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Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

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Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#412
post #129

When they work well, they're really good, but when they work badly, they're _really_ bad. The other week, I went for dinner at a place that had a online ordering system. My experience was as follows... Arrive at the table, scan the QR code No phone signal in the restaurant, so I need to connect to the wifi. Connect to the wifi, get a captive portal Need to put my phone number in to connect to the wifi; there is no si…

These places are unwittingly teaching their customers that they'll have a superior experience by using a food delivery service such as Uber Eats.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, here in the UK I know several people who no longer carry a wallet or cards at all because Apple Pay is so ubiquitously available. I don’t know anyone without a phone.

I do have a phone and usually have it with me, but I don't always have it with me. I think having more payment options is great. Cash, cards, phones, you name it. The variety of options is true convenience. But I don't see how someone can say a phone is more convenient than cash/card for payment. Sure if you already have it with you (an argument which is symmetric anyway), but cash/cards use up less space and...well…

I think the 2 are similar enough that are a bit subjective. For me it’s easier to pull out my card holder and slide out my card than trying to unlock my phone several times in a row. It doesn’t help that some places don’t know how to use NFC so the card works 100% of the time for me.

If I lived in a post-facemask NFC-aware country I’d totally use Apple Pay

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple Pay is no more of a hurdle/mitm than whatever payment gateway they were using.

Things are not "good" because somebody made you feel it is comfortable. 800 Euro for an Apple device, account at Apple, network connection with provider and full battery - together with a credit card and all of that is no hurdle? You can just pay immediately with cash. And nobody will be informed about it! Words of critique upon Apple are usually not welcome here. When I look how bad entitlement handling is with MacO…

I don't have an iPhone. So, recontextualize my comment in that light, and give it a more charitable reading.

Apple pay is, for the poster, a stand in for NFC pay of some sort. Which indeed requires a device, which indeed is its own class of requirement, but also, cash works even if less practical.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#416
We could talk about why all day long but I want to make this fact super clear to any restaurant workers/owners: If you ask me to get my fone out of my pocket then I leave and give my business to your competition. Literally all it takes is a menu printout taped to a wall and you can keep my business. Make it happen.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#417
It's really interesting to see how a crowd of tech workers who generally are trying to pave the way are so quick to attack and be negative.

Like all things in life, when its implemented well it works and when it does not it is terrible. I still think there is room for this to be the future though. I say this as a westerner but perhaps the west is not ready for it yet but I really enjoyed the experience of using QR codes in China. Go to a restaurant I just get shown where to sit and don't need to waste time with the host/server giving me menus or telling me anything. If I have questions they are there to answer the but I can also just sit down, scan the QR code, menu opens up and I can order food. Food just shows up minutes later. When I am done I go to the front and pay with Alipay.

The benefits to me of not having physical menus is huge. From the business perspective there is less interaction time necessary to serve a diner. Sure if this is an upscale high touch experience physical menu is where it stays BUT the majority of dining experiences are not like this. The menu is up to date and easy to modify. Possible to include multiple pictures and information about the food.

I might be wild but I really like the experience and wish more places would adopt it. Like all things I think here in the west its still too new so we have a mixed bag of good and bad implementations. Give it a few years and I think it will be narrowed down to the POS providers who offer it as a feature.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. You are allowed to have an opinion about something you would pay for. In fact you are allowed to have an opinion period. That doesn't make you entitled.

It isn't the opinion that makes them sound entitled. The base opinion is: I haven't gone to such places since Covid began because the experience is less enjoyable and more stressful. But it is said with contempt for the businesses and regulations, which the businesses cannot do much about. Even where it is open, they have to think about their employees and the risk they put them in. Not only that, but folks have been…

If people liked that sort of thing it would have been the business model before it was forced to be. The restaurants have declined in quality. Sometimes this is their fault, and sometimes it isn't. Either way, no restaurant is entitled to customers. A lot of places near me have decided that masks are still required, despite the state saying they aren't. In response, I have decided not to eat there. There's no entitlement either way, just the market.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#419
post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the general topic of "technology in restaurants", I've noticed an increasing number of restaurants where the waitstaff uses phones/tablets with some kind of specialized app. This happens often: we start telling them our order, and they have to say "wait a sec.... (taps phone for several seconds) okay what was that?". The "UX" as a patron is pretty bad compared to the waitstaff just whipping out a notepad and scrib…

Several of the large chains already have pay at table kiosk's I have always wondered why they just do not have order at table as well... I am waiting for the first restaurant that only has Cooks and Food Runners with no traditional waitstaff... This will likely coincide with the removal of tipping as a custom in the US. We will move to kiosk ordering, press a button to get drink refills, pay at the table, and leave.

Applebees allows you to order from the kiosk. I bet that after a few times of doing that you could get a situation where the waitress would recognize you and not even stop by until she's bringing your order.

I still feel that these products are "sold" to restaurants and aren't actually all they're cracked up to be.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#420
“Bring back menus, QR code’s are terrible.”

Thank God somebody had the spine to say it. QR code implementation is a mess. I’ve had a terrible time when a phone is out of battery, poor reception, or buggy.

I hate relying on my phone for something as simple as a meal out. All seemed rather dystopian.

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