Sunday, March 17, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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After being depressed about losing my job to robots, I went to a local bar to tell my tale of woe to the bartender, and learned that she had been replaced by a machine. I ordered a drink and tried talking with it, but it just wasn’t the same.
The way the world is going, this probably could happen. Businesses are going overboard in replacing people with technology — self-service at gas stations, self-checkout in grocery stores, self-check-in at airports, self-deposits and withdrawals in banks, self-ordering in restaurants, robots in manufacturing, etc.
I wonder if businesses have thought of the ramifications of getting rid of humans. Doing so changes the personality of the business, and the level of service deteriorates. A large department store eliminated many jobs by evolving from outstanding full-service to almost no service. Over the years, after the elimination of jobs, the business began deteriorating, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Another problem is that when people lose their jobs, this takes money out of the economy. If people aren’t working, who will buy the products the machines are producing?
