Limited Interaction

Don't speak:

No restaurant in D.C. has been better outfitted for the iPhone generation than the forthcoming Bolt Burgers. It is a restaurant full of screens -- touchscreen systems for ordering your food and making your drinks, tablets at every table, and a 16-foot-wide projected TV screen to watch while you wait for your order. You can order food without having a single interaction with another human being...

We have a problem getting young employees to pick up the phone and call customers, suppliers, etc. This is a pretty typical exchange in our office:

Me: "When are we expecting X to occur on project Y?"

Young'un: "Huh?"

Me: "Project Y. The one you're in charge of. When is the customer wanting X to happen?"

Young'un: "Um... I emailed them about it."

Me: "Did you talk to them?"

Young'un: "Um... huh?"

Me: "Did you talk to them? On the phone, maybe? It's that big black thing on your desk."

Young'un: "Um... I emailed them."

Me: *blink*

Young'un: "But I haven't heard back..."

Me: *blink*

Young'un: "Um... why... why are you staring at me like that?"

Me: /walks away

Maybe we should just wire them all directly into computers and give up on the entire generation.

My lawn, off. Now.