Kansas City Food Blog

One of the rites of teenage passage is working in a fast-food restaurant. I did it, many of my friends did it, and even Rahm Emanuel did it. Charlie Bell climbed the rungs at McDonald's from a teenage fry cook to CEO by the time he was 42.

As in the Army, if you get in young and stay long enough, fast food can be a lucrative career. Also, it's one of the few careers you'd think would be immune to outsourcing. But if fast-food restaurants have their way, the person taking your order at the drive-through could be on a different continent.

It's hard to believe, but drive-throughs are starting to be outsourced. Burger giant Jack-in-the-Box (of which, thankfully, there are none in Kansas City) has been trying out the program in Charlotte, North Carolina, for several months, with other chains watching the results.

According to the Associated Press, "Orders are routed to a Texas call center operated by Bronco Communications, and [a Jack-in-the-Box spokesperson] said some orders may be routed outside of the country.... Customers in Charlotte have noticed heavy accents among order-takers, only to find different workers at the drive-through window."

I understand the incentive to save money on employees, but it doesn't seem like having an extra layer of people who may have trouble understanding American accents (I once talked with an Italian call-center employee who was flummoxed by the fact that many Southern people say "yesir" instead of "yes") would make the process smoother.

Really, though, all people care about is getting their orders quickly and correctly. If a person from Italy, India or Indiana is able to do that, the Charlie Bells and Rahm Emanuels of the world will just have to figure out another place to get their start.