I don’t trust computers

At least, not as much as I trust humans. My experience at KFC today illustrates this.

My girlfriend and I were in the mood for fried chicken on our way to a comedy show, so we stopped by KFC. We chose a fast food place, because we didn’t want to be late for the show. To get our food as fast as possible, we thought it was smart to use one of the interactive kiosks to place our order, instead of ordering at the counter. But we were wrong.

First of all, we discovered the touchscreen interface isn’t really designed for orienting on what you want to eat. If you know exactly what you want, the kiosk works just fine, but if you want to browse the menu and check out all the different fried chicken options, that requires a lot of tapping. Unlike the static display over the counter, which shows pretty much the entire menu all at once. But that’s not really what this story is about.

This story is about the ordering system breaking down, just as I was finishing our order. After some tapping around in the menu, we knew what we wanted and had added everything to our order. I held my Apple Watch to the payment terminal to pay. I felt the tap on my wrist, indicating a payment was made with Apple Pay, and got a loading screen. I was now waiting for the confirmation screen, and was expecting a paper receipt with my order number.

But the confirmation never came. Instead, after a while, I got an error screen. Now I was wondering if the payment had really come through. When I checked my bank account, the money was deducted — I had paid. But I had no receipt to prove it, nor an order number. By now, the screens of the other kiosks were showing error messages as well.

When I told this to personnel at the counter, it appeared their entire ordering system was down, causing not just the kiosks but also the regular cash registers to not work anymore. I was asked to be patient as they were trying to get everything back online. My order should be processed in a few minutes, they assured me.

Ten minutes later, the system seemed to be working again, and orders were again coming through in the kitchen. Customers were getting their food again. But I noticed that orders placed after me were being already delivered, but not mine. I was beginning to think that my order got lost in digital space somewhere. I had paid for an order that didn’t exist in the system.

Now what?

Luckily, the guy behind the counter helped me out. When I showed him the transaction in my banking app, he simply asked me what I had ordered, collected those foods and drinks and gave it to me. He trusted me.

And that’s why I trust people more than computers. Unlike computers, humans can trust us back. Digital systems, like anything, can break down. But who will always be there as their backup? Exactly, human beings.