The weird workplace

40 minutes or free; Flying sky high; Way to impress; Too much information; 'No, I mean, yes... wait, what was the question?'

40 minutes or free?
NEW ZEALAND — The personal touch of pizza delivery may soon be lost in New Zealand with Domino’s Pizza testing “the world’s first autonomous pizza delivery vehicle.” Named DRU (Domino’s Robotic Unit), the four-wheeled machine can easily maneuver down roads, past obstacles, to deliver hot pizza and hot and cold drinks to customers. Domino’s “newest recruit” has “sleek, refined forms combined with a friendly person and lighting to help customers identify and interact with it” and “is a world first in the space of commercial autonomous delivery,” said the company. “He is cheeky and endearing and we are confident that one day soon he will be joining the Domino’s family and delivery piping hot pizzas to your door.”

Flying sky high
LOS ANGELES — A flighty flight attendant made news recently when she apparently dumped a bag filled with cocaine at the airport and took to the hills. Marsha Reynolds of JetBlue Airways — and a former college sprinter — was accused of dropping almost 70 pounds of the white stuff when she deboarded from a flight and was randomly selected for screening at the Los Angeles airport, according to Reuters. She then took off her shoes and dashed away, down an up escalator, but later turned herself into authorities in New York. 

Way to impress
NEW ORLEANS — One job applicant definitely made an impression recently when he helped stop a robbery while interviewing for a job at a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant in New Orleans. The suspect had come in and grabbed cash from the till before bolting for the door, only to be stopped by assistant manager Danyanna Metoyer, according to CNN. So interviewee Devin Washington, 18, sprung to action. “The interviewee took him off of me and held him with another employee until the police showed up,” said Metoyer. “I was like ‘This can’t be real.’ It was the first time I had ever seen this.” Not surprisingly, Washington was hired. 

Too much information? 
REDMOND, WASH. — Microsoft has been having a tough time of late when it comes to its artificial intelligence “chatbot” called Tay. The software company has created virtual agents to interact with people and learn from them, said Reuters. But in March, Tay was shut down for making racist, anti-Semitic and sexist comments on Twitter. A week later, she launched a spam attack on her followers by sending the same tweet to many users. The chatbot also tweeted about “smoking kush,” a nickname for marijuana, in front of the police. “Tay remains offline while we make adjustments,” said Microsoft. “As part of testing, she was inadvertently activated on Twitter for a brief period of time.”  

'No, I mean, yes... wait, what was the question?' 
VANCOUVER — What was meant as a joke to amuse a crowd soon developed into more of an albatross for RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson recently. When asked when he last wrote a traffic ticket, Paulson instead talked about speeding down a highway in British Columbia last year and being pulled over by an RCMP officer. The quip got some laughs, according to the CBC, but later, talking to reporters, he seemed less comfortable. “Aw, it was just a story I made up,” said Paulson: “I do not want to talk about that.” The commissioner then admitted it did happen but said he had been given a warning. When asked whether he was given preferential treatment, Paulson said “no” and the news conference ended. The theme of his speech was about being a national police force that’s fair, transparent and accountable.

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