Ryan Boots

Digital marketing strategist, Aspie, Latter-day Saint, biker.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

This is probably the single most intensely personal blog post I've ever written.

I'm 45 years old, and I was just formally diagnosed with autism.

https://t.co/1toMNiqsNu

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@Starbucks, I'm so over trying to work at any of your locations. You crank your music so loud that it's impossible to take a call. It's painfully obvious that you no longer want to be the third place for remote workers.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@torchystacos done

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@torchystacos Seriously?

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@AskeBay Check your DMs

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@AskeBay Having trouble with a seller closing out a sale and getting their money. Can someone assist?

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

And to add insult to injury: they left the onions when I said 2x to leave them off. She was so busy forcing me to tip her that she got my order wrong.

You aren't the only vendor offering moderately healthy options at CLT. Guess I'll be eating elsewhere when I fly home next week.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

@BadDaddysBurger I stopped at your place in CLT. Ordered a salad at the to-go window. Lady taking my order covers the keypad and says, "What will your tip be, sir?"

Is this seriously how you guys roll? Forcibly extracting tips?

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

To be clear, I am *not* saying companies shouldn't use tech to achieve efficiencies where possible. But it's a very powerful thing to use tech to make your people better rather than simply squeeze a few more pennies of perceived waste out of a process.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

Tech in Fast Food (brace yourself, tweet thread incoming)
Last night I went to @tacobell at 18327 Gulf Fwy, Webster, TX 77598. Was riding my motorcycle. Dining room is closed, so I went to the drive through. With my helmet in the trunk and after I cut the engine on my bike...

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

CFA is pretty notorious for having fairly high average headcount versus other QSRs, and I'm betting that this latest move is really about making those employees more mobile and productive, not trimming headcount.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

In contrast, CFA is using it to actually empower their people to do something that CFA does better than almost anybody else in QSR: bringing the product/service to the customer as promptly and efficiently as possible.

[Ryan Boots @rpboots]

Big takeaway: there's a world of difference between using tech simply to achieve efficiency, and using it to empower people to do what your company does best. Taco Bell is rather nakedly attempting to use it to trim headcount, and doing it pretty poorly.