Yeah, sorry not sorry, I'm not sitting down at a restaurant and scanning a random QR code in the hopes of getting a menu.
Only thing worse than this is places that don't accept cash or credit, only some kind of cash transfer app like zelle.
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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don’t accept cash or credit, only some kind of cash transfer app like zelle.
That sounds sketchy, I've seen card only but where have you seen a business do this?
Lots of small business / vendors at festivals do stuff like this. They don't want to pay Visa or Mastercard for each transaction and will instead use a personal cash transfer app to move the money.
Or it's for drugs lol
That makes sense at like a booth or festival vendor, I didn't think of that. I did use cash app once at a shop where I'm at to buy unregulated weed ahah.
The #1 reason I hate QR codes (edit: directing to a website to order & pay for a restaurant online) is because they make you agree to further terms and conditions like collecting data on you.
All just to fucking order food.
Shit should 100% be illegal.
I'm not against the concept of having digital ordering as an option. But it must be an option, and without any data collection
I don't think you have to agree to terms to look at a menu. Maybe a cookie popup though. Those are annoying!
Cookie popups are terms and conditions. They could easily make a page without any tracking cookies, only the ones nessecary for the service to functions, and they wouldn't need the popup.
Oh sorry, I was referring to when the ordering is through a website, where you provide your email and phone number in order to pay.
Often times, they're harvesting your personal details.
I really wish it were possible to mask my number, but in my country that's not really possible.
The one thing I've done, is get an alt number as an esim, that I use to receive codes, or whoever you're required to provid a number.
Mean I know with certainty any call I get on that number is spam, or any text I receive I haven't initiated it spam.
I'd much prefer it I could get throw away numbers though
The #1 reason I hate QR codes is because they make you agree to further terms and conditions like collecting data on you.
0.o A QR code is basically just a data-encoding format and is mostly used to store a link to something. I'm not sure where ToS/etc. come into that.
You'll be redirected to a website, and then you'll get asked to allow cookies, etc.
Cool story but not really qr codes fault
That's because, unlike an AI, I deduced context from the entire thread and concluded that "I hate QR codes" was not an expression of disapproval of the technical concept of a QR code (i.e. encoding data), but how they are used in an obnoxious way to redirect a user to a website (usually with a menu).
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
I wasn't sure if the person meant that or fundamentally misunderstood what QR codes where and how they worked. Just wanted to clarify in case it were the latter.
This was a tiresome convo to read. Please work on your context clues.
Work on your politeness and understanding of the fallibility of humans. Someone not tech savvy might actually not know the difference between a website and qr code, because the vast majority of qr codes are URLs.
Sure, maaaybe not on Lemmy, but they DID start with, "I hate qr codes"...
I have an entire useless degree that shows I have tried to understand human fallibility. It just isn't sinking in. The only thing I'm sure of is that the joke's on me.
Made an edit for clarity.
QR codes are great, linking me to a website where I need to provide my email and phone number to get food is annoying
I had a worse fucking experience somehow just last week, the QR code pointed you to their fucking instagram, that's where the weekly lunch menu options were posted, except I have no idea how my colleagues even accessed it, because anything I clicked didn't take me to that "story/reel" whatever the fuck it's called, the owner of that restaurant deserves to burn in hell for eternity
I honestly want to fight businesses who don't have a website.
Website hosting is dirty cheap, domains are dirt cheap (relative to other costs of the business).
If you're a retail/hospitality venue your traffic is so low.
If you point me to a Facebook or Instagram page as your only web presence (meaning, no organisation at all, just bloody chronological posts, and maaaaybe some useful information in the page bio), I'm gonna be annoyed.
The number of times some business or organisation updates things on Facebook and Instagram, and not on their website, is frustrating.
Has happened to me many, many times, where I turn up to something that isn't happening because they've only posted it on Instagram
I've been on websites for restaurants that they are clearly trying to do it themselves. The site is janky, has empty menus (or the same broken link 6 times), but I can access the restaurant menu easily so I don't care.
I've tried to get online menus for restaurant's that only have Instagram or Facebook and it makes me really not want to order from them.
Reading other comments I'm on the unpopular side, but I prefer QR menus to physical ones. We don't have that surge price thing here, prices are pretty stable usually.
Printing several menus and having to replace them when they get dirty and stuff is such an unnecessary waste.
Aside from finding it annoying, QR code menus effectively prevent some people from viewing the menu.
Think about the requirements to view the menu. You must have a smartphone and a cellular data plan. People that aren't well off may skip on those in order to purchase things that are more important, like food. I guess I could understand if it was just fancy/expensive restaurants doing this, but I'm seeing it all over.
It's a similar issue to businesses that are cashless. You're effectively barring people who can't/don't have a bank account or credit card from paying. Both of which are notoriously hard to get if you're homeless.
I'd be fine with it if all the we page did was take my order. Too often I need to put in a name and email address, just to order food, and that pisses me right off. I just want to eat at your stupid place, not sign up to the foodies-food-fanclub
In my experience, after thinking what I want I ask a server to take my order. The digital menu is there as a replacement of the physical menu. All the complaints I read are about the extra things the restaurant tries to do with it. Replacing servers' tasks and abusive pricing practices. Fix those, complain about those.
Why can't you have both?
I don't mind when there's physical menus but people saying that they would leave the restaurant when there's not is crazy for me, menus are a waste of paper and ink.
I'm more used to either PDFs that are updated once per year (and the restaurant usually has a bunch of physical copies, but not enough for everyone on peak hour and that's completely reasonable) or webapps that have the regular menu where they can strikethrough sold out items so that it's easier for customers to notice, add dynamic items like "the fish of the day", or even being able to click each item to get a preview image.
I agree that having prices be updated every hour/minute day according to demand is incredibly scummy and completely inexcusable, and restaurants that do those things should be boycotted, but that's a separate from the menu digitalization.
Clearly the correct answer is to have a digital menu and either printed as a backup, or provide tablets as a backup if it HAS to be all digital...
If you complain about providing tablets, then I ask: which is more wasteful? Printing a handful of menus each time it changes, or an entire set of tablets?
I'm not trying to touch a poorly laminated menu with the last guys spilled salsa on it that's been wiped "clean" by the hostess with a rag in some bucket of water that's been sitting there for god knows how long. Minutes before I touch my food.
If they're following food safety laws, that bucket of water is likely bleach water or a similarly potent sanitizing agent...
If it were plain water, do you think they'd go through the effort to make a separate bucket of it? Also, if they're not rinsing off crud before putting the rag back in the bucket, they're doing it wrong.
Nah you'll just touch the table with the last guys spilled salsa on it that's been wiped "clean" in the same way
I once got a group message from my child's teacher, screaming in excitement that "the event at school is live!"
The link points to 192.168.x.x.
Live on the intranet!
The Inter Tubes!
OK listen hear me out. Perfect opportunity for guests to learn how to ssh tunnel to port forward to their local device 😅
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Well, you forgot to install the menu-server-app. Do it, and the problem is solved.
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