Reading an article today in the New York Times regarding the end of semi-skilled jobs, I came across the following gem:

[…] Annie Lowrey of Slate wrote about a start-up called “E la Carte” that is out to shrink the need for waiters and waitresses: The company “has produced a kind of souped-up iPad that lets you order and pay right at your table. The brainchild of a bunch of M.I.T. engineers, the nifty invention, known as the Presto, might be found at a restaurant near you soon. … You select what you want to eat and add items to a cart. Depending on the restaurant’s preferences, the console could show you nutritional information, ingredients lists and photographs. You can make special requests, like ‘dressing on the side’ or ‘quintuple bacon.’ When you’re done, the order zings over to the kitchen, and the Presto tells you how long it will take for your items to come out. … Bored with your companions? Play games on the machine. When you’re through with your meal, you pay on the console, splitting the bill item by item if you wish and paying however you want. And you can have your receipt e-mailed to you. […]

That is so wrong, in so many ways. Who gives a flying fuck about nutritional information? If you had doubts, you shouldn’t have been here in the first place. And “bored with your companion”? What on earth possessed you to go to a restaurant with someone if you didn’t want to spend any time talking to them.? Being an autist playing on your console and ignoring them, I’m sure they will really appreciate your company. On the up side, I doubt you’ll dine with them ever again.

Then I went back to find out who wrote this drivel. Thomas Friedman. I might have known.

www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/opinion/friedman-average-is-over.html