Broadcaster Adrian Chiles has expressed his frustration with his new coffee machine, describing its cheerful messages as unbearable. He prefers the terse clarity of his old model, which simply displayed instructions such as “empty grounds” or “fill tank” without any banter.
The new machine, made by the same manufacturer, features a larger colour screen showing pictures of different coffee options. Chiles questions the necessity of such visuals, noting that he never needed a picture to distinguish between an espresso and a cappuccino.
More aggravating than the screen, however, are the congratulatory messages that appear after making coffee. These include phrases such as “You’re like a pro”, “Hope you love it!”, “Just the way you like it!” and “This is my best one yet!”. Chiles says the messages make him want to take a sledgehammer to the machine.
While the machine works well, Chiles finds the anthropomorphic language irritating. He remarks that the machine is not a person and should not refer to itself as “I”. He warns that if the banter cannot be turned off, he may switch to drinking tea instead.
