In the past few days, I’ve watched TV shows via streaming, ordered some books from the Internet, tapped in my lunch order on a screen and typed in and paid for a meal via an app. I even retrieved my parcel of books from a machine. There are two big points to make from these statements – firstly, that I’m hopelessly introverted and avoid human contact whenever possible, and secondly, that it’s becoming less and less necessary to shop via a human middleman these days. After all, operating online is usually far more efficient for both the customer and the company, and apart from the occasional period of maintenance a website has no closing times. What hope can the traditional face-to-face world have against such practicality?
At first glance, the situation is bleak. Take the most familiar online option of ordering books (or whatever else) online, for example. Searching a website for the specific product you want is much quicker and easier than scouring a department store, looking around helplessly wondering how you’ve ended up in home furnishings when you came in for stationery. I love walking through IKEA and seeing all the stock up close, but it takes far too much time and I’ll just end up at the meatballs anyway. Doing it all online allows me to lounge happily and still have time to spare. It also means that I don’t have to go to whatever store it is and be forced to hustle through the bustle of ambling window-shoppers gawking at overpriced tat. I’m civil towards them in person, don’t worry.
Even taking the softest of the examples I gave only provides small comfort. If I order a meal via an app, there needs to be somebody to prepare and serve it. Add in some alcohol and there needs to be someone to ID me. But there’s really no need for me to be waited on and IDing really only needs to be done the one time per night. If you didn’t order alcohol at all, the only other people you’d need to see are other customers, all as uninterested in interacting with you as you are them. A society of hermits.
Fortunately, such a world sounds pretty awful, so I think dining will still largely be face-to-face ordering. Human staffing will likely endure for a good while yet anyway, and thanks to more than a simple mistrust of drone deliveries and other such technologies. Seeing a face in front of you trying to sell you something offers comfort. A human is responsive in a way an app isn’t, can explain things in a clearer way than some IT guy’s online caption, and most importantly of all they’re somebody you can blame if things go wrong with your shopping. Or, to put it nicely, you can hold them accountable, whereas with some unknown online seller with a strange name you can at times feel powerless and lost if something goes awry. Being able to reach somebody and shout at them really is priceless.
Is online shopping good? Of course it is. Is ordering food via a screen good? Probably, even if your parents and grandparents groan when you do it. Is face-to-face shopping going to die out completely? I very much doubt it. Waiting staff of the world can rest easy, at least until the next irate customer hits them with an ‘Umm, excuse me…’.