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Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

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Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#621

Post by FalconSensei »

conductr wrote: post #422
resonious wrote: post #349

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…

My biggest cheapskate-old-man gripe is how the UX as you said is systemically deteriorating in restaurants yet the tip expectations have creeped up from 15% standard to now 25% default. And, all apps that compute tip % or recommended tip amounts tip on top of tax, which really irks me as just a dark pattern to rip off patrons and inflate the tip amount. This is US tipping culture at absolute worse. I hold at 15% stan…

If I have to do math and input in dollar, I do 10%, which is easier to calculate

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#622

Post by nitwit005 »

advanced-DnD wrote: post #313
vmception wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American that visits Germany, I absolutely hate how eating at a restaurant is seen by many as an event where you hang out forever, as opposed to a routine service I expect as a fairly quick and formulaic pitstop between other obligations. There seems to be no difference between classes of dining out, in this regard. I also suspect you are out of touch. QR code menus and payments were not a thing in the US befor…

> I absolutely hate how eating at a restaurant is seen by many as an event where you hang out forever, as opposed to a routine service I expect as a fairly quick and formulaic pitstop between other obligations. Cultural difference. If you don't want to spend time with your friends then don't accept invitations of going to a restaurant.

It is a cultural difference, but it's fairly clear it wasn't always enjoyed. People in some parts of Europe really appreciated fast food places when they first started appearing, as it gave them an option that cut out much of the restaurant meal time expenditure.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#623

Post by FalconSensei »

msrenee wrote: post #474
conductr wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest cheapskate-old-man gripe is how the UX as you said is systemically deteriorating in restaurants yet the tip expectations have creeped up from 15% standard to now 25% default. And, all apps that compute tip % or recommended tip amounts tip on top of tax, which really irks me as just a dark pattern to rip off patrons and inflate the tip amount. This is US tipping culture at absolute worse. I hold at 15% stan…

You're not really voicing your dissent at that point. The server gets no tip and doesn't get any indication why. Why not just bring cash to tip? Or call the restaurant and talk to the manager? Not tipping doesn't accomplish anything and the server who has no control over the system and is already underpaid gets screwed over.

> Why not just bring cash to tip

If the point is not to keep calculating the tip, that's worse. And then we would need to wait to get the change on the tip?

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#624

Post by colinmhayes »

thomascgalvin wrote: post #467
infecto wrote: post #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 co…

My big issue, which should be easily correctable, is that every menu QR code I've scanned results in a PDF that I have to download. Nobody wants PDFs. On desktop sites, it's common to add a (PDF Warning) to links that lead to PDFs. And on a phone, PDFs are even worse. They're almost always sized for the desktop, which means you have to pinch and scroll to see anything, and I don't download stuff from Firefox often en…

I love scanning a QR code and having a pdf open in my browser. Faster than waiting for wait staff and easier for restaurants to change the menu. I think most people disagree that nobody wants PDFs.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#625

Post by idiotsecant »

alisonatwork wrote: post #608
_Nat_ wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most ordering-apps I've tried allow customers to customize items and make special-requests. It's often easier to do these things on an app, and these modifications are automatically reflected on the receipt. I guess an app could give people access to a webcam to engage in discussion with a cook as they prepare the food, for people who really want to watch the process and talk to the cook.. is that a feature you'd be…

I think my comment is a bit centered around the Chinese experience. A lot of smaller Chinese restaurants are just one guy at a wok standing near the entrance and a bunch of stools inside (sometimes also outside). They're commonly a husband and wife team, where the husband cooks and the wife acts as a runner or takes orders when it's too busy to bark what you want at the cook, but sometimes it's just the one person. I…

If QR-code based ordering doesn't decrease the quality of the food (I think everyone agrees it doesn't) why should others have to subsidize your 'personal touch' experience paying higher prices for increased wait staff attention when they may be OK with (and prefer!) impersonal service, which has a built-in lower cost of delivery?

It seems to me your focus is less on the quality of the food (provided it means quality standards) and more about the ambiance and experience of another human catering to your customized requirements. In any other domain this would be a luxury you'd be expected to pay more for.

I say bring on the impersonally delivered, high quality, cheap food!

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#626

Post by idiotsecant »

twerkmonsta wrote: post #538
ff317 wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exciting positive answers to this problem would be: 1) All such restaurants offering free open wifi + 2) A commercialized system that hosts the menu PDFs on tiny https servers on the restaurant's wifi router and serves them locally (potentially avoiding issues with far-away outages and also saving on the internet bandwidth for the common case).

Now I have to connect to their wifi before I can see the menu? And the restaurant is expected to maintain a menu server? What is MORE practical about this?

No, you can use your cellular connection all you want. It'll just eat your data. If you want to trade a little effort for a little data saving, that option is open to you.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#627

Post by cgriswald »

twerkmonsta wrote: post #538
ff317 wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exciting positive answers to this problem would be: 1) All such restaurants offering free open wifi + 2) A commercialized system that hosts the menu PDFs on tiny https servers on the restaurant's wifi router and serves them locally (potentially avoiding issues with far-away outages and also saving on the internet bandwidth for the common case).

Now I have to connect to their wifi before I can see the menu? And the restaurant is expected to maintain a menu server? What is MORE practical about this?

They can change prices and/or update the menu at any time and they avoid printing, storing, handing out, collecting, and cleaning the physical menus.

An appliance menu server would cost practically nothing if they're already offering Wi-Fi or use electronic POS/ordering systems.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#628

Post by jiofih »

practice9 wrote: post #365
jiofih wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why do you feel like the conditions in place are acceptable? “Acceptable”? To whom? This is why you sound entitled. The alternative is not dining out . You make it sound like restaurants are letting you down or should try harder . The word “acceptable” has no place in this conversation. It’s fine that you don’t want to go out to restaurants right now. But you’re complaining about how inconvenient it is for you like…

> To whom? This is why you sound entitled. > you’re complaining > All of this makes me upset because it sounds extremely insensitive. > The world is mourning millions of dead > a bit more empathy. You're attacking a person for their honest opinion while knowing almost nothing about them, their life etc. In fact you sound angry and insensitive, please keep your emotions under control

Nice way to turn this into a personal attack. I have nothing against this opinion, and said as much above (I might even share it). His attitude and wording is entitled and disrespectful, like this is an inconvenience to him and not the result of worldwide events.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#629

Post by weaksauce »

infecto wrote: post #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 co…

> Like all things in life, when its implemented well it works and when it does not it is terrible.

for a good example of this look at the iPhone's predecessors and the iPad's predecessors... before those the PDAs were basically awful and internet phones were junk. the iPad basically created a wide-spread tablet market.

Re: Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

#630

Post by mastrsushi »

To say "bring menus back" isn't forward thinking. Menu's are gross, not all resturants bother to clean them because to do so is a burden on service flow. They're also an uneeded environmental factor.

This pandemic was a complete reflection of human laziness. With the technology we're spoiled with, if there's an effortless way to carry better hygiene habits, we should make use of it.

So to the author, you can be as bummed as you want watching customers stare down at phones. You can go ahead and paint it as some Orwellian fever dream. I don't want this planet's landfills to load up on slightly cracked Cheesecake factory booklets.

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