Welcome to the future of fast food.
You have to order at kiosks because the restaurants can't afford cashiers. But they also can't trust you to fill up your own Coke or Mickey D's Sweet Tea, so you'll have to get your beverage from the pimply teen at the counter who couldn't take your order.
At least, within the next few years, that's going to be the case at every McDonald's restaurant in the US.
This is for trained professionals only:
The official story from Mickey D's is that this is to keep a uniform service to all customers so that everyone gets what they order.
"The crew pour system — which actually will use automated beverage systems to mechanically fill drink orders — minimizes human contact," reported the State-Journal. "Crew pour also eliminates theft and emphasizes the brand's new focus on creating a more relaxed dine-in experience complete with servers delivering meals to the table."
It minimizes human contact by having one of McDonald's minimum wage employees, who are known for their terrific hygiene, fill up your drink for you.
(Until they replace them with a robot which will REALLY reduce human contact.)
But the real reason is that, in some locations, they have to deal with common criminals coming into the stores and using the soda fountain without paying.
It will also certainly cut down on the number of refills people get as well.
But that's life in the modern world. You have to place your own order because they can't afford cashiers, and you can't fill up your own drink because there are too many thieves around.
We used to be a proper country.
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