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App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

washingtonpost.com

31–40 of 124 posts

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#31
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire chain: the facebook likes are fake, the hipsters, the customers, even the press release? Do those restaurants even exist in reality ;) ?

Unfortunately.

But the Salmon probably isn't real.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#32
post #25

The app requires you to always allow them to track your location. It seemed like an interesting app till I found that out. I probably won't open it back up until I hear that they change this.

Nobody is forcing the participants to stay, of course, but if they leave, they won’t be paid — their movements are being tracked with geolocation. You have to be there to get paid, and that is a good way for them to know you actually are. Is there any other way I wonder .. EDIT: did you mean that the app should turn off tracking when you're not "working"? then you're right but maybe it is due to software or hardware…

People will get a cheap throw-away Android phone, install the app, sign up, turn on tracking, then hide the phone somewhere near the restaurant, then go do their daily chores.

Under the stand up ashtray is probably best, no one will look under there.

Not that I would condone such a thing.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#33
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come to believe that San Franciscans love pain and inconvenience.

Explaining why they moved to San Francisco in the first place?

I recently moved here, I am not experiencing pain. Inconvenience is strictly in the eye of the beholder.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#35
post #32
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is forcing the participants to stay, of course, but if they leave, they won’t be paid — their movements are being tracked with geolocation. You have to be there to get paid, and that is a good way for them to know you actually are. Is there any other way I wonder .. EDIT: did you mean that the app should turn off tracking when you're not "working"? then you're right but maybe it is due to software or hardware…

People will get a cheap throw-away Android phone, install the app, sign up, turn on tracking, then hide the phone somewhere near the restaurant, then go do their daily chores. Under the stand up ashtray is probably best, no one will look under there. Not that I would condone such a thing.

I suspect for what they pay this would be extremely inefficient with much more hastle free ways to make money. Just my opinion though.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#36

Buying a crowd is old school. Politicians and unions have been renting mobs of protesters since at least the 90's, when I first became aware of it. Probably longer. The only thing new here is getting the gig through an app instead of a flyer on a telephone pole.

If you mean the BC 1090s that is.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#37

San Francisco: "If there's no line outside then don't go there"

I really don't get the whole wait outside for 35 minutes to get marginally better ice cream thing. I feel like people want the tweetbrags about visiting the trendy ice cream shop more than they want the ice cream.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#38

Buying a crowd is old school. Politicians and unions have been renting mobs of protesters since at least the 90's, when I first became aware of it. Probably longer. The only thing new here is getting the gig through an app instead of a flyer on a telephone pole.

Have companies been doing this too? Lining up outside a new restaurant is probably safer than participating in a protest or strike.

http://www.crowdsforrent.com/

edit: I'm no way related to that company. It's just an example. Here's more

https://crowdsondemand.com/

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/crowd-h...

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#39

Buying a crowd is old school. Politicians and unions have been renting mobs of protesters since at least the 90's, when I first became aware of it. Probably longer. The only thing new here is getting the gig through an app instead of a flyer on a telephone pole.

I'm dissatisfied the news never investigates the veracity of the crowd. It certainly is misleading. But I suppose pomp and circumstance helps the media inflate perceptions of the events they cover.

Re: App pays users to line up outside new restaurants

#40
Whenever I watch the Apple WWDC keynote, and I hear the handful of enthusiastic screams from the audience when Tim Cook announces some new feature, I always wonder if those are genuine or not. They just don't seem real. Like 99% of people watching, I've never attended in person, so it's hard to tell.
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