this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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I love those qr codes at restaurants. No need to interact with waiters. Just browse and order at my leisure.
I'm SzPD and not from the states. Had to go through Houston last year on a connection flight, when I first saw those tablets in the airport I thought it would've been the bees knees. Thing is, those things are so overloaded with useless shit (like ads) I just wanted to talk to a waiter. So many clicks to get to the main courses on offer, and there wasn't any available space for notes, in case a costumer had a specific need (allergies for example). Plus, signal was so damn slow it took a while for it to load the dishes' pictures.
No contact ordering has potential but it needs UX designers on top of the whole thing in order to make it more convenient and faster than just telling the waiter what you want.
I can see how it can get annoying if that's the case for you, or in America in general. Maybe that's how shitty the experience is in the US that people really love to complain about it. Seriously, every single time a thread about how deeply smartphones are embedded into society comes up, someone will gripe about qr code incessantly. Be it on reddit, fb, and now here.
I'm from Malaysia and eateries here are very good at it. None of those ads, no pesky additional install, really good ticketing system, and easy payment process at the counter with ewallet (also qr code) once you're done. All I bring is my phone and car keys. Data and coverage here is very good and cheap on all carriers, so photos and menus loading time is never an issue.
I don't need to call on that single waiter in the restaurant to make an order or to see the menu. I just sit my ass down and scan. The order goes straight to the kitchen and they only need to send my food to the table.
In my corner of the world we're not there yet, a handful of places have adopted online menus but even those are a hassle. Most places just upload their physical menus as a pdf and call it a day, the others ignore basic principles of design and make the site overcomplicated.
If it were to be implemented in some new restaurant, I hope it gets implemented as you describe it, sounds like a dream.
I wish there was some universal app or website template for restaurants with functionality just like Wetherspoons! selecting a table number then ordering everything directly from there. no social interaction with the staff required... it is heavenly.
All the qr I've used are just web url. I just scan them with my brave browser app. No need for a separate app install. In fact I think that's what people mostly gripe about, needing to install another app just to make an order.
Personally, I hate it. they're only ever in places with terrible cell reception and no Wi-Fi.
Or the Wi-Fi is so damn throttled because they're being overwhelmed by everyone trying to look at their menu at the same time.