21st Century Eateries

[Towntalk]

When you're working in a big city and have only a half hour for lunch and your place of work is next to the H.J. Heinz plant it's impossible to stop in at a regular diner at lunch time ... at the automat you just go in, get your lunch and that only takes a couple of minutes.

I usually got a salad, a large steak burger or a bowl of soup a piece of pie and a large cup of coffee ... $3.00. or $18.00 a week but then that was back in the late 1960's.

By the way, the Automat had two long banks of machines, and a menu that was really good.

[jay]

Those were all "service economy" jobs that were eliminated by the automat.

[Towntalk]

Gone the waitresses ... Gone the Bus-Boys ... Gone the cashers ... Gone the tipping ... the new age of the Automat is back.

This article came to my attention while updating my web site

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-kiosk11nov11,0,410545,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

How many of you ever eaten at an Automat? When I was working in Pittsburgh, I had the opportunity to use one on a daily basis, and saved a lot of money in the process. The meals were good, and I didn't have to deal with waitresses or cashers. No one to hurry me up, and best of all, no worry about how much to tip the machines.