “chip” and “bowl”.
I usually go in to order. This time I thought the drive-thru might be better, since the air quality wasn’t the best on Friday. In future, I’ll just go in, or skip it altogether.
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I don’t use the drive-through very much at all – didn’t know they had stopped hiring young people in favor of technology.
I’m annoyed by chat bots on the corner of the screen when I’m searching for something. I want to find the answers myself, and learn about things. Many features in my 2024 car annoy me too. I really insist on being the driver. I don’t want to fight the car over it.
I don’t think I’ve made peace with any of it.
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The corporate intrusion of layers of complexity, with special proprietary apps and methods of payment make what ought to be a simple transaction into a maze. Habitual customers may have established a path through that maze but more occasional ones are confronted with systems that seem to be continuously changing.
When, as a customer, you insist on bringing the interchange back down to the level of a simple transaction, as when you go inside, engage with a human, occupy their space and make eye contact it feels subversive.
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It took me over a month to pay my allergy docs what turned out to be a $5 invoice. They didn’t send a paper invoice and the text link that they sent me (repeatedly) took me to a payment portal but didn’t indicate an amount. I certainly wasn’t going to submit when an amount wasn’t listed. I called the office and they put me on hold and then hung up on me after six minutes (repeatedly). Accounting phone never did pick up and my email to Accounting was never answered. Finally I got a nice young man who answered the phone at the office and he told me it was $5. Then I went to the regular portal and put in “$5” myself. Of course then it timed out twice. Two days later I tried again and it finally went through. Aarrggghhh!!
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Yes. Been there. Some of the medical portals are not far behind with these issues. Placing the $5 bill on the receptionist desk seems like a simple, more elegant option.
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Yes, I now take my Winona Health bill in and pay it in person, since they’re pretty close to here…
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I pay my Bachman’s card in person. They do not have an online system for their brand card; since I drive right by there 3-5 times a week, I just pay it in person. Saves me the stamp!
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I’m still annoyed that I have to scroll down past the AI when I do an internet search. Interestingly, though, I just tried a couple of them, and AI did not come up! Did it hear us complaining?
Insurance companies and financial institutions want me to try and work out my questions online with a chatbot! Are you insane? – I’m not doing that! I always end up clicking on something wrong and can’t undo it. I sometimes go to our senior center advocate and she’ll help me do it…
The only drive-thru I sometimes use is Mugby Junction coffee – thankfully no bots there yet.
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I started using the DuckDuckGo browser when I do a search, because they let you do a non-AI search by default. If you want an AI search, there is a button that says “Duck AI” on the toolbar. I like to not use extra energy to do a search when it’s really not what I want.
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It’s disconcerting to talk to a machine that understands and responds to you (well… most of the time). I’ve never cared for drive-through ordering, mainly because of the lousy sound system and not understanding what the human or bot is saying. Plus, I always feel rushed if another car is behind me.
I used to default to the self-checkout in the grocery store, but now will use the human lane if it’s not busy, even if I only have a few items. I figure they’re getting paid to work, so why not keep them busy as much as possible.
I use AI on my computer regularly and have had little trouble with it. However, I detest the chatbots on certain websites (financial especially) that “butt in” and try to help you with a problem you don’t yet have. Or the pop-ups that ask, “How are we doing?” when you’ve only been at the site for five seconds! *GRR*
Chris in Owatonna
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When my gmail wants to “help” by composing my message for me, I just blast past it.
Jasper Fforde wrote about this on his Thursday Next series (Steve and I shared a love of that).
It didn’t have the name “AI” back then , but Fforde nailed it.
In the series, the lead character gets the ability to go inside books and interact with the characters in them. The characters have lives that go on when they aren’t being read, and also a legal system that keeps the story moving along as written.
As books get overtaken by what is now known as AI, they flatten out. A bagel in that world becomes like one you get in a bag at Aldi’s, only less flavorful (I’m having one such disappointment this morning).
Yes, I consider that sort of thing a lot these days, in a world where someone with considerable power has said the US should only have 100 million people in it. Much as I love open spaces, the thought makes my skin crawl.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I doubt that AI systems are programmed to create any peace at all. This topic is an interesting add on to my discussion with my son last night. He usesAI daily in his work which programs logistics devices. I do not have a problem with that as long as there is a human with good judgement supervising it. But I commented to him that these companies are blowing it in the world of the Average Jane and Joe who hate the email summaries, the bots, the payment apps, etc. because of everything everyone here is mentioning. (The best quote I saw last week is “I am living next to a toxic Data Center so AI can summarize my email thread?”)
He said investors put too much money in this system so now they are trying create markets for AI (summarizing your email thread, automated systems) that really do not exist. It is having the opposite effect as people hate AI so much, as it is presented in daily life, that they are removing invested money. Nvidia is now suffering because of this.
And then there are the toxic chat bots. DIL’s family is in crisis due a member who is involved with a chat bot, gambling, and mental health problems. His mental health issues do not allow him to understand what the chat bot really is and the guy is out of control.
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K-Two I saw your note yesterday about your tick-born illness. I am so sorry to hear this. I had wondered where you were. Get well please.
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A man went to the doctor with a piece of lettuce in his ear. The doctor tells him: “I’m sorry to tell you that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
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Now there is a dad joke if I have ever heard one.
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Well, there are chatbots, and then there are AI chatbots. If it’s just a regular chatbot, you are frequently left to resort to saying “Representative! Representative! Customer service!” But there’s no AI involved in those chatbots, they are simply looking for keywords to tell them to execute a certain script or series of actions.
AI chatbots are very different. I talked to one on the Home Depot customer service line last week. I was trying to check the balance on a gift card, and that started the whole thing. It’s somewhat like interacting with a human, except the chatbot has a distinct tendency to start talking and not pause to let you get a word in edgewise.
Then, if it gives you instructions on, for example, how to open a private window in your browser and try entering info there, and as you follow the instructions, it pauses briefly and asks you if there is anything else you’d like to discuss today. And you say, a little testily, that you are still working, it pauses briefly again, but its pacing and attitude seem to imply that you are being ridiculously slow and it has better things to do, so off with you, please, go away, please.
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