The Catoosa County News

Remember Automats?

-

There is an informal movement that eschews using self-checkout terminals in retail stores. The hook is that self-service eliminates jobs and that by using the kiosk you are putting someone out of work.

I don’t know that this rumor is true or not, but self-service checkout is spreading.

Yesterday I watched a friend order food from a fast-food joint on his mobile phone. When he arrived he picked up his bag and drink, then left.

He said that his credit card was on file. I don’t know about having my credit card number on file anywhere, but I’m sure it is. Somewhere.

While I have apprehensi­on it sure was easy and quick.

Other restaurant­s offer one to order by touching a screen and inserting a credit card. This isn’t new. It has been going on for a few years.

I’m just a bit too much of a fogey and prefer facing the enemy across the register and demanding my drink without ice.

Automated restaurant­s are nothing new and go back to the early 1900s.

In the early days of television the mornings of many started with the “Today” show on NBC.

Reaching back I recall a team of profession­s who kept personal biases to themselves: Dave Garroway, Jack Lescoulie, Frank Blair, sometimes Gene Shalit, Hugh Downs, Frank Mcgee, John Chancellor, Joe Garagiola and others.

Central to the cast was J. Fred Muggs, who as far as I can tell is still living and would be the oldest surviving member of the cast. Muggs, who is a chimp, was the show’s mascot.

Often the show did a remote broadcast at the “Automat” on Times Square.

The Automat was a restau- rant chain that featured rows of vending machines holding sandwiches, hot dishes, salads, desserts and they were all over the city.

The dishes were visible so customers could see the dish being bought.

Customers walked down the line of vending machines with a tray, dropping coins into slots that allowed a door to open.

There were Automats in several cities serving over a half a million people a day. Today it is just a memory.

That gimmick ran its course and the last Automat closed in the early 1990s. The locations were replaced by Burger Kings.

Self-checkout is probably here to stay and will probably grow. That doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Joe Phillips writes his “Dear me” columns for several small newspapers. He has many connection­s to Walker County, including his grandfathe­r, former superinten­dent Waymond Morgan. He can be reached at joenphilli­ps@hotmail.com.

 ??  ?? Joe Phillips
Joe Phillips

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States