New restaurant QR rule has boomers raging, and plenty of other diners don't like it either

[Zincwarrior]

It requires me to have a phone on my person inside an eatery which I won't do.

My phone is for my convenience, not someone else's. People tend to forget that.

Wait. Post covid I still say the QRs in some places but you can always just ask for a menu. One advantage is that its nice for people with bad eyesight.

 

[braalian]

So rather than take your phone in with you, you'd like the restaurant to provide you printed lists of food and prices that tons of other people have had their dirty paws on, the content of which is not changed for daily specials, etc?

Of all the things to stay stodgy about this ain't it for me

You’re already sitting in a booth, touching a table tons of other people have touched

Unless you have some severe immune deficiency problem, worrying about touching a laminated menu is just paranoid. And, yes, I say that as a nurse. Carry around a little thing of hand sanitizer if you’re that worried

 

[Zincwarrior]

I've never experienced it in any restaurant I've ate at.

The last time was in a bar in a German castle. You could pull up the menu in multiple languages. Pretty smart.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

MSN

QR-only menus spread fast when restaurants wanted contactless service and fewer shared touchpoints. What began as a practical pandemic fix slowly hardened into a default rule at many tables.

That rule now annoys far more people than the early hype suggested. Recent Ipsos polling found that 58% wanted to go back to paper menus, while only 39% hoped QR-menu use would continue.

Older diners do react more negatively than younger ones, but they are not alone in the backlash. Restaurant Dive reported that 47% of consumers were uncomfortable using QR codes in restaurants, including 65% of people age 60 and older.

That means the real story is not boomers versus everyone else. It is a broader fight over whether a restaurant should make dinner easier or quietly turn the customer into part of the workflow.

People objected to screens at the table, clunky reading experiences, and the feeling that dinner was becoming work.

I've ran into that once and told the counter guy if you can't take my order like a human being I'll go someplace else that will.

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Not a place where I'd eat. Don't own a smart phone. Never will.

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[braalian]

I resent being required to carry my phone everywhere

No business has the right to make that assumption about its customers

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I don't give two shits either way. I'm not required to touch the menu but since I can't memorize what they offer, I have to touch it. After doing so I always go wash my hands VERY well. Even touch screen menus were full of poop.

Key Findings on Menu Contamination:
High Bacterial Count: Menus can contain up to 185,000 bacteria per square centimeter, often more than a toilet seat.

Researchers Shocked at ‘How Much’ Poop They Found on McDonald’s Touchscreen Menus

A recent round of bacterial tests by Metro found faecal matter - poop - on McDonald's touchscreen menus across UK locations, prompting hygiene concern.

www.livekindly.com

The same problem with condiment bottles, salt and pepper shakers, etc.

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The only people that want life to be touchless are those still driving alone in their cars with their masks on.

I guess they think they're cockroaches.

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[braalian]

The people who are OCD about touching anything others may have touched are usually the ones who look the most frail and sickly

 

[SaxonJackson]

That was a pretty elaborate hoax just to get people to use QR codes

There were multiple reasons for the hoax. Mostly another government power grab.

 

[LibertyWeeps]

You touch money?
You eat fast food?
You touch restaurant seats and tables?
You touch door handles?

You get a lot WORSE touching those things than just touching a menu.

Besides, this is how humans keep their immune systems up to date, in balance, and working.
Otherwise we'd all be sick ALL the time if there was nothing for our immune systems to fight and learn how to distinguish the good from the bad.

I also carry alcohol wipes with me when I go out to eat. Sometimes the table isn't clean so I clean it. And I get my hands sanitized before I touch my food. I'm not OCD about it though.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I like the old school diners. In fact, I just got back from having breakfast at the one I like.

I always get the same thing, so don't need a menu.

In fact, I don't even have to order anything, she knows what I get, so puts it in when I come in.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I like the old school diners. In fact, I just got back from having breakfast at the one I like.

I always get the same thing, so don't need a menu.

In fact, I don't even have to order anything, she knows what I get, so puts it in when I come in.

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Yeah, the one place where I dine out is a diner in my little town and the people who take my order and cook it and serve it sit next to me in church or are related to someone who does. They all know my favorites and how I like them cooked.

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[LibertyWeeps]

I like the old school diners. In fact, I just got back from having breakfast at the one I like.

I always get the same thing, so don't need a menu.

In fact, I don't even have to order anything, she knows what I get, so puts it in when I come in.

Oh yeah. LOVE those places!

My sister had the manager of the local pizza place trained like that. As soon as she walked in, he knew what to make, and by the time we got our seats, she had her pizza. LOL

 

[Natural Citizen]

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Yeah, the one place where I dine out is a diner in my little town and the people who take my order and cook it and serve it sit next to me in church or are related to someone who does. They all know my favorites and how I like them cooked.

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That's one of the great things about community and small business like that. Everybody knows everybody in some way or another. And everybody gets along.

 

[1srelluc]

I'd not like an eatery assuming what I wanted when I walked through the door.....Sounds odd.

Maybe I don't want eggs (or whatever) today.

 

[SweetSue92]

You’re already sitting in a booth, touching a table tons of other people have touched

Unless you have some severe immune deficiency problem, worrying about touching a laminated menu is just paranoid. And, yes, I say that as a nurse. Carry around a little thing of hand sanitizer if you’re that worried

Dude this is not my argument. I love QR codes. The argument was came up that menus are not hygienic, and then someone said well phones are just as bad; my point was WE have control of how dirty our own phones are.

I think the best argument for QR code menus is that they can update daily specials.

 

[Natural Citizen]

A couple of weeks ago I went in for breakfast and a couple of county cops were in there before their shift change having breakfast. They're pretty much regulars, too.

I was like, shit, I didn't know you two were gonna be in here, my damned tags are expired. lol.

Which they were, because I was driving my old vette that I hadn't got around to running through the inspection lane yet.

 

[LibertyWeeps]

I'd not like an eatery assuming what I wanted when I walked through the door.....Sounds odd.

Maybe I don't want eggs (or whatever) today.

If you eat the same thing every morning, they usually wont ask unless you wave them over to the table to change your order.

Most of the ones I've been customers to for long periods of time usually walk by the table and ask "same thing"?

 

[1srelluc]

I think the best argument for QR code menus is that they can update daily specials.

A chalkboard at the entrance usually takes care of that.

 

[airplanemechanic]

Gee, then that means the rest of the restuarant, includimg the cooks, is also filthy. And you think the scans will suddenly make it all sanitary again?

I've never seen a cook come out and touch a menu. Or a salt shaker. But yea, the restaurant business is not sanitary. Eat at your own risk.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

If you eat the same thing every morning, they usually wont ask unless you wave them over to the table to change your order.

Most of the ones I've been customers to for long periods of time usually walk by the table and ask "same thing"?

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Where I eat, they even know better than to serve me meat on Friday. (I'm a Catholic who sometimes spaces out my abstinence obligation.)

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