Virtual employees are on the rise in China, should Americans be worried? I’ll tell you who SHOULD be worried – all the fast-food joints that hire airheads and persons of questionable immigration status, you know – the ones that share social security numbers like hippies passing around a joint. Allow me to share a little background. I can’t remember the last time we got home after going through a fast food drive-thru (and this is across the board – not just one franchise brand), so tonight it was no surprise when the wife got home, only to find they had forgotten part of her order, which the receipt confirmed she had purchased. She called the business and explained to the person (one has to assume she was talking to the manager, as kitchen workers don’t typically answer the phone) that it was too far to drive back and pick up the missing item. She then proceeded to ask him to drop a coupon in the mail. What happened at that point was absolutely comical. Even after explaining the steps involved – get an envelope, put a stamp on it, put the coupon inside, seal it up and mail it, she was told, “I don’t know if we can do that.” At that point, I got the distinct impression that the individual wasn’t questioning his company’s procedural ability to make that happen. He had no grasp of the mail, how it worked, or how to use it. Sadly, I think this situation can be found anywhere – not just in Oregon, where the high school graduate doesn’t have to know how to read, write or demonstrate proficiency in math to get a diploma. Let’s do the math. For an average of $6,000 a year, Taco Bell, KFC, or Dairy Queen can rent a virtual employee that’s probably more proficient than the current crop of airheads they’ve got screwing up orders. Based on their caliber, they probably wouldn’t even know how to be miffed that they were replaced by a bunch of 1s and 0s.
