Christmas will be merrier if we help ourselves.
On October 30th this year, it was reported that “Koufu has been testing ‘smart tray return robots’ that move between tables“.
I could not believe my eyes. Smart tray return robots. Every time something smart appears on the market, we humans become less smart. This is especially true in this case. We become less smart about our behaviour, less sensitive to the needs of others and less civic conscious. I find this especially problematic. Having a robot to return our trays makes the statement that it is okay not to clear our own mess. It is okay to have the next person who wants to use the table we have used to stand and wait and also look at the mess that we would rather not look at. It is saying it is okay to leave crap to others. What have we turned into?
It was reported that the robot faced many teething problems. I can imagine that the robot would need to take time to clear the tables. Nothing can be as simple and as considerate as clearing our own trays from the tables we have sat at. We do not pay a service charge at food courts. Why should we have such tray clearing service? But the heart of the matter is that it is easier and faster if we clear our own trays. It is as simple as that.
The truth is many of us choose not to clear our trays. We choose to keep this bad habit. We are not brave enough to behave differently from the others. We follow like sheep. No number of cleaners or smart robots will make our eating environment cleaner more quickly and efficiently than us behaving properly. The problem is our behaviour. We do not need money to be spent on inventing smart robots for managing our sloppy behaviour nor waste electricity powering these things. We do not need brains inventing smart robots but to re-direct these mind power to change our behaviour.
I hope that by next year, Christmas will be merrier because we can all clear our own trays.
I am curious if Singaporeans agree with this. Please share this and comment where you can. This is the only way I know if there is hope.
Featured image from: http://easymanpower.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/foodjunction_ioi_city_mall.jpg
Under (the) Covers 
Hopefully……….hopefully there is perhaps hope…..but my hopes have been dashed myriad of times at MacDonald’s, mall kopitiams and local hawker centres…..perhaps there is hope. Lets revisit this topic Dec 2017….
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