I just have a flip phone and dont do apps but I wonder how much longer I can hold out.
“I don’t have a smartphone,” is what I tell people and professionals nowadays. This allows me to cut the crap about companies insisting that I install their app or restaurants wishing that I scan a QR code to access their menu on a small screen.
I see a lot of people complaining about the QR code menu experience. Is it that miserable in the US/Europe? In Japan I pretty much never have issues, and kinda prefer it over having to explain it to the waiter in Japanese.
QR codes usually have links with tracking in them, they can also be swapped out by potential hackers to send you to a proxy that will install malware while you order.
Overall, the guise of the “modern dining experiences” is one of less service for the same price, more tracking and value extraction for advertising and marketing, and more invasion of privacy to the consumer. I refuse to support these experiences by either refusing to use the tech or taking my dollar elsewhere.
I see a lot of people complaining about the QR code menu experience. Is it that miserable in the US/Europe?
The author is from Europe, so it has to be Europe. Because I have been to a lot of places in the U.S., and I can’t remember one that required me to download a menu.
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but in my experience digital menus are a convenience/accessibility thing and places almost always have a physical menu or a board. The only exception I can think of are street vendors selling tamales or sausages who might not have a menu at all, obviously.
Even food trucks have big signs on them with the food they sell or paper menus to look at.
The funny thing is, most digital menus are useful for accessibility. I don’t know how many times I used to see older people use magnifying devices for small print on print menus. Now they can scan a QR code and zoom!
