←back to thread

Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

(slate.com)
527 points lxm | 1 comments | 29 Jun 21 03:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
sksksk ◴[29 Jun 21 08:51 UTC] No.27673432[source]▶
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 signal, so I need to go outside, to receieve the confirmation code.

Connected to the wifi, scan the code again, choose my food.

Go to pay, need to register an account

Put my email address in, I already have an account on this food ordering service!?

Do a password reset

Put in my credit card details (why not use apple pay?).

This whole time, we're sat at a table, in theory to meet friends, but we've spent the first 15 minutes all glued to our phones!

replies(26): >>27673456 #>>27673485 #>>27673529 #>>27673544 #>>27673575 #>>27673592 #>>27673616 #>>27673680 #>>27673725 #>>27673750 #>>27674317 #>>27674718 #>>27674768 #>>27674810 #>>27675286 #>>27675356 #>>27675397 #>>27675440 #>>27676026 #>>27676226 #>>27676355 #>>27677430 #>>27678005 #>>27687050 #>>27687537 #>>27689555 #
HelloNurse ◴[29 Jun 21 09:00 UTC] No.27673485[source]▶
Assuming there was another restaurant nearby, I'd have simplified the process to "go outside". If a restaurant is too cheap to print a menu, why should I consider it good enough for me?
replies(1): >>27673590 #
topicseed ◴[29 Jun 21 09:19 UTC] No.27673590[source]▶
With covid, many restaurants removed paper menus to avoid transmission. I hate QR codes so that was a move I was not in favour of.....
replies(7): >>27673742 #>>27673766 #>>27673777 #>>27673998 #>>27674555 #>>27674981 #>>27675450 #
jbluepolarbear ◴[29 Jun 21 09:46 UTC] No.27673766[source]▶
Restaurants open during the pandemic has been a joke. Outside in a tent/wood box never fixed any problem. I have not been to a restaurant since March 2020. Going to different restaurants was my favorite hobby, but the experience has become so hostile that I won’t go back until I can sit inside without a mask, have a menu, and not have to worry about a coughing idiot.
replies(5): >>27673905 #>>27673963 #>>27675474 #>>27676356 #>>27688650 #
jiofih ◴[29 Jun 21 10:11 UTC] No.27673905[source]▶
Your comment reeks of entitlement. Restaurant owners have been struggling to survive by serving customers any way they can. Sorry your high dining-out standards can’t be met while a few million people die from the pandemic.
replies(1): >>27673965 #
jbluepolarbear ◴[29 Jun 21 10:22 UTC] No.27673965[source]▶
How is this entitlement? Dining at a restaurant is a luxury, if I’m going to spend my money on a luxury, I’m going to choose an experience that is safe, enjoyable, and to my interests. Why are you so upset? Why do you feel that the conditions in place are acceptable? Personally, I grew up quite poor and never got to go to restaurants. It wasn’t until I started making a little money in my late 20s that I could start to go to restaurants as a way to remove myself from my current stressful life and just unwind for a bit. For me restaurant dining is an experience and the experience offered at present isn’t appealing.
replies(3): >>27674186 #>>27674211 #>>27674227 #
dagw ◴[29 Jun 21 11:06 UTC] No.27674211[source]▶
Dining at a restaurant is a luxury

I think this is the crux of the difference of opinions. Dining at a restaurant is different things to different people at different times. I love the 'luxury' dining experience with all that it entails, will happily pay a lot of money to experience it, and I cannot wait to do that again. And in those cases, yes I expect that all aspects of the dining experience live up to that. But just as often I'm just hungry and want a halfway decent burger and beer served to me as quickly and efficiently as possible.

For most people and in most situations, dining at a restaurant isn't a luxury experience, it's just a way to get food.

replies(3): >>27674376 #>>27675726 #>>27676275 #
1. OJFord ◴[29 Jun 21 13:49 UTC] No.27675726{4}[source]▶
For all people in all situations in the UK, dining at a restaurant is subject to VAT; it is therefore considered a luxury (in the sense of being pleasant but not necessary [0]) as opposed to essential 'way to get food'.

It may seem a bit ridiculous to appeal to VAT - there are fairly 'ordinary' goods that are nevertheless deemed inessential and taxable after all - but I just wanted a way to say that I think GP's use of 'luxury' is being misinterpreted as a desire for fine dining; as I read it, I agree, it's discretional expenditure which has my discretion when I think I'll enjoy it. If I don't, why should I?

I don't think that's any more entitled than the converse view here that we have some sort of moral obligation to personally (and not through taxes) support restaurateurs through limited opening.

[0] - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luxury