Smile counting device


  • Banned

    https://quantum.cx/

    Counting smiles

    Our sensor is able to detect the smiles of clients and employees. In the appropriate moments of a conversation, e.g. at the beginning as well as at the end, the employees are awarded points for smiling. Feedback for employees, and the point count, are available via a web app.

    Apparently it's a real deal. They've already partnered with several banks and other large companies in Poland, and at least one government agency. They expect the first large scale deployments to complete before the end of this year.

    I knew mandatory smiles are already a thing in some professions, but this is some next level dystopian shit.



  • That's ... doubleplus ungood.



  • 059021e2-f316-438e-8e04-cd46d61e6637-image.png




  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Gąska said in Smile counting device:

    some next level dystopian shit



  • @Gąska said in Smile counting device:

    I knew mandatory smiles are already a thing in some professions, but this is some next level dystopian shit.

    And it's a publicly-funded dystopia, too:
    https://quantum.cx/eu-projects



  • @Gąska said in Smile counting device:

    I knew mandatory smiles are already a thing in some professions

    In the U.S., that is certainly true. Pretty much every position that has customer contact requires smiling. I have heard that is less true in other countries, especially France.



  • @Gąska said in Smile counting device:

    several banks

    A trip to the bank is rarely a happy occasion for the consumer. (I couldn't speak for the enterpreneur.) A plastered-on smile while the clerk tells you that they've lost your money, account or identity?... The security footage must be gold.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    I have heard that is less true in other countries, especially France

    If by less, you mean required to scowl, then yes...



  • @CHUDbert said in Smile counting device:

    @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    I have heard that is less true in other countries, especially France

    If by less, you mean required to scowl, then yes...

    (Disclaimer: The following remark does not apply to "French" chains in the U.S., such as La Madaleine.) At a real French cafe in the U.S., the unfriendliness of the staff (all apparently from France) was quite noticeable compared to everywhere else here.



  • @jinpa There is this idea in France that what matters is the actual service, not how it's delivered, and that putting on a fake smile is, well, fake.

    Note that I'm not endorsing this idea, I'm just saying that's how many people see it.

    The positive side-effect of that is that when you get service from someone who sounds nice and helpful, it's likely because they really are nice and helpful, rather than boringly doing their job-and-would-you-like-fries-with-that, which is good when you're really asking for advice (e.g. in a hardware shop or similar) rather than just ordering stuff and getting it, because you immediately get an idea of how truthful the advice will be (they might not know what they're talking about, but if they're genuinely helpful at least they won't lie to you just to get rid of you).



  • @remi said in Smile counting device:

    @jinpa There is this idea in France that what matters is the actual service, not how it's delivered, and that putting on a fake smile is, well, fake.

    Note that I'm not endorsing this idea, I'm just saying that's how many people see it.

    The positive side-effect of that is that when you get service from someone who sounds nice and helpful, it's likely because they really are nice and helpful, rather than boringly doing their job-and-would-you-like-fries-with-that, which is good when you're really asking for advice (e.g. in a hardware shop or similar) rather than just ordering stuff and getting it, because you immediately get an idea of how truthful the advice will be (they might not know what they're talking about, but if they're genuinely helpful at least they won't lie to you just to get rid of you).

    Yes, I basically prefer this approach. It disturbs me that people ask me how I'm doing because they've been ordered to do so.



  • @jinpa I don't like overly-pushy salespeople myself, but I've seen the flip side as well. I had some times in Latvia where the clerks (at one of those old-style shops with everything behind the counter) totally ignored people unless they came up and interrupted their conversations forcefully. And then were pissy about being interrupted.

    There's an optimum between "in your face with fake smiles" and "I'm not going to pay any attention to you unless you force me to, and then I'll be surly about it."


  • Considered Harmful

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    I had some times in Latvia where the clerks (at one of those old-style shops with everything behind the counter) totally ignored people unless they came up and interrupted their conversations forcefully. And then were pissy about being interrupted.

    I'm pleased to let you know it still happens. You put your stuff from the cart on the belt and they don't bother to get the belt moving. Yes, it is working. What do yo do? It's the only lane open among four. So you push your stuff closer, maybe ask "is this lane open?", hear a muddled "mhm" and they look at you as if you've just offended their immediate family. God forbid you want to know the total - look at the machine, you twit! - or it's 15 min before closing time - card only, don't want to mess up counting the cash. Yeah, people can be real cretins here.

    It is why I was pleasantly surprised at a grocery shop in Groningen (🇳🇱) at >21:55 (closes 22:00). Not only they tolerated me, but upon my card being the wrong kind directed me to the ATM, waited while I got the monies, helped me pack the stuff, and there was no audible grumbling whatsoever from the clerk or anyone in line for that matter. Well, one time doesn't make a rule, but you know...



  • @remi Reminds me of the story of WalMart opening stores in Germany and being all like "you have to greet all customers at the door and have a big smile all the time" and both employees and customers were like ":wtf:"



  • @anonymous234 Yes, American-style greeters at the entrance of a shop would definitely make everyone go :wtf: here as well.

    Note that, overall and purely subjectively, I have noticed an improvement in service quality since, say 10-20 years ago. It may or may not be correlated with something that I noticed elsewhere, that the lowest-paying jobs (and those seen as worst by society) are no longer "cashier in a supermarket" but "Amazon warehouse drone", i.e. those who are so bad that they cannot do any other job no longer tend to end up in customer-facing ones.



  • @anonymous234 One (off-topic) note about that--most of the Walmart greeters I've seen have been marginally employable people, often with significant handicaps (including Downs Syndrome and other comparable afflictions) or very senior citizens. They're pretty much a charity job. They do also serve as a (very minor, entirely symbolic) theft deterrent, but that's not their main job.



  • @anonymous234 Yeah. They also bit off more than they could chew - Germany is a very competetive market when it comes to supermarkets. There's now a Russian chain which tries to enter our market - the analysts pretty much all agree that this will be another dismal failure.


  • Considered Harmful

    @remi said in Smile counting device:

    Yes, American-style greeters at the entrance of a shop would definitely make everyone go here as well.

    The greeters are extremely thinly disguised loss prevention staff.

    They're more interested in stopping shoplifters than making you feel welcome.



  • @error said in Smile counting device:

    @remi said in Smile counting device:

    Yes, American-style greeters at the entrance of a shop would definitely make everyone go here as well.

    The greeters are extremely thinly disguised loss prevention staff.

    They're more interested in stopping shoplifters than making you feel welcome.

    At Walmart at least, they're not. Not really anyway. They're trained not to intervene if the alarms go off and the person doesn't stop. That's what security is for. Plus, as I mentioned, they're usually either elderly or handicapped.


  • Considered Harmful

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    @error said in Smile counting device:

    @remi said in Smile counting device:

    Yes, American-style greeters at the entrance of a shop would definitely make everyone go here as well.

    The greeters are extremely thinly disguised loss prevention staff.

    They're more interested in stopping shoplifters than making you feel welcome.

    At Walmart at least, they're not. Not really anyway. They're trained not to intervene if the alarms go off and the person doesn't stop. That's what security is for. Plus, as I mentioned, they're usually either elderly or handicapped.

    Here they check your receipt at the door when you leave, and scan any unbagged items and your receipt.



  • @error said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    @error said in Smile counting device:

    @remi said in Smile counting device:

    Yes, American-style greeters at the entrance of a shop would definitely make everyone go here as well.

    The greeters are extremely thinly disguised loss prevention staff.

    They're more interested in stopping shoplifters than making you feel welcome.

    At Walmart at least, they're not. Not really anyway. They're trained not to intervene if the alarms go off and the person doesn't stop. That's what security is for. Plus, as I mentioned, they're usually either elderly or handicapped.

    Here they check your receipt at the door when you leave, and scan any unbagged items and your receipt.

    They only do that if there are unbagged items, and if you refused, they're supposed to let you go. Source--I worked at walmart one summer. "Don't intervene" was drummed into us.



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    They only do that if there are unbagged items

    At the ones I've been to recently, they scan the receipt of everyone who walks out the door with merchandise, but they (almost) never scan any of the items, unbagged or not.



  • @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    @CHUDbert said in Smile counting device:

    @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    I have heard that is less true in other countries, especially France

    If by less, you mean required to scowl, then yes...

    (Disclaimer: The following remark does not apply to "French" chains in the U.S., such as La Madaleine.) At a real French cafe in the U.S., the unfriendliness of the staff (all apparently from France) was quite noticeable compared to everywhere else here.

    La Madeleine is actually the creation of a rich Texan. (And, if my source is right, he did it out of spite: he hated a local French restaurant so much that, being wealthy, he started the original La Madeleine within walking distance and deliberately undercut them to put them out of business. It was merely a coincidence that the restaurant was so successful that it eventually became a chain.)



  • @Anonymous-Throwaway said in Smile counting device:

    La Madeleine is actually the creation of a rich Texan. (And, if my source is right, he did it out of spite: he hated a local French restaurant so much that, being wealthy, he started the original La Madeleine within walking distance and deliberately undercut them to put them out of business. It was merely a coincidence that the restaurant was so successful that it eventually became a chain.)

    Mon dieu!



  • @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    It disturbs me that people ask me how I'm doing because they've been ordered to do so.

    it could be that they were orderd to do that true, but the "Hi, how are you doing" "Fine, and you" call and response in American English really isn't about genuinely asking how someone else is doing. rather it's a cryptically encoded social ritual that translates as "I acknowledge you fellow sapient." "And I too acknowledge you as a fellow sapient"

    This is why answering the call part of the call and response with something unexpected or bad often throws the original asker for a loop as they were not prepared for genuine conversation, nor were they prepared for bad news.

    👨 Hi Bob, How are you today?
    👨🏿 He Greg, not so well actually. My mom and Dad just died when their Toyota Prius accelerated out of control and drove them straight into a gas station, which exploded.
    👨 -totally taken back and unprepared for this sudden actual conversation-
    👨 I'm so sorry to hear that.... so what about the Piggers? they played pretty good against the Ducks last night I thought. They've got the right stuff to go all the way this year!
    👨🏿 -internally: "Greg... what the fuck?!"-



  • @error said in Smile counting device:

    Here they check your receipt at the door when you leave, and scan any unbagged items and your receipt.

    Unless I'm in Costco, I just ignore them and walk on out. I'm under no obligation to let them scan stuff. (At Costco, I am)



  • @Benjamin-Hall I hate them.

    People are being paid minimum wage and no benefits to stand there and be a mannequin.

    Strippers are less objectified.



  • @AyGeePlus said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall I hate them.

    People are being paid minimum wage and no benefits to stand there and be a mannequin.

    Strippers are less objectified.

    I strongly disagree, based on personal experience working at Walmart and knowing greeters personally.

    First, they're not being paid minimum wage. Walmart's starting wage is above minimum.
    Second, many of them are elderly and doing it more for the social aspect (getting to talk to a bunch of different people instead of being lonely, while serving a purpose and supplementing their retirement income) than for the money aspect. Others are handicapped and are generally glad to be productively engaged and contributing. One of the places that theorists go wrong is in thinking that most people are happy to be non-contributors. That rankles lots of people. The disabled greeters that I knew know they can't contribute much (being very aware of their limitations), but are happy to help where they can and take great pride and pleasure in being as independent as possible.

    They're also not mannequins. They serve a useful purpose, even if it's not essential. But they're certainly more useful and productive (produce a bigger output) than many programmers who have negative worth to their teams. They generally have the following roles:

    1. make people feel welcome. Outside of big cities and other faceless places, this is a useful thing. One of the reasons Chik-fil-a is so loved is that the workers are almost uniformly cheerful and helpful. In a small town (like where I grew up), the greeters might know a large chunk of the customer base by sight and stop to talk about family, etc.
    2. Provide directions--"oh, you want X? It's over there.
    3. Provide a face for loss-control. It's a proven fact that people are less likely to steal if there's a visible presence by the doors. That's what the receipt checking is for--it's a symbolic presence, which keeps honest people honest. Doesn't deter the determined thieves, but filters out the impulsive ones from the more hardcore ones. Even if they never get involved.
    4. Handle baskets and carts (especially reporting broken ones up the chain of command).
    5. Mark returned goods as they come in the door so that there's no questions later. A second loss-control function.
    6. Limited trash/etc. policing in the area. They're responsible for the cleanliness of the entries (especially reporting spills or dangers to maintenance for more serious cleaning).
    7. and other functions.

    They're not useless. And they take pride in their work. And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.

    I just think most walmart greeters are underemployed. If you're profoundly disabled maybe just being a warm body is enough to keep you challenged, but near me they're just old. I get that it's better than the alternative, but maybe the alternative should be better? These people have decades of experience doing something.

    Also, now we've basically outsourced keeping all the elderly and isolated socially engaged to a company? Is this the best we can do as a society?



  • @AyGeePlus said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.

    I just think most walmart greeters are underemployed. If you're profoundly disabled maybe just being a warm body is enough to keep you challenged, but near me they're just old. I get that it's better than the alternative, but maybe the alternative should be better? These people have decades of experience doing something.

    Also, now we've basically outsourced keeping all the elderly and isolated socially engaged to a company? Is this the best we can do as a society?

    First, there's no we here at all. Society isn't doing anything, nor should it. Individuals make individual decisions based on what they think is best. Those decisions don't hurt anyone. Treating them like a mentally-incompetent person and overriding their decisions "for their best interests" is tyranny and abuse, not help. This is one of my least-favorite things that people do. Let "victims" (so-called most of the time) speak for themselves and decide for themselves if they're victims or oppressed. White-Knighting is arrogance, prejudice, and presumption, not assistance. It puts people into a nicely labeled, convenient (for the white knight) boxes and then seals the boxes shut so they can't get out. It is the cause of much misery.

    Second, many of them don't want other work. They retired already. The alternative is sitting in a retirement home moldering, not doing anything more productive. This is evidenced by the fact that Walmart has very aggressive internal promotion efforts. You don't stay in a low-level position like that if you have any interest in moving up (and the corresponding ability to do the tasks). So out of "compassion", you'd instead immiserate people. Good job breaking it, hero.



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    Good job breaking it, hero.

    I mean, yikes. Call off the shoulder aliens, I didn't advocate for firing all the greeters or putting them in a tiny box or anything like that. I already said there's a subset of the population that really likes working as greeters and can't/don't want to do anything else.

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    The alternative is sitting in a retirement home moldering, not doing anything more productive.

    This is exactly the problem I'm talking about. What do you think the fraction of walmart greeters where that's their dream job, instead of just 'good enough and beats moldering', is? It's not 100% and I don't think it's even 50%. There's just nothing between 'moldering' and 'greeter', and that's the problem. Leaving aside for the moment those who actually need the money.

    I mean, I imagine there's a bunch of greeters who would rather be 'greeters but outside' or trail guides or show children how to bait fishhooks or be the comptroller of their knitting circle or whatever. Professional grandads. Show a little imagination.



  • @AyGeePlus said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    Good job breaking it, hero.

    I mean, yikes. Call off the shoulder aliens, I didn't advocate for firing all the greeters or putting them in a tiny box or anything like that. I already said there's a subset of the population that really likes working as greeters and can't/don't want to do anything else.

    You claimed that they're being exploited and that their job shouldn't exist. I'd say that counts as breaking something that's working (for many of those people) perfectly well. The hand of "society" (meaning government, because that's how that works) reaching in is exactly making decisions for them against their will. Which is tyranny.

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    The alternative is sitting in a retirement home moldering, not doing anything more productive.

    This is exactly the problem I'm talking about. What do you think the fraction of walmart greeters where that's their dream job, instead of just 'good enough and beats moldering', is? It's not 100% and I don't think it's even 50%. There's just nothing between 'moldering' and 'greeter', and that's the problem. Leaving aside for the moment those who actually need the money.

    I mean, I imagine there's a bunch of greeters who would rather be 'greeters but outside' or trail guides or show children how to bait fishhooks or be the comptroller of their knitting circle or whatever. Professional grandads. Show a little imagination.

    Yeah, you don't know many old people, do you? Seriously. Those that want and are capable of doing those other things...are. Those that don't or can't...don't. There's nothing stopping them from having other jobs, other involvements. Heck, I know a 9X year old lady who is constantly out and engaged. But cutting off that opportunity doesn't give them anything. All it does is make their lives worse. And more than anything...IT'S NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE.

    PS: most of them are physically incapable of doing more active things. Falling is a real danger. If you haven't noticed, most of the greeters have a stool that they spend a lot of the time sitting on. Not because they're lazy, but because they have to.

    PPS: This whole thing totally refutes the whole "greedy corporations that only think of dollars" thing. Because, while their work is useful, it's certainly not worth the wages paid. Greeters are a form of corporate charity on Walmart's part. If you start stacking other restrictions or forcing wage increases...those jobs will just go away and they'll find other ways of accomplishing the needed tasks. Again, that would be a case of well-meaning people ending up hurting the ones they claim they're trying to help. CF Minimum Wage (in the garage).



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    They're not useless. And they take pride in their work. And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.

    I'm ambivalent about what you've said in that post. If I had a choice of two stores to go to, one with greeters, and one without, and they were essentially identical for my purposes, except that one had greeters and one didn't, I would go to the one without greeters.

    When I go to a store, I just want to be left the heck alone. I am giving them my money, and I detest when store employees tell me what to do when I don't need to be told, as long as their signage is clear. I will ask questions if I need information. Greeters are just a part of that annoyance.

    If you want people to feel useful without actually being useful, then you're just humoring them, and effectively insulting them. But I understand I may be in the minority in society on regarding greeters as a slight negative.



  • @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    They're not useless. And they take pride in their work. And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.

    I'm ambivalent about what you've said in that post. If I had a choice of two stores to go to, one with greeters, and one without, and they were essentially identical for my purposes, except that one had greeters and one didn't, I would go to the one without greeters.

    If you want people to feel useful without actually being useful, then you're just humoring them, and effectively insulting them. But I understand I may be in the minority on regarding greeters as a slight negative.

    As I explained above based on my experience working there, they are useful (to the stores). And in small towns, they're often an even bigger positive. Are they being paid equal to their value? No--they're being paid more than their value as a form of charity (and policy, etc). But they do provide more value than many people who are NMP employees.

    And yes, you're an outlier. I'd guess that for the vast majority, the presence or absence of a greeter is such a small difference as to be meaningless in choosing a store. Ceteris isn't Paribus.



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    They're not useless. And they take pride in their work. And the alternative for many of them is sitting at home being leeches on society and feeling depressed and lonely.

    I'm ambivalent about what you've said in that post. If I had a choice of two stores to go to, one with greeters, and one without, and they were essentially identical for my purposes, except that one had greeters and one didn't, I would go to the one without greeters.

    If you want people to feel useful without actually being useful, then you're just humoring them, and effectively insulting them. But I understand I may be in the minority on regarding greeters as a slight negative.

    As I explained above

    Correct. There was nothing in my post which indicated a failure to grasp any of the previously stated information. The repetition was as unnecessary as a greeter.

    And yes, you're an outlier.

    Maybe. But now you've got me thinking otherwise. The suits are herd animals; they instinctively follow other suits. I've had various ideas over the years that the suits eventually caught up with.

    One of my business profs, a former VP for a pharmacy chain, said there was a time that stores made aisles very narrow, so as to fit more stuff in the store. It took retail stores a while to catch on that many people found it unpleasant to bump butts with other people. But eventually the industry caught up with them, and started making the aisles a bit wider.



  • @jinpa But then you proceeded to claim something that was precluded by my statements, which would have been solved if you had really read it.

    AFAIK, Walmart is, has been, and probably will be an outlier in having greeters as a separate job description. Other places have sales employees who have (as part of their responsibility) to greet people, or have loss-prevention officers assigned as "greeters", but Walmart's implementation is relatively unique.



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    Greeters are a form of corporate charity on Walmart's part.

    Do you really believe that? In your heart of hearts, do you think Sam Walton, who pays 5$ for a haircut and doesn't tip, employs two FTE per store nationwide as charity? (inb4 :pendant: I think sam walton's dead now)

    There's a spreadsheet somewhere with 'goodwill' and 'warm fuzzy feelings' and 'community engagement' and 'wages' (and 'if your sales don't improve you'll be a greeter') on it.

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    And yes, you're an outlier.

    Informal poll:
    greeters gross: 2
    greeters charity: 1

    Maybe it's a generational thing? Nobody I know is like 'yay greeters giving back to the community'.

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    most of them are physically incapable of doing more active things. Falling is a real danger.

    This is completely unrelated, but I had a vision of 'bertrand smith, octogenarian and Action Comptroller' and I think that's hilarious.

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    But cutting off that opportunity

    Shoulder aliens! Again!

    Even if I wanted to how the fuck am I going to stop companies from employing someone to stand by the door, even if I were dictator of the world for life? Ban security? Ban standing?


  • :belt_onion:

    @levicki said in Smile counting device:

    @Gąska said in Smile counting device:

    I knew mandatory smiles are already a thing in some professions, but this is some next level dystopian shit.

    And just like any other thing which people are trained or forced to do, smile will lose its real meaning and we are back to square one.

    My pleasure



  • @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    Second, many of them don't want other work. They retired already. The alternative is sitting in a retirement home moldering, not doing anything more productive.

    What retired people do you know? Because that doesn't sound anything like my parents or my grandparents. They keep busy, just on stuff they want to be doing now rather than on stuff they have to be doing because their boss tells them to.



  • @jinpa said in Smile counting device:

    When I go to a store, I just want to be left the heck alone. I am giving them my money, and I detest when store employees tell me what to do when I don't need to be told, as long as their signage is clear. I will ask questions if I need information. Greeters are just a part of that annoyance.

    Meh. For me it's kind of the opposite: the biggest problem I have in grocery stores is not being able to find a specific thing and then not being able to find an employee to ask where to find it. And it's gotten a lot worse over the last 10 years or so.



  • @Mason_Wheeler I kind of wish they'd move the greeters from the front door to under a giant brightly-colored pillar, so you could find them if you needed something, and I wouldn't have to interact with them if I didn't want to.

    Do you want to go in halfsies on a new supermarket chain?


  • :belt_onion:

    Greeters (and sales associates asking you if you need help) is 0% making people feel good (well ok 1%) and 99% LP. People are much less likely to steal if they think everyone's watching them.



  • @AyGeePlus said in Smile counting device:

    Do you want to go in halfsies on a new supermarket chain?

    If you have the resources to finance half of a new supermarket chain, I can think of any number of better uses to put them to. 😛



  • @Mason_Wheeler especially with how low margin supermarket chains are



  • @Mason_Wheeler You've uncovered my secret trap, which was to hope you had the supermarket capital.


  • Banned


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Mason_Wheeler said in Smile counting device:

    @Benjamin-Hall said in Smile counting device:

    Second, many of them don't want other work. They retired already. The alternative is sitting in a retirement home moldering, not doing anything more productive.

    What retired people do you know? Because that doesn't sound anything like my parents or my grandparents. They keep busy, just on stuff they want to be doing now rather than on stuff they have to be doing because their boss tells them to.

    For some people (not everyone, but that's OK) having a good reason to be out and talking to lots of folks is a great reason to enjoy life. They really love it. That it also results in them getting an enhancement of their retirement income is a nice side benefit, but is not the core reason for the people you want as greeters. Combining that with the knowledge that what they are doing is desirable, well, that is a really good thing for them. Not that this is a job that I'd ever want to do, but then I'm not nearly fascinated enough with watching other people, let alone talking to them (😱).

    The loss-prevention benefits to the store of having a person obviously there shouldn't be ignored either. The core of that has to do with the way human psychology works (we have a tendency to behave better when we think others are watching) and can even be triggered by a cardboard cutout of a person, if less effectively than with a real human.



  • @dkf said in Smile counting device:

    can even be triggered by a cardboard cutout of a person

    For some reason not known to me, the admin at work has a life-sized cardboard cutout of Will Ferrell in Elf by her cubicle. That triggers me every time I walk past it.


  • Banned

    @HardwareGeek working as intended? :trollface: