Ok. (hands out)
Waitress: …What?
Your phone?!
I am fine with it but I feel they should have alternatives. Some people don 't have a device, connection. Or have issues with using technology for whatever reason, being old, incapacitated, etc.
There’s a waiter, so I assume you could just tell them you don’t have a phone for it
Then they don’t eat there. I don’t see the problem. Might be the owners problem. But hopefully it was taken into cinsideration. If not, though luck again.
That’s not quite how accessibility regulations are structured. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are requirements on this in any given jurisdiction. Perhaps not a ‘thou shalt have printed menus’ but some kind of reasonable accommodation I think isn’t absurd.
I think it’s pretty reasonable to require restaurants to spend a little money to print menus, and even a little more to get braille ones. There’s millions of people who might have some difficulty or another using a browser based menu, certainly we can do better than saying “sorry, tough luck.”
Shit cell service, and an inability to easily take in the menu online are my biggest gripes
If they don’t have a good internet connection available for free for customers with a good mobile website, why would anyone visit and actually struggle through the ordering process?
It’s a niche probably imaginary scenario they want to strawman. If a place has shit cell service or no Wi-Fi then they clearly aren’t using QR codes and just shrugging their shoulders confused at every customer.
I love and seek out restaurants that use online ordering and payment. I don’t need someone waiting on me. I’m in the US and they are not paid a living wage, the work is difficult with little reward. Now there is a place in my neighborhood where you sit down the QR code is table based, interaction is simple, clear and designed to work (uses Toast as the backend iirc). You order, the order stays open till you pay it’s a restaurant/bar so if you need another you don’t have to do anything but tap on your phone. They have amazing helpful servers that are paid well. You pay on your phone and leave when you are done. It’s amazing.
I think this is more about power dynamics than currency and menus. I think many people just want or more accurately demand that others (with less power) to serve them. I’ve even heard people say “it’s not my job to check me out or take my order.” Those same people treat their waitress like shit, when those waitresses are paid basically nothing to take the abuse. Then they try to weasel out of the bill. Seen it time and time again.
Now, some restaurants do poor a poor implementation of modern menus and it’s frustrating. However… long term those that do it well will win. It reduces friction and costs leading to lower prices higher margins and quicker more accurate service.
Nobody will win. The waitress stays or will return and still get paid shit. The menu will get digitised because it’s cheaper. You know what less costs mean?
Higher profits.
The end.
Wake up.
You might want to reevaluate who needs to “wake up”. Right now the only difference I see between you and Jeff Bezos is who has the money.
There are many other successful ways to run a business. Co-ops are one example… The legal and regulatory framework of our society should encourage and reward making and encouraging pro-social ethical decisions not discourage them. I think our problem is how we treat each other - not how we order food. Ordering food is just the symptom of the greater ill.
As long as you think like Bezos, nothing will change and more of your money will flow to the rich.
Thus, why I suggest the “waking up” that needs to happen is to realize we are in an increasingly unstable dream/nightmare (depending on whether you have money or not) that we collectively need to choose a different way that truly does benefit everyone.
I hate them. Will never go to a place that uses them.
I’ve been to a dine-in movie theater that had QR codes for the menu. Problem is, I typically don’t bring my phone to a movie AND since you can order during the movie, who wants people turning their phones on to read a menu?
I first read that as a “drive-in” movie theater and was like “that sounds awesome” and “how is that the most annoying part of your experience” lol.
Doubly egregious when you have one of those annoying GDPR windows that make opting out a hassle just to view the menu. I’ve left restaurants over this.
for bonus points, the website uses 15 web frameworks and you have to click your way to a gallery of jpeg images for every page of the menu (obviously incompatible with half the mobile browsers so none of this even attempts to render).
“You need to enable Javascript to view this site.”
For when trusting them to not leak our credit card numbers isn’t enough.
Don’t they legally have to have gdpr options?
Not if they don’t track you. As far as I understand the fabled cookie law, you only need to have that notice if you’re using cookies in a way that’s not strictly necessary for the site’s functionality.
Only if they use cookies which frankly…why the fuck would they need to?
The mnalways dissapointed when a restaurant doesn’t have cookies.
They do but lots of places make it a major hassle to set preferences. Like having “accept all” but rejecting has to be done one by one.
I’m not a 100% on this, but from what i remember, this is technically also not allowed. Something about refusing has to be just as easy as accepting. What is unfortunately not regulated (i’d assume, since nobody does it) is a refuse all option for legitimate interest, so they can give you an option to opt out of all cookies but leave all the legitimate interest options on and you have to turn them off one by one. Worst part is you might not even see that they’re on if you just say refuse all instead of going to the settings
Technically they don’t even have to give you the option to refuse cookies if they have a legitimate interest to collect them. The idea being that if a company’s business model depends on them collecting a certain data point then you shouldn’t be able to get the service for free.
All of this means, that if a site offers you to refuse cookies they have a legitimate interest on then it’s probably bullshit and they are just using the general confusion to get more data than nessesary.
Tbh this is the reason I’m just using Firefox focus as default browser. Sure you can install your shit cookies, I’ll wipe them off after I’m done with your site
Yeah. That’s standard asshat practice now I feel like. There needs to be a GDRP2 that specifies these settings can only pop up if standardized user defaults saved within the browser settings are not present. It’s gotten way out of control.
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I don’t get how people go abroad and don’t just get a local sim. In most countries, a travel sim is something between 20 and 40 bucks. In my opinion, that’s pretty essential.
Extended layover. Not going to buy a SIM for a day in Lisbon.
Eh, guess so. I just never go for this extended layover kind of deal.
And, because I’m European, I do not even need a different sim for the whole of Europe. Unlimited data.
As a non European, prepaid sims in Europe are complicated. Some companies won’t sell sims to foreigners, some have little to no roaming. Some have activation fees that double the price.
Some examples: in Germany you need to do a video call to activate your sim, in Italy most providers require you to have an Italian tax number to buy a sim. In Romanian most of the plans have a paltry 1 GB of roaming.
Also most of the SIMs geared toward tourists don’t allow roaming.
If the QR code was just encoded text or an image as apposed to a weblink, then this could have been avoided. Although, I’m not sure how many QR readers support images, and if your phone doesn’t have a built-in QR app nor you have a third-party one, then you’d be SOL anyways.
Wouldn’t it be easier to show the image than encode it in a QR?
Surprised they didn’t have free wifi, but at least they had a solution. Upside is less waste, faster menu updates, and not touching dirty menus… downside is convenience.
That’s exactly why I prefer qr. I don’t need to touch dirty menus and before anyone says that they clean them every night. Doesn’t matter, they use the same watery rag on all the menus, they may not be sticky but they sure as shit are still dirty. I’ve worked at plenty of restaurants, including ‘high end’ ones. The only way to guarantee they’re clean is to just print out a new one for each guest.
Your phone is definitely not sanitary, unless you sanitize it.
Your phone only contains your own dirt.
It’s like saying you’re okay with sleeping in someone else’s unwashed bed just because you’re okay with doing that with your own.
Your phone contains germs and bacteria from everything you’ve touched throughout the day, and every surface you have placed it on. You touch things and then touch your phone all day long. You wash your hands before you eat to get rid of all those germs, but if you handle your phone after that, then you might as well not wash your hands.
Remember kids: Every time you touch something, you get your germs on it. That also means that portion of your germs is no longer on your hands. So in lieu of washing your hands, consider touching every single surface you come across.
It’s possible to have a qr code menu while still having print menus avaliable, get the best of both worlds.
Having free WiFi might also be nice. But the physical copy is more versatile.
Or, just get a cheapo used tablet and keep that in reserve for people to view the menu if needed.
Oh yeah, right. Even better.
I’ve actually been to a restaurant in Prague that only handed out iPads as menus. 🤷♂️
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Well for certain restaurants it makes some sense. Like if your a nicer seafood place all that shit changes by the week in price, sometimes daily. You don’t want to have to print out menus on nice card stock everyday and you also don’t want shitty looking paper menus.
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It’s been so long since i had to print something, it took me a minute to remember what CTRL-P does lmao
Thanks for explaining that for me, I didn’t get it.
The last two exclusive QR Code menues I tried to use were just stupid:
One was on an island in the Adria without cell phone reception. I had to ask the waitor on his second round for the wifi password, which he did not know and supplied on his 3rd round. All of this took 20 minutes.
the other one was in an cafe mostly visited by tourists in Scotland. They had a website that was only accessible to British people since brexit, and they did not care to fix it.
I fucking hate those! They spend so much money on the decoration and ads, but can’t be bothered to print 10 menus? What a BS! If a café or a restaurant is still stuck in covid times and wants to use QR codes, they should provide free Wi-Fi otherwise I’m walking out (as I have done many times) because fuck you and your barcode and your shitty management cause if i’m picking from an app I should be able to order through and pay through the same web app, there is no reason for a waiter or reception and cashier its just half assing technocracy.
I am serious. And don’t call me surly.
What’s meshurley’s phone number?
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You can call me Shirley!
I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can call me Al.
Well, duh. I know. But the original joke works because it exchanges “surely” for the homophone “Shirley.” With “Shirley” already in the title I can’t do that, so swapping it for the not-quite-homophone “surly” seemed like the next best choice.
You didn’t get it.deleted by creator
You must be hilarious in conversations
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I don’t know why but the QR menus just piss me off in a service restaurant. I won’t use em (been bailed out by a date more than once).
For a counter place where they are just slinging me the food? Ok I guess. But if we’re out paying for a dinner that’ll hopefully lead to nookie, phones should be the last thing on the table.
That’s not a menu! That’s a QR code!
So I threw it on the ground
My dads not a menu.
and then said, That’s no QR code, that’s my wife!
Sorry wait, I’m getting it mixed up with an old boomer joke my neighbor used to tell.
So then the bartender says “Sorry, we don’t serve QR codes here.”
The moral of the story is
You can’t trust the system!
Man!
(Very Lemmy take, there)
Am I the only one that doesn’t mind these? You’re all acting like you’re being asked to murder somebody.
that I have had experiences with these websites having trackers and advertisements on the menu sites yes
Eta also what if my battery is dead or I got shit connection
Ask for a paper copy? They usually have them for people that don’t like digital
I kinda like them. Anyone that’s worked in a restaurant doesn’t want to touch physical menus anyway lol
Not everyone has a smart phone.
Or the eyes to read an eight and a half by 11 sized menu on a small cell phone.
I’m with boomers on this. It’s even worse if it redirects you to their FB page
Boomer is a state of mind.
If I have to log into fucking facebook to see a goddamn menu I’m leaving.
Agree. And it is an unnecessary wall to go through for most people. Printing a Menu is really simple.
What drives me up the wall is when it just links to a scanned image of the menu they used to have, so instead of a full sized menu, you have to pinch and zoom and swipe around on your phone. What’s the fucking point? I went to one and the menu was FOUR PAGES LONG like that! If I hadn’t been promising my daughter I’d take her, I would have walked out.
Folding phone works well for this. Kinda sucks that you need an $1800 device to have a decent menu viewing experience. I’m more miffed that they expect my reception to be a given. Towers go down, congestion happens, give me a physical menu!
I’d tell the waiter to give me their special of the day. No other questions or answers, just the special … don’t know … don’t care what it is … as long as it doesn’t make me sick, puke or have diarrhea … just give me the special.
Then I’d eat it.
Pay for it.
And never return.
“Then I’d eat it. Pay for it. And never return.”
Fuck. You sure showed them. The smirk on your face when you paid them money would be huge. Classic.
