this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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The company compiled information from franchisees and guests on how to measure friendliness, resulting in the fast food chain training its AI system to recognize certain words and phrases, such as “welcome to Burger King,” “please,” and “thank you.” Managers can then ask the AI assistant how their location is performing on friendliness.

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[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 68 points 4 days ago (4 children)

My SO works at a callcenter and they get dinged for the use of what they call "tragic phrases." These include, but aren't limited to:

  • "Unfortunately"
  • Words/phrases that imply uncertainty like "should"
  • Words/phrases that imply non-commitment like "I can't do that" or "that's against policy" or "that's not my dept"
  • So-called sloppy words/phrases like "No problem" or "hold on just a sec"

Its fucking ridiculous. They pay some outside vendor for training and guidelines.

[–] binarytobis@lemmy.world 67 points 4 days ago (1 children)

As a customer, I would feel much more comfortable talking to someone who doesn’t sound like they have a gun to their head.

[–] PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In my younger days, I worked for U-Haul. They had these preloaded speeches you were supposed to adhere to when someone called. I am sure they felt it maximized sales. One for trailer/truck rental, another for storage, etc. I never liked acting as a robot, so I free-formed the calls (I'm a people person!). I was/and am quite customer focused, so I was good at answering the phone. Up until I got fired for not following the canned company diatribe. They had a call center dedicated to calling around the country to test employees. I failed twice.

[–] laxu@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 hours ago

That sounds exactly the kind of ridiculous stuff companies would do. Let me guess, they did not check any recordings of your calls and how you actually handled customers. Just "you failed this pointless metric".

God dam, that's horrible. Unfortunately it's not my department but I should let you know your not alone, now hold on a sec while I transfer you to purgatory

I'm so glad I can mouth off to customers in my line of work, not that I abuse the privilege but sometimes a customer needs to be told they are a fucking idiot and they could of flooded or burnt the place down.

[–] elvith@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago

non-commitment like "I can't do that" or "that's against policy" or "that's not my dept"

Ok, I'm not a native English speaker but... I have the feeling that they don't know what non-commitment means. Unless it's commitment to fuck the customer, but then, why bother to offer a call center?

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I’ve come to accept that “no problem” is just some people’s way to say “you’re welcome” but I still really dislike the sound of it right after I say thank you for something completely normal.

Cashier: “Here’s your change.”

Me: “Thank you.”

Cashier: “No problem.”

My brain: “Oh… I didn’t even think it could have been a problem to hand me my change, but I guess I’m glad to hear that it was not in fact any problem.”

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You aren't speaking the same language, apparently:

Image

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

I love to see that kind of intercultural reading being made. In good faith, I respect it and disagree with its internal logic. If you think help is expected of you, you will not offer any mention of whether or not it’s a problem for you, period.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What about people who say "my pleasure" or "I just came"

[–] cdf12345@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

They tried to implement that at an old job of mine, nobody did that shit. Luckily we didn’t have AI listening to every word we say.