True Hong Kong service won’t be found in an order-it-yourself app
From QR codes to place an order in restaurants to self-service checkouts, cold tech is taking away the warmth of proper service
Perhaps I am a dinosaur but I feel we do not need an app for this and that. The other day I was leaving a supermarket to return to the shopping centre car park. Usually, I present my receipt to get free parking by handing this over to a friendly attendant, who would stamp it and record my licence plate number. I would leave with a smile, and it’s all over in less than 10 seconds unless I chat awhile.
But the desk was gone and I now needed to download an app, which would take my licence plate number and require a photo of my receipt. This did not go well. After about 10 minutes, I finally got everything installed properly, then had to retake the photo a few times before I was able to get my free parking.
It will be easier the next time but it was still a frustrating, soul-destroying experience. I confess I got quite angry. It got me thinking, and not just about what I would have done if I’d forgotten my phone, which is not an uncommon occurrence.
Increasingly, the responsibility and effort of doing everyday stuff is being passed to the consumer while the establishment offering the service abrogates the option of human service more frequently on the altar of putative efficiency and cost-cutting. As customers, we are being made to work harder and do more in ever more sterile, less human and increasingly tech-based interactions.