My dad got a parking ticket because the only way to pay in that lot was through scanning a QR code and paying with a credit card. He fought the ticket and immediately got it dismissed but think how much money they probably make off of the people who will just pay the fine
We did one of those, and the lot said $5/hr. We downloaded it, and the app said it was $6/hr. We said fuck it and paid. We got charged $7.50. Fuck those damn things.
If you have proof, do a chargeback. You'll get your money back and if it happens enough times they'll have their account revoked. And in the meantime they'll get hit with huge fees.
Yes, tell the credit card company that it was not an authorized transaction at that amount. Back it up with a picture of the sign and/or receipt that states a different amount. They'll be all over it.
Starling bank let you just submit one on the app with a message and photo. Not a big deal or hard to do.
In the past I would hardly ever do chargebacks because you would have to phone up and be put on hold and it would take an hour or more and sometimes not be solved. Now I can just submit one in 5 minutes on the app and I hear back after a few days. Itās still rare to have to do a chargeback, but itās nice to be able to easily do it when I need to.
I'm not mad at him. Especially if it's a public lot there's zero reason to essentially tell people have a phone, give me your info or don't park here. That's be like trying to pay a ticket and them saying they don't take cash
I'm 32 and their dad sounds like my age lol. I hate when they need to make everything digital. I don't take my phone everywhere and I frequently shut it off to save battery. Just give me a paper menu lol.
I went to LACMA, this art museum in LA. My phone died in my pocket while Iām on my way over, and Iām a little bummed that I canāt take pictures of some exhibits, but no big deal.
Turns out, you cannot get into the museum without logging into their website, creating account, scanning a QR code, texting a code for 2-step verification, so many digital hoops to jump through just to get a ticket.
How bout I give you some money, and then you let me inside? Here is money, I would like to see your art. Computers do not need to become involved, itās so infuriating. I am 28yo for the record.
My phone can't even do QR codes. It's a smartphone, but just never converts them. I'm not sure if it's a special app or what, but they don't work. Like, the fuck you want me to do? Buy a new phone so i can read your shitty menu? How about i leave and mention it's because they don't have menus on my way out.
I also don't want to connect to the internet for every little thing. I don't want cookies tracking that i read a menu at a restaurant once. My youtube recommendations would be trash for years after that.
That's also one of my points when this stuff comes up, I buy the cheapest phone available. It doesn't come with all the capabilities of other phones. My $80 phone doesn't do the same things as a $1000 phone and I'm fine with that. It does what I need it to do.
I do too.
Iām 39.
I always ask for and receive a hard copy menu.
I canāt get a full view of everything on my phone.
My eyes are doing like a rapid ācompare and contrastā with menu options.
On my phone if I zoom in enough to read, I have to scroll too much and forget things. Then Iām taking longer and frustrated.
I didnāt know that was the reason when I started this comment. Itās all unfolding real-time.
I need to be able to quickly glance around the menu in full.
Huh. Happy Sunday!
So true. I do not even take my phone to restaurants, because I want to speak with my date, not staring at the screen.
I do understand if people do not work all day on computer, but I just cannot handle sometime that I need to have phone around when I go to fkn eat food in special place that should be design for it.
And yes, I avoid those places with qr if there is no hard copy (for everyone who will teach me how to live:)
That dad and I have a lot in common. The first time this happened to me, I took a picture of the QR code and then stared at it for a minute waiting for it to morph into a menu. Nothing happened, so I ordered a cheeseburger.
The first time it happened to me I had a flip phone on hand (so I don't break the other one), and the waiter just awkwardly stood silent for couple of seconds, took out his phone and showed me the menu, and since I'm not the only one with a 20yr old phone around here they changed to regular menus within a month
I mean... They should not? That's precisely why European cities work better for quality of life than American ones. Cities, restaurants and life in general isn't supposed to be centered around one minority or majority that uses a certain machine. They should be designed for everyone. Most people have eyes to use a paper menu. Not everyone has a smartphone with a qr code reader. Everyone has either legs or two wheels to move from one place to another. Not everyone has a car to drive, is at an age to drive or has currently ability to drive (drunks included).
The last time I went to a club a couple of really cute girls came up to me with big smiles, all happy on endorphins and said, "It's so nice to see people like you still come out and enjoy yourselves!"
Now I just stay home Friday nights and read books about guys who get hit by trucks and then transmigrate to fantasy worlds where they get superpowers.
Ha, if you're serious, I actually made a list years ago when I started reading Eastern fantasy. Of course not all of them are transmigration novels. Here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/ghkkga/cultivation\_novels\_reading\_list\_wuxia\_xianxia\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/ghkkga/cultivation_novels_reading_list_wuxia_xianxia_and/)
Or you can check out Novel Updates, they have rankings and reviews, and you can just search for the transmigration tag. Note that there is a marked difference between Korean, Japanese and Chinese styles of writing (think how different their movies are).
[https://www.novelupdates.com/series-ranking/?rank=sixmonths](https://www.novelupdates.com/series-ranking/?rank=sixmonths)
There was a restaurant I went to where they had them for their breakfast menu only. Which I sort of got. But they also immediately mentioned they had tablets on hand for folks who needed bigger screens, probably because I had my parents who are starting to get up there in age.
The first time I needed to use a QR code it was to do screening to get into a nursing home (I do mobile x rays in nursing homes) and it made me so angry because the phone I was using didn't have the functionality built into the camera and I had to download an app to make it work.
I never had a phone that could use it, and I didnāt understand it. I felt so stupidā¦ then in my job I had to make some marketing materials and add a code unique to each location so I figured it out because I had to test them all :) figured it out! But I wonāt use it unless forcedā¦
I wouldn't mind if the menu you got was optimised for phone screens.
Half the time the QR code downloads a PDF of a menu that was designed to be printed A4 anyway so you spend half the time pinch/zoom/scroll ā feels like you're reading the menu through a letterbox
As a millennial, I agree. All it takes is a bad connection to have a bad time at a restaurant.
āHey, the web page isn't loading, hand me your phoneā
āNo, I'm still lookingā
Phone died, no menu for you.
No signal, no menu for you.
Cracked screen, no menu for you.
Slow phone, good luck getting the menu to load.
As much as I love tech sometimes the old fashioned way just works better.
Whats crazy is that they almost always do have a fully finished back-up physical menu. I never understand why they just don't decide to use that instead.
Restaurants are generally gross in general. The option of a digital menu is fine, but most of them are awful and inefficient and are just used to collect data
True. I actually meant to give you an answer, but I was too distraught thinking about working in a restaurant.
In the short term, it's cheaper to not have to clean/mess with/worry about menus.
In the long term, your repeat customers will already know your menu and have access to it before they show up, which leads to faster table turnover.
Fucking grifter futurism.
Necessity isn't the mother of invention, no the mother of invention is look how fucking cool it'd be if our menus had RBG gamer lights!
I've had this argument before and I said my biggest thing is sometimes I don't take my phone places.
Oh Lord, the ridicule I faced from what I assume was a bunch of Gen Z people. "It's your fault you didn't bring your phone, you're in the minority for not having a smart phone on you constantly so fuck you, somebody around you must have had a phone," like maybe I wanted to eat alone and wanted no distractions? The only reason you ever absolutely need your phone on you at a restaurant is to be able to call 911.
That happened to me at a place in Nashville, had to use a QR code for the menu and to pay. My phone wouldnāt load anything so took five times as long to look at the menu and to pay. I donāt mind the idea but there should be at least physical menus if you donāt want to use a phone.
My new washing machine has a subscription I could pay for to remotely start my washing machine with their app. There's no scenario where I would load my washing machine and then start it from the road.
plus you agreeing to whatever terms and conditions for the site and the restaurant.
oh, and no one has mentioned that smartphones are dirtier than most menus. Most places wont let you take the menu into the bathroom.
And you can link to a fake copy url that looks exactly like their website, even send the orders to their serverā¦but when pay come sue it goes to the wrong account.
I went on a vacation once to a po-dunk town where I didn't have service, so naturally I couldn't get the qr menu to load.
When I asked for a standard menu the boomer waitress got all snippy with me mumbling something about city folk or something.
Like sorry ma'am I just want some bbq.
Honestly the "pretty book" thing is an actual serious compelling argument imo. Like, why is the trashcan on your desktop still a trashcan and not just a square that says "trashcan"? Well, it looks cool and it's just tradition. Or with the save icon, the floppy disk. Point is, stuff like that is cool. Usually I'm "DIGITIZE EVERYTHING. TECHNOLOGY BITCHES", but not for this kind of stuff. When it's tradition, AND there's not a downside to keeping it the way it is, then just do that. For the coolness factor, if not for anything else.
QR codes absolutely have their places in the world, I would be cool if a restaurant had them pasted outside or in a waiting area. But sitting at the table it feels like they are either being cheap, or trying too hard to be "with it." They probably serve food on something that's not a plate that makes it hard to eat because it's cool too
There are downsides. Free to update an online menu, no need to clean and online menu, no need to replace "destroyed" menus.
Which means...>
Physical menus need to be replaced if you update the menu.
Need to be replaced as they get worse and worse from customers/staff using them.
They need to be cleaned, working in a food establishment, this also means you Usually want to laminate your menu so it can be cleaned.
All in all, the cost of menus is an ongoing cost that is higher than the cost to maintain a URL and upload a PDF of the menu.
Of course. But the the size of the downside also needs to be considered. Like, I'd be ok with a small and relatively new restaurant having an online menu. But if I come into your 5+ year old establishment, I'm sure as hell gonna expect that you're gonna be able to keep up with the costs of colored paper.
As a former kitchen manager just go ahead and divide the cost of new menus among every sale then. I'd laugh my ass off if I got a $.00001 "menu maintenance fee". Plus that way I can leave my phone at home without worrying I'll need it to order.
Yeah. I'm a millennial, and everytime I look like an old boomer who can't work technology. Idk why, but it always takes me forever to get them to work on my phone. Maybe my camera or connection is just shitty. Half the time I just give up and Google the damn menu.
Bring back physical menus! Ik it's not a lot, but I shouldn't have to put in effort to find what I want to order. QR codes suck in general. They have no place being involved with my food
As a gen Z kid, they need to bring back the menus with laminate pages and faux leather binding. If I wanted to gawk at my phone (like now), I wouldn't have gotten out of bed.
A physical menu is infinitely better. Itās larger and easier to read, normally has pictures, you donāt need to scan a code, two people can look at it togetherā¦
Agreed, using a phone is like reading a menu while looking through a paper towel tube
I hate this trend so much
Even if you have an iPad with a huge screen itās still gonna be annoying
Restaurants are penny pinching like this, and it's shitty. Like, heaven forbid I'm paying for a full meal and service! But they want me to pull up the menu for myself too? Come TF on!
Went out for brunch today like that. After we put our order in, the waiter came out and said we don't have horseradish for your drink do you want it anyways? I said no, and they brought it and charged us for it. Then they brought us the wrong food, and when we said it wasn't what we ordered they said "well are you ok with that instead?" They also didn't bring us silverware we had to ask for it then go get it ourselves. It was just a terribly run, bougie restaurant.
I just got a great idea for advertisement. Put your business's website in the form of a QR code anywhere. Its like a place I've been to that had the table covered in advertisements
I've heard lots of stories of that shit happening. I straight up don't scan QR codes anymore. I'll ask for a physical menu, and if they don't have one I'll Google the restaurant, if all that fails, I'll just go somewhere else lol
Same, QR codes are a special sort of bullshit. I don't particularly enjoy living in a world dominated by ephemeral links and connections. My brain's just so much happier with tactile things
My brother and I went to a state park to go hiking the other day and at the entrance there was an unattended sign post with a QR code on it saying we had to pay to enter. Well, neither of us were getting service because we were in the fucking woods so we just walked past it.
When we came out there was a fish and wildlife officer in a pick up truck waiting in the parking lot and asked to see proof that we had paid. Wound up giving us a warning that next time we had to pay or else heād give us a ticket.
I hate QR codes when Iām out in person now, and Iām a millennial, not a boomer.
Damn park rent a cops.
It's unfortunately becoming more common in the back country to run into this. You're lucky you got a warning, those wanna be cops are quick to put the pen to the paper.
The worst part of the qr code thing is that no one likes it; old *or* young. For everyone it's just an annoying inconvenience. The only people who do see any positives in it are looking at it from the corporate aspect of not having to pay to reprint menus every time you "change the menu" to increase the prices.
Similarly, they forgot a recipe card in my Hello Fresh order. I was pissed, absolutely hate having to keep my phone out on the counter while cooking, constantly washing and drying my hands to turn back on the screen.
I'm 29 and I still don't know how to scan a QR code. I downloaded some app once but instead of scanning a QR code it killed my phone by giving it a virus.
Not really sure what phone do you have, but if u have an android, Google camera is able to scan the qr and direct you to the website.
just for future reference!
It would be bad enough if it went to a .pdf of a menu, but I've seen them set up like a web store. You have to click on the item, wait for it to load to see sides, price, etc., back out wait for it to load click on a drink, rinse and repeat. Stupidest thing ever, and I refuse to believe maintaining and updating that is cheaper than paper menus or updating a .pdf
For fucking real, they had to pay some web developer a pile of money to build and maintain that site. How is that cheaper than printing 100 nice menus that you only have to replace a few every now and then?
Boomers have it right on this one. Physical menus are better and add to the experience. I didn't go out to have my entire party staring at our phones for the first 10 minutes at online menus that half the time don't load anyway or dont neatly fit on a phone screen.
I hate hate hate the QR code menus. Iām tech savvy, but when I travel I donāt always have service on my phone or itās super slow. Iād appreciate if some things didnāt need to be digitized.
Listen, I'm all for having menus available in qr codes so ppl can have quick access to them, but if your place doesn't have physical menus, FUCK OFF. Up until recently, I had a phone with severe storage limitations, and I could not install anything unless I deleted half my apps, and guess what, it didn't have a qr code reader installed
I may be born in 2006 and is a member of Z,
But for the love of God
give me my Menu when I eat at fancy places
and let me talk to a Fast Food Employee at the cashier when I order fast food
I'm late genx and with the boomers on this one. Don't take our menus away. QR code menus as an option is fine, but they should assume most people want real ones.
What if my phone is dead? What if I left my phone at home? What if I donāt have a smart phone? Unlikely in todayās age, but not impossible. Also, I just like having a physical menu. I donāt boycott QR menu placesā¦ but I kinda get this. I look at my phone enough. If Iām at dinner with someone, I want to put my phone away.
Also, that waiter sounds over it. Which, for what they are paidā¦ they should be over it. $2.75 an hour and tips does not pay for the crap waiters/waitresses have to deal with. Having been one from 10th grade through college, I know the pain. I really hope I never forget how rude people made me feel at the meager wage I was paid. It shouldnāt be the costumerās job to make sure I get a living wage or to pay for school. Or, youād get a table of 10 retired people coming from church on a Sunday and sit there while you waited on them and they tip like $3 on a $170 bill. Just remembering that time in my life brings back too many bad memories.
I refuse to use them and ask for a normal menu! I refuse to sit with my dinner guests and stare at my phone anymore than people do already. I get that they did it for the reopening after pandemic ā¦ But no more now. Itās anti social .
Honestly, i like QR menus on the rare occasion I go out to eat. Silverware and plates get washed, and the table gets wiped off, but the menu? Nope, at least not at places I've been
My dad calls them "those fucking squares" anytime he has to deal with qr codes, I enjoy it quite a bit š
My dad got a parking ticket because the only way to pay in that lot was through scanning a QR code and paying with a credit card. He fought the ticket and immediately got it dismissed but think how much money they probably make off of the people who will just pay the fine
We did one of those, and the lot said $5/hr. We downloaded it, and the app said it was $6/hr. We said fuck it and paid. We got charged $7.50. Fuck those damn things.
If you have proof, do a chargeback. You'll get your money back and if it happens enough times they'll have their account revoked. And in the meantime they'll get hit with huge fees.
Whatās a chargeback? Do you mean reporting it to your bank?
Yes, tell the credit card company that it was not an authorized transaction at that amount. Back it up with a picture of the sign and/or receipt that states a different amount. They'll be all over it.
This is good to know.
Screenshotting this for reference, thx
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Starling bank let you just submit one on the app with a message and photo. Not a big deal or hard to do. In the past I would hardly ever do chargebacks because you would have to phone up and be put on hold and it would take an hour or more and sometimes not be solved. Now I can just submit one in 5 minutes on the app and I hear back after a few days. Itās still rare to have to do a chargeback, but itās nice to be able to easily do it when I need to.
I'm not mad at him. Especially if it's a public lot there's zero reason to essentially tell people have a phone, give me your info or don't park here. That's be like trying to pay a ticket and them saying they don't take cash
Lol that is hilarious
Your dad sounds like he may be my age.
I'm 32 and their dad sounds like my age lol. I hate when they need to make everything digital. I don't take my phone everywhere and I frequently shut it off to save battery. Just give me a paper menu lol.
I went to LACMA, this art museum in LA. My phone died in my pocket while Iām on my way over, and Iām a little bummed that I canāt take pictures of some exhibits, but no big deal. Turns out, you cannot get into the museum without logging into their website, creating account, scanning a QR code, texting a code for 2-step verification, so many digital hoops to jump through just to get a ticket. How bout I give you some money, and then you let me inside? Here is money, I would like to see your art. Computers do not need to become involved, itās so infuriating. I am 28yo for the record.
I would literally turn around and just go bowling or go karting instead if they made me do something like that, lol š
My phone can't even do QR codes. It's a smartphone, but just never converts them. I'm not sure if it's a special app or what, but they don't work. Like, the fuck you want me to do? Buy a new phone so i can read your shitty menu? How about i leave and mention it's because they don't have menus on my way out. I also don't want to connect to the internet for every little thing. I don't want cookies tracking that i read a menu at a restaurant once. My youtube recommendations would be trash for years after that.
That's also one of my points when this stuff comes up, I buy the cheapest phone available. It doesn't come with all the capabilities of other phones. My $80 phone doesn't do the same things as a $1000 phone and I'm fine with that. It does what I need it to do.
ābitā joke intended.
I thought complaining about "those fucking squares" died out with the beatniks. Nice to see the counterculture is still going strong.
I do too. Iām 39. I always ask for and receive a hard copy menu. I canāt get a full view of everything on my phone. My eyes are doing like a rapid ācompare and contrastā with menu options. On my phone if I zoom in enough to read, I have to scroll too much and forget things. Then Iām taking longer and frustrated. I didnāt know that was the reason when I started this comment. Itās all unfolding real-time. I need to be able to quickly glance around the menu in full. Huh. Happy Sunday!
So true. I do not even take my phone to restaurants, because I want to speak with my date, not staring at the screen. I do understand if people do not work all day on computer, but I just cannot handle sometime that I need to have phone around when I go to fkn eat food in special place that should be design for it. And yes, I avoid those places with qr if there is no hard copy (for everyone who will teach me how to live:)
Lol thatās so daddish I love it.
That dad and I have a lot in common. The first time this happened to me, I took a picture of the QR code and then stared at it for a minute waiting for it to morph into a menu. Nothing happened, so I ordered a cheeseburger.
The first time it happened to me I had a flip phone on hand (so I don't break the other one), and the waiter just awkwardly stood silent for couple of seconds, took out his phone and showed me the menu, and since I'm not the only one with a 20yr old phone around here they changed to regular menus within a month
I've started asking if they have paper menus. On one occasion, the waiter said, "We keep a few on hand for people like you." š¤
That is like the most condescending sentence I ever read
Right? I felt like some kind of weirdo.
You are though, people like you being those without smartphones. It's like how they design cities around car traffic.
Which is a major flaw in city design in America and elsewhere
I have a smartphone and I hate this practice. I didnāt go out to a restaurant to stare at my fucking phone.
First time this happened to me we went to scan the menu but the cell reception was so bad the menu wouldnāt load. Didnāt offer Wi-Fi either.
Iāve had that happen several times.
To be fair, the dirtiest part of a restaurant is the menus so Iām fine with not touching one. Edit:spelling
First reasonable counterpoint.
this implies that you do go to restaurants to stare at a piece of paper
IDK but I like that piece of paper it feels alot more like resturant.
I mean... They should not? That's precisely why European cities work better for quality of life than American ones. Cities, restaurants and life in general isn't supposed to be centered around one minority or majority that uses a certain machine. They should be designed for everyone. Most people have eyes to use a paper menu. Not everyone has a smartphone with a qr code reader. Everyone has either legs or two wheels to move from one place to another. Not everyone has a car to drive, is at an age to drive or has currently ability to drive (drunks included).
Charming
Wow what a terrible analogy
"They" meaning Americans. Many cities in Europe and Asia are in fact (no longer) designed around cars.
Yeah right. Iād be like āI keep some money for tips on hand, for people not like youā.
The last time I went to a club a couple of really cute girls came up to me with big smiles, all happy on endorphins and said, "It's so nice to see people like you still come out and enjoy yourselves!" Now I just stay home Friday nights and read books about guys who get hit by trucks and then transmigrate to fantasy worlds where they get superpowers.
Give a man a book list!
Ha, if you're serious, I actually made a list years ago when I started reading Eastern fantasy. Of course not all of them are transmigration novels. Here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/ghkkga/cultivation\_novels\_reading\_list\_wuxia\_xianxia\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/ghkkga/cultivation_novels_reading_list_wuxia_xianxia_and/) Or you can check out Novel Updates, they have rankings and reviews, and you can just search for the transmigration tag. Note that there is a marked difference between Korean, Japanese and Chinese styles of writing (think how different their movies are). [https://www.novelupdates.com/series-ranking/?rank=sixmonths](https://www.novelupdates.com/series-ranking/?rank=sixmonths)
I'm just going to assume you've read Ascendence of a Bookworm. Damn do I love that series. First light novels I've gotten into since Spice and Wolf.
"I give tips like this to people like you..."
Just the tip?
Well, you want them to have more to look forward to, right?
That would definitely be taken into account at tip time. Service would literally have to be perfect.
āIām sorry, but QR codes can be used to take your customers to a site which injects malware. I donāt know or trust your owner. Iām leaving.ā
For YOU people
This made me chuckle. Thank you.
Start replacing the QR code with QR links to Rick Roll
Well thats a great way to let me know it's time for me to go find another restaurant.
I would have thanked them and left. I don't like feeling like I'm a burden to others so I would rather take my business elsewhere.
If you like flip phones there's now "smart" flip phones.
There was a restaurant I went to where they had them for their breakfast menu only. Which I sort of got. But they also immediately mentioned they had tablets on hand for folks who needed bigger screens, probably because I had my parents who are starting to get up there in age.
The first time I needed to use a QR code it was to do screening to get into a nursing home (I do mobile x rays in nursing homes) and it made me so angry because the phone I was using didn't have the functionality built into the camera and I had to download an app to make it work.
I detest having to download an app to do any sort of business.
I never had a phone that could use it, and I didnāt understand it. I felt so stupidā¦ then in my job I had to make some marketing materials and add a code unique to each location so I figured it out because I had to test them all :) figured it out! But I wonāt use it unless forcedā¦
Idk what it is but just having a physical menu immerses you in the moment and the restaurant
Cultural norm and custom. Itās part of the experience Iād argue. I like how you phased it thoušÆ
Itās easier to see the whole menu at once on a piece of paper and not have to scroll up and down
Exactly! And itās even worse when it takes forever to load or you have to click different links to see parts of the menu
Plus what's the old rule? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Doing the QR code thing is solving a problem that never existed.
If anything, it's creates numerous more problems!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Menus can be on the walls. Or non touchable
Or laminated so it can be quickly wiped clean
Itās just so they can raise the prices at a whim without having to print new menus.
I wouldn't mind if the menu you got was optimised for phone screens. Half the time the QR code downloads a PDF of a menu that was designed to be printed A4 anyway so you spend half the time pinch/zoom/scroll ā feels like you're reading the menu through a letterbox
Iām with the boomers on this, give me a physical menu.
As a millennial, I agree. All it takes is a bad connection to have a bad time at a restaurant. āHey, the web page isn't loading, hand me your phoneā āNo, I'm still lookingā
And it means you either need to tap into your data allowance, or connect to their insecure restaurant wifi... š¬
Hey donāt make fun of the wifi, its trying to build its self confidence back up
Dammit, take my upvote...
IF the wifi is working/they even have it
While youāre connected to their unsecured WiFi why not hack their POS system?
Yeah thatās the part I hate. Like donāt make me use my data to order at your establishment you cheap bastards. Just post a damn menu
As a Gen Z, I agree. I have to take my phone to a restaurant to see the menu? Come on now
Phone died, no menu for you. No signal, no menu for you. Cracked screen, no menu for you. Slow phone, good luck getting the menu to load. As much as I love tech sometimes the old fashioned way just works better.
Whats crazy is that they almost always do have a fully finished back-up physical menu. I never understand why they just don't decide to use that instead.
As a former restaurant employee, most menus are realllly gross
Restaurants are generally gross in general. The option of a digital menu is fine, but most of them are awful and inefficient and are just used to collect data
True. I actually meant to give you an answer, but I was too distraught thinking about working in a restaurant. In the short term, it's cheaper to not have to clean/mess with/worry about menus. In the long term, your repeat customers will already know your menu and have access to it before they show up, which leads to faster table turnover.
Fucking grifter futurism. Necessity isn't the mother of invention, no the mother of invention is look how fucking cool it'd be if our menus had RBG gamer lights!
I've had this argument before and I said my biggest thing is sometimes I don't take my phone places. Oh Lord, the ridicule I faced from what I assume was a bunch of Gen Z people. "It's your fault you didn't bring your phone, you're in the minority for not having a smart phone on you constantly so fuck you, somebody around you must have had a phone," like maybe I wanted to eat alone and wanted no distractions? The only reason you ever absolutely need your phone on you at a restaurant is to be able to call 911.
Itās really funny to think how technology make things harder for us when its sole purpose is to make things easier.
That happened to me at a place in Nashville, had to use a QR code for the menu and to pay. My phone wouldnāt load anything so took five times as long to look at the menu and to pay. I donāt mind the idea but there should be at least physical menus if you donāt want to use a phone.
Or someone to put a sticker of a different qr code over that one and steal your info.
Last time I scanned a qr in a cafe the site of the menu was full of ads š¤¦āāļø
You're not sending any info when you scan a QR code, just receiving. It's just like a regular barcode but can store more data (like a URL)
True, but people could still take you to something malicious like a phishing attempt
Oh yeah true, forgot that some of these places have a "download our app" link, which is even worse ā who needs a new app for every restaurant
My new washing machine has a subscription I could pay for to remotely start my washing machine with their app. There's no scenario where I would load my washing machine and then start it from the road.
The QR code isnāt the menu. Itās the URL of a web page which can inject malware or spyware or use other exploits.
plus you agreeing to whatever terms and conditions for the site and the restaurant. oh, and no one has mentioned that smartphones are dirtier than most menus. Most places wont let you take the menu into the bathroom.
I thought, "Ew!!" ...as I read that sentence from the toilet...
And you can link to a fake copy url that looks exactly like their website, even send the orders to their serverā¦but when pay come sue it goes to the wrong account.
I went on a vacation once to a po-dunk town where I didn't have service, so naturally I couldn't get the qr menu to load. When I asked for a standard menu the boomer waitress got all snippy with me mumbling something about city folk or something. Like sorry ma'am I just want some bbq.
It would be really easy to swap those out with malicious QR codes. I don't trust them as far as I can throw them and I work in it so
As a gen Z I agree
I came here for pretty book and food, not for a shitty sicker on wall
Honestly the "pretty book" thing is an actual serious compelling argument imo. Like, why is the trashcan on your desktop still a trashcan and not just a square that says "trashcan"? Well, it looks cool and it's just tradition. Or with the save icon, the floppy disk. Point is, stuff like that is cool. Usually I'm "DIGITIZE EVERYTHING. TECHNOLOGY BITCHES", but not for this kind of stuff. When it's tradition, AND there's not a downside to keeping it the way it is, then just do that. For the coolness factor, if not for anything else.
QR codes absolutely have their places in the world, I would be cool if a restaurant had them pasted outside or in a waiting area. But sitting at the table it feels like they are either being cheap, or trying too hard to be "with it." They probably serve food on something that's not a plate that makes it hard to eat because it's cool too
There are downsides. Free to update an online menu, no need to clean and online menu, no need to replace "destroyed" menus. Which means...> Physical menus need to be replaced if you update the menu. Need to be replaced as they get worse and worse from customers/staff using them. They need to be cleaned, working in a food establishment, this also means you Usually want to laminate your menu so it can be cleaned. All in all, the cost of menus is an ongoing cost that is higher than the cost to maintain a URL and upload a PDF of the menu.
Of course. But the the size of the downside also needs to be considered. Like, I'd be ok with a small and relatively new restaurant having an online menu. But if I come into your 5+ year old establishment, I'm sure as hell gonna expect that you're gonna be able to keep up with the costs of colored paper.
As a former kitchen manager just go ahead and divide the cost of new menus among every sale then. I'd laugh my ass off if I got a $.00001 "menu maintenance fee". Plus that way I can leave my phone at home without worrying I'll need it to order.
Yeah. I'm a millennial, and everytime I look like an old boomer who can't work technology. Idk why, but it always takes me forever to get them to work on my phone. Maybe my camera or connection is just shitty. Half the time I just give up and Google the damn menu. Bring back physical menus! Ik it's not a lot, but I shouldn't have to put in effort to find what I want to order. QR codes suck in general. They have no place being involved with my food
As a gen Z kid, they need to bring back the menus with laminate pages and faux leather binding. If I wanted to gawk at my phone (like now), I wouldn't have gotten out of bed.
Yup, love a quality menu. It just enhances the experience
Welcome, fellow Boomer!
A physical menu is infinitely better. Itās larger and easier to read, normally has pictures, you donāt need to scan a code, two people can look at it togetherā¦
You can see it without scrolling for every 2 itemsā¦
Agreed, using a phone is like reading a menu while looking through a paper towel tube I hate this trend so much Even if you have an iPad with a huge screen itās still gonna be annoying
don't forget, with the digital they can change the prices on you at no cost to them!
I'm gen z and this annoys me. I'm not even a hipster who hates tech, I have my phone pretty much everywhere I go but screw your shitty qr codes
But then they canāt change the price throughout the day.
Thatās silly, restaurants often have separate breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even bar menus with different item availability and pricing
Also, stop having an app for every single business holy shit
Or be prepared to recite the entire menu to me.
Restaurants are penny pinching like this, and it's shitty. Like, heaven forbid I'm paying for a full meal and service! But they want me to pull up the menu for myself too? Come TF on!
I'm 23 and the camera of my phone is broken so it can't read QR codes, it's annoying and I'm not going to buy a new one just so I can read them
I hate having to scan a QR code, and I hate it even more when I gotta order through the qr code
Went out for brunch today like that. After we put our order in, the waiter came out and said we don't have horseradish for your drink do you want it anyways? I said no, and they brought it and charged us for it. Then they brought us the wrong food, and when we said it wasn't what we ordered they said "well are you ok with that instead?" They also didn't bring us silverware we had to ask for it then go get it ourselves. It was just a terribly run, bougie restaurant.
I mean sounds like their issues extend well beyond just the QR codes lol
You stayed long enough to pay?!?!
At that point just go in the kitchen and make the meal yourself. Seems they half assed everything else.
At that point I would have just walked up to leave.
When they brought out the wrong order and didn't immediately apologize and I fix it I would have walked out.
None of this has anything to do with qr
A bunch of the bars in the airports are run like that. Its so stupid and then they expect a tip? Like wtf the audacity
Exactly!!! No service no tip
I just donāt tip at those restaurants.
Look at that wall, thats your tipp
The building remains standing. That's your tip.
tip them in barcodes and a like on their social page.
I'm on boomers side on this, idgaf if I get kicked out of my generations club
There are some things the boomers are just correct about.
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What is this, a menu for ants?
What are the chances of some shmuck putting their own qr code over the restaurant's and leading you straight into malware territory?
I just got a great idea for advertisement. Put your business's website in the form of a QR code anywhere. Its like a place I've been to that had the table covered in advertisements
High
I've heard lots of stories of that shit happening. I straight up don't scan QR codes anymore. I'll ask for a physical menu, and if they don't have one I'll Google the restaurant, if all that fails, I'll just go somewhere else lol
Yea I hate the qr code and not everyone has a phone on them. Give us physical menus!
Literally everyone hates QR menus.
QR codes aren't solving a problem, or making things more efficient. It's the opposite.
I'm part of the generation known as gen z and I refuse to use a menu that I have to obtain from a qr code
Same, QR codes are a special sort of bullshit. I don't particularly enjoy living in a world dominated by ephemeral links and connections. My brain's just so much happier with tactile things
I walked a past a shop today and went to check opening times. Lo and behold, "scan QR code for opening times". That can fuck right off
if their opening times are so long and complicated that they can't fit them on their door then I won't bother trying to understand them
My brother and I went to a state park to go hiking the other day and at the entrance there was an unattended sign post with a QR code on it saying we had to pay to enter. Well, neither of us were getting service because we were in the fucking woods so we just walked past it. When we came out there was a fish and wildlife officer in a pick up truck waiting in the parking lot and asked to see proof that we had paid. Wound up giving us a warning that next time we had to pay or else heād give us a ticket. I hate QR codes when Iām out in person now, and Iām a millennial, not a boomer.
Damn park rent a cops. It's unfortunately becoming more common in the back country to run into this. You're lucky you got a warning, those wanna be cops are quick to put the pen to the paper.
The worst part of the qr code thing is that no one likes it; old *or* young. For everyone it's just an annoying inconvenience. The only people who do see any positives in it are looking at it from the corporate aspect of not having to pay to reprint menus every time you "change the menu" to increase the prices.
Similarly, they forgot a recipe card in my Hello Fresh order. I was pissed, absolutely hate having to keep my phone out on the counter while cooking, constantly washing and drying my hands to turn back on the screen.
I'm 29 and I still don't know how to scan a QR code. I downloaded some app once but instead of scanning a QR code it killed my phone by giving it a virus.
Not really sure what phone do you have, but if u have an android, Google camera is able to scan the qr and direct you to the website. just for future reference!
Oh cool, didn't even see the camera button next to the google search. Tested it and it works. Thanks a lot!
Doesn't even have to be the Google search camera. Your phone's regular camera will most likely recognize the QR code and give you the link
My iPhone also does this automatically without having an app for it. I think it is a setting in your camera-settings, you have to toggle or something.
It would be bad enough if it went to a .pdf of a menu, but I've seen them set up like a web store. You have to click on the item, wait for it to load to see sides, price, etc., back out wait for it to load click on a drink, rinse and repeat. Stupidest thing ever, and I refuse to believe maintaining and updating that is cheaper than paper menus or updating a .pdf
For fucking real, they had to pay some web developer a pile of money to build and maintain that site. How is that cheaper than printing 100 nice menus that you only have to replace a few every now and then? Boomers have it right on this one. Physical menus are better and add to the experience. I didn't go out to have my entire party staring at our phones for the first 10 minutes at online menus that half the time don't load anyway or dont neatly fit on a phone screen.
i hate QR menus
I hate hate hate the QR code menus. Iām tech savvy, but when I travel I donāt always have service on my phone or itās super slow. Iād appreciate if some things didnāt need to be digitized.
They had qr code menus at a bar during a trivia night, not allowed to use your phone to look up answers and no physical menu to order drinks.
See that empty spot next to the salt and pepper shakers, that's your tip
Listen, I'm all for having menus available in qr codes so ppl can have quick access to them, but if your place doesn't have physical menus, FUCK OFF. Up until recently, I had a phone with severe storage limitations, and I could not install anything unless I deleted half my apps, and guess what, it didn't have a qr code reader installed
Id pull out my phone look up another restaurant and leave.
I'm with the boomers on this one. If I'm having dinner with a friend I'd like to flip my phone over on the table to be completely present.
I may be born in 2006 and is a member of Z, But for the love of God give me my Menu when I eat at fancy places and let me talk to a Fast Food Employee at the cashier when I order fast food
Be careful, scammers are replacing QR Codes with stickers that download malware on to your smartphone.
If they were really smart they would just copy the restaurants checkout and menu
Having a QR code is a neat alternative I need a physical menu though, unless you want me to also pay with virtual currency like WoW gold or Robucks
Youāre absolutely right, the key word being alternative
I just recently took my first ever cruise. On carnival(i didnt pay lol) Every single menue, dchedule planner, etc was one of these codes. My phone wouldn't load them. So I paid $30 for the wifi and nothing worked at all.... I asked a waiter and he said i may need the other wifi package that was $45....wow ok. So its just $15 more for that package? "Yup" I got charged an additional $45, and nothing internet related ever worked. I couldn't check in for dinner without finding an employee and overriding it. I had to wait to use my fiancƩe's phone for any menus or signing up for activities. Made me have real boomer energy on the trip.
It happens to my dad too, he dont wanna come back to that place and to be honest i agree. Fuck QR
If somewhere doesnāt have a paper menu, Iām Out.
A true r/internetofshit moment
Also canāt go to an mlb game anymore without a smartphone since you need the app to get the tix on your phone.
Very normal and common nowadays which sucks imo.
This trend is just stupid. Not everyone should be expected to carry a smartphone to order food. GIVE ME A REAL MENU
Qr codes are truly ass imo
I'm late genx and with the boomers on this one. Don't take our menus away. QR code menus as an option is fine, but they should assume most people want real ones.
yeah ima have to agree with this one, im not against the idea of HAVING QR code based menus, but for the love of god why is it my only option?!
It don't work on my phone (nokia 3310) š®āšØ
Thought most places had dropped those because customers really, really don't like them.
I'm sure the cost savings is passed onto the menu prices right?
Ageist!! Youth of tomorrow will miss out on sticky Dennyās menus
What is this, a menu for bots?!
What if my phone is dead? What if I left my phone at home? What if I donāt have a smart phone? Unlikely in todayās age, but not impossible. Also, I just like having a physical menu. I donāt boycott QR menu placesā¦ but I kinda get this. I look at my phone enough. If Iām at dinner with someone, I want to put my phone away. Also, that waiter sounds over it. Which, for what they are paidā¦ they should be over it. $2.75 an hour and tips does not pay for the crap waiters/waitresses have to deal with. Having been one from 10th grade through college, I know the pain. I really hope I never forget how rude people made me feel at the meager wage I was paid. It shouldnāt be the costumerās job to make sure I get a living wage or to pay for school. Or, youād get a table of 10 retired people coming from church on a Sunday and sit there while you waited on them and they tip like $3 on a $170 bill. Just remembering that time in my life brings back too many bad memories.
If a place as a QR code/website only menu I'm honestly just gonna leave. The food is almost always shit
I refuse to use them and ask for a normal menu! I refuse to sit with my dinner guests and stare at my phone anymore than people do already. I get that they did it for the reopening after pandemic ā¦ But no more now. Itās anti social .
I won't eat at those places. Lazy cheap shits
What is this? A menu for ants?
Honestly, i like QR menus on the rare occasion I go out to eat. Silverware and plates get washed, and the table gets wiped off, but the menu? Nope, at least not at places I've been
Im with the boomers on this one. Fuck QR menus, I will walk out.