[Rather sensationalist headline on this post from Will Oremus][1]:

> Score one for the machines. On Tuesday, Applebee’s announced plans to install a tablet at every table in its 1,860 restaurants across the United States. Customers will be able to use the devices to order food, pay the bill, and ignore their dining companions by playing video games.

I am all for this, in fact I would pay more to not have to interact with servers — instead getting a tablet. Do you know why?

Because we waited 25 minutes the other night at Red Robin to place our order. That’s after placing a drink order and waiting 15 minutes for soda. Total time to order our food: 40 minutes. Anyone who has a kid knows how bad that is — then we had to wait for the food, which took forever.

Chain restaurants, the kind you take kids to, are massively under staffed. This under staffing leads to really shitty experiences and that drives me nuts. Bring on tablets, that or airline server call buttons. I’d take either.

[1]: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/12/03/tablets_at_restaurants_applebee_s_chili_s_race_to_eliminate_human_interaction.html