Virtual cashier ‘zooming in’ from Philippines at New York City restaurant sparks debate about remote-work ethics

Tech start-up founder Brett Goldstein posted on X last week about his experience at Japanese fried chicken joint Sansan Chicken in the East Village, where he encountered a Filipino woman working the cash register from over 13,000km away and who appeared on a monitor via Zoom.

“This is insane. Cashier is literally zooming into NYC from the Philippines,” he wrote.

Goldstein praised his experience at the restaurant, calling the level of service friendlier “than any in-person cashiers in New York”.

Although he placed his order, a US$20 chicken katsu curry, through a self-service kiosk, the cashier was on standby and could control the point-of-sale system remotely.

He also had an option to tip the cashier, he said.

Goldstein’s tweet has received over 18 million views and spawned a variety of takes on the use of outsourcing technology to disrupting sectors such as the F&B industry.

One commenter wrote, “It’s kind of a no-brainer when you can pay this virtual worker US$5 per hour versus US$20 for a local, and this virtual worker is more grateful for the job while also treating the customer with more respect.”

Goldstein said the company in charge of virtual cashier service at Sansan Chicken was called Happy Cashier.

Although Happy Cashier does not have an official website and very little information is available about it online, Chi Zhang, the company’s CEO and founder, told Fortune earlier this month its aim was to “empower small businesses by providing exceptional virtual cashier services, as well as operational assistance”.

He also said the service was being tested at a few restaurants throughout the Greater New York City Area.

This Week in Asia found job ads seeking “Happy Cashiers” posted to the Philippines’ sections of Glassdoor and