15 ms·

With covid, many restaurants removed paper menus to avoid transmission. I hate QR codes so that was a move I was not in favour of.....

nly 5y ago
Laminated menus that you can spray and wipe off would make a lot more sense.
- jbluepolarbear 5y ago
  It’s as if Denny’s has been ahead of the game all a long
  - atatatat 5y ago
    Assume you're disgusting, work backwards from there.
    - jbluepolarbear 5y ago
      Don’t be acting like Denny’s is a Waffle House.
- bloak 5y ago
  On the other hand, pathogens survive longer on a smooth surface than on a rough absorbant surface, and I would guess that they are more likely to be transferred from a smooth surface onto somebody's hand than from a rough absorvant surface. So, taking account of people perhaps not doing all that spraying and wiping properly, a paper menu might turn out to be safer after all.
  - nly 5y ago
    Then destroy and replace them with every service? it's only a printed sheet
  - mosselman 5y ago
    I could be wrong, as I often am, but I think getting covid from a surface is recently proven to be highly unlikely.
    - cinntaile 5y ago
      They have known this since april 2020, it was a German scientist that first tested this I believe.
    - Symmetry 5y ago
      In March of 2020 we were pretty sure that at most 5% of Covid transmissions were through touched surfaces (fomites). Currently we're sure that at most .01% of Covid transmissions are through surfaces and still haven't found clear evidence of it ever actually having happened so literally 0% still can't be ruled out. But upper respiratory tract infections like the flu do actually spread through fomites pretty easily so we've defaulted to the flu playbook for many public health measures.
      - stjohnswarts 5y ago
        There are a lot of diseases out there that are transferred on surfaces however. Not everything is about covid
  - stjohnswarts 5y ago
    Interestingly this is why wood cutting boards are better than plastic ones.
jbluepolarbear 5y ago
Restaurants open during the pandemic has been a joke. Outside in a tent/wood box never fixed any problem. I have not been to a restaurant since March 2020. Going to different restaurants was my favorite hobby, but the experience has become so hostile that I won’t go back until I can sit inside without a mask, have a menu, and not have to worry about a coughing idiot.
- conductr 5y ago
  > and not have to worry about a coughing idiot That's on you and your location. I've been eating back at restaurants just fine for about a year now without a mask (for while it was mask on unless at a table, which is a bit of a joke to act like that helps anything). It was nice being able to walk in anywhere without RSVP but that's going away too as more and more people are back to work and social activities.
- jiofih 5y ago
  Your comment reeks of entitlement. Restaurant owners have been struggling to survive by serving customers any way they can. Sorry your high dining-out standards can’t be met while a few million people die from the pandemic.
  - jbluepolarbear 5y ago
    How is this entitlement? Dining at a restaurant is a luxury, if I’m going to spend my money on a luxury, I’m going to choose an experience that is safe, enjoyable, and to my interests. Why are you so upset? Why do you feel that the conditions in place are acceptable? Personally, I grew up quite poor and never got to go to restaurants. It wasn’t until I started making a little money in my late 20s that I could start to go to restaurants as a way to remove myself from my current stressful life and just unwind for a bit. For me restaurant dining is an experience and the experience offered at present isn’t appealing.
    - 0xbadcafebee 5y ago
      It's not entitlement. You are entitled to express your opinion that dining in restaurants has become something you no longer enjoy. I think it's worth noting since their existence depends upon pleasing customers. People forget that restaurants are a really modern invention. They were first introduced in France at the turn of the 19th century to provide more than just a way to order one type of food. The main reason they exist is the service, ambiance, and menu. Until "nice" restaurants came about, there were pretty much just taverns and inns, which were not renowned for their dining experience, and in most locales there was just one or maybe two, and the food selection wasn't great.
FractalParadigm 5y ago
Most, if not all restaurants I've been to around my area, were already either using or switched to using laminated sheets, sometimes bound in a plastic or leather cover. Plastic-enclosed paper is trivial to sanitize and lasts a VERY long time, plus I would like to imagine a laminator is quite a bit cheaper in the long-term than maintaining separate menu websites for every individual location. It's amazing how some can re-invent the simplest of ideas simply for the sake of getting tech rammed into the stream.
- a_imho 5y ago
  It is not for tech sake, this is building a database. Never attribute to incompetence what can be adequately explained by bogus engagement KPIs
  - dgb23 5y ago
    Orders are typically stored anyways?
    - atatatat 5y ago
      But not how long you stared at the deserts, or what side of the "give me lobster" button you pressed.
      - tomrod 5y ago
        Meaningless and trivial metrics, ultimately. Third order at best.
        bluGill 5y ago
        Probably, but it is still data that is cheap to store. IF someone can find something useful in just 1% of those things 10 years from now all the cost to collect and store all that data will be worth the investment - or so they hope. They probably will too - the cost vs reward is very skewed.
      - 5y ago
_joel 5y ago
I've been to a number of restaurants that have had QR codes on the table but, if you request it, they provide a laminated menu.
umanwizard 5y ago
That’s indeed why they did it, which is silly because there’s zero evidence that paper restaurant menus are a significant risk of covid transmission. It’s pure hygiene theater.
- e-clinton 5y ago
  Hygiene theater? That’s just hygiene. You don’t HAVE to bathe everyday, nothing will happen if you don’t. But doing so is just hygiene.
  - umanwizard 5y ago
    If you don’t bathe every day, and you have a body that produces a lot of sweat, you will look and smell disgusting to other people. That’s hardly “nothing”.
  - CWuestefeld 5y ago
    A year ago it was generally believed that fomites passed by contact was or could be a significant path for spread of the covid-19 virus. This turns out not to be the case - but that hasn't stopped a huge number of organizations from demanding high levels of surface cleansing. If you're just unusually fastidious, I guess that's your right. But when you're claiming (or at least implying) that everyone must conform to those same levels to avoid covid-19 transmission - which is what we're still seeing quite a bit of - then that's hygiene theater.
    - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
      Yeah, the CDC has acknowledged the surface thing [1], but sadly people are still operating on last year's knowledge and stil think disinfection is super important. Meanwhile despite new knowledge that Covid spreads in the air (not just through visible spit)[2], things like good ventilation (e.g. keeping windows open) hasn't really been pushed to people's heads. Maybe it's the failure of media? [1] https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/low-risk-of-catching-covid-from-surfaces-new-cdc-guidelines/ https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/low-risk-of-catching-covid-fro... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/opinion/coronavirus-airborne-transmission.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/opinion/coronavirus-airbo...
wyager 5y ago
> With covid, many restaurants removed paper menus to avoid transmission Any time a business claims to do something in the name of health or environmentalism, they are actually just using those as an excuse to cut corners.
- ajsnigrutin 5y ago
  Cut corners and charge more... I've been to a restaurant where they raised the prices of drinks to accomodate for using biodegradable plastic cups (sit-in restaurant!)... this is not enviromentalism, this is charging 20c for a 5c cup, instead of using glasses like a normal restaurant. Also, the reusable cotton bags are just an excuse to charge more, because you'd have to reuse a cotton bag 7100 times, to make it as friendly as using plastic bags ( https://theconversation.com/heres-how-many-times-you-actually-need-to-reuse-your-shopping-bags-101097 https://theconversation.com/heres-how-many-times-you-actuall... ). ...of course, paper is rarely an option.
- scrollaway 5y ago
  Or, you know, the government is asking them to do it. Here in Belgium the government asked a lot of mostly useless measures out of our bars and restaurants. You think they're happy paying hundreds, sometimes thousands of euros having Plexiglas screens installed all over the place, inconveniencing customers and staff alike?
syshum 5y ago
That is all fine, but then they should find a better way to secure their WiFi Network to allow easy access to the Menu I.e Not have a captive portal if your only going to the menu, have the captive portal if you want full access to the internet Clearly they cheaped out on hiring a network company that setup their wifi wrong If I have jump through a bunch of hurtles to view your menu I am out

nly 5y ago

Laminated menus that you can spray and wipe off would make a lot more sense.

jbluepolarbear 5y ago
It’s as if Denny’s has been ahead of the game all a long
- atatatat 5y ago
  Assume you're disgusting, work backwards from there.
  - jbluepolarbear 5y ago
    Don’t be acting like Denny’s is a Waffle House.
bloak 5y ago
On the other hand, pathogens survive longer on a smooth surface than on a rough absorbant surface, and I would guess that they are more likely to be transferred from a smooth surface onto somebody's hand than from a rough absorvant surface. So, taking account of people perhaps not doing all that spraying and wiping properly, a paper menu might turn out to be safer after all.
- nly 5y ago
  Then destroy and replace them with every service? it's only a printed sheet
- mosselman 5y ago
  I could be wrong, as I often am, but I think getting covid from a surface is recently proven to be highly unlikely.
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    They have known this since april 2020, it was a German scientist that first tested this I believe.
  - Symmetry 5y ago
    In March of 2020 we were pretty sure that at most 5% of Covid transmissions were through touched surfaces (fomites). Currently we're sure that at most .01% of Covid transmissions are through surfaces and still haven't found clear evidence of it ever actually having happened so literally 0% still can't be ruled out. But upper respiratory tract infections like the flu do actually spread through fomites pretty easily so we've defaulted to the flu playbook for many public health measures.
    - stjohnswarts 5y ago
      There are a lot of diseases out there that are transferred on surfaces however. Not everything is about covid
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  Interestingly this is why wood cutting boards are better than plastic ones.

jbluepolarbear 5y ago

Restaurants open during the pandemic has been a joke. Outside in a tent/wood box never fixed any problem. I have not been to a restaurant since March 2020. Going to different restaurants was my favorite hobby, but the experience has become so hostile that I won’t go back until I can sit inside without a mask, have a menu, and not have to worry about a coughing idiot.

conductr 5y ago
> and not have to worry about a coughing idiot That's on you and your location. I've been eating back at restaurants just fine for about a year now without a mask (for while it was mask on unless at a table, which is a bit of a joke to act like that helps anything). It was nice being able to walk in anywhere without RSVP but that's going away too as more and more people are back to work and social activities.
jiofih 5y ago
Your comment reeks of entitlement. Restaurant owners have been struggling to survive by serving customers any way they can. Sorry your high dining-out standards can’t be met while a few million people die from the pandemic.
- jbluepolarbear 5y ago
  How is this entitlement? Dining at a restaurant is a luxury, if I’m going to spend my money on a luxury, I’m going to choose an experience that is safe, enjoyable, and to my interests. Why are you so upset? Why do you feel that the conditions in place are acceptable? Personally, I grew up quite poor and never got to go to restaurants. It wasn’t until I started making a little money in my late 20s that I could start to go to restaurants as a way to remove myself from my current stressful life and just unwind for a bit. For me restaurant dining is an experience and the experience offered at present isn’t appealing.
  - 0xbadcafebee 5y ago
    It's not entitlement. You are entitled to express your opinion that dining in restaurants has become something you no longer enjoy. I think it's worth noting since their existence depends upon pleasing customers. People forget that restaurants are a really modern invention. They were first introduced in France at the turn of the 19th century to provide more than just a way to order one type of food. The main reason they exist is the service, ambiance, and menu. Until "nice" restaurants came about, there were pretty much just taverns and inns, which were not renowned for their dining experience, and in most locales there was just one or maybe two, and the food selection wasn't great.

FractalParadigm 5y ago

Most, if not all restaurants I've been to around my area, were already either using or switched to using laminated sheets, sometimes bound in a plastic or leather cover. Plastic-enclosed paper is trivial to sanitize and lasts a VERY long time, plus I would like to imagine a laminator is quite a bit cheaper in the long-term than maintaining separate menu websites for every individual location. It's amazing how some can re-invent the simplest of ideas simply for the sake of getting tech rammed into the stream.

a_imho 5y ago
It is not for tech sake, this is building a database. Never attribute to incompetence what can be adequately explained by bogus engagement KPIs
- dgb23 5y ago
  Orders are typically stored anyways?
  - atatatat 5y ago
    But not how long you stared at the deserts, or what side of the "give me lobster" button you pressed.
    - tomrod 5y ago
      Meaningless and trivial metrics, ultimately. Third order at best.
      - bluGill 5y ago
        Probably, but it is still data that is cheap to store. IF someone can find something useful in just 1% of those things 10 years from now all the cost to collect and store all that data will be worth the investment - or so they hope. They probably will too - the cost vs reward is very skewed.
    - 5y ago

_joel 5y ago

I've been to a number of restaurants that have had QR codes on the table but, if you request it, they provide a laminated menu.

umanwizard 5y ago

That’s indeed why they did it, which is silly because there’s zero evidence that paper restaurant menus are a significant risk of covid transmission. It’s pure hygiene theater.

e-clinton 5y ago
Hygiene theater? That’s just hygiene. You don’t HAVE to bathe everyday, nothing will happen if you don’t. But doing so is just hygiene.
- umanwizard 5y ago
  If you don’t bathe every day, and you have a body that produces a lot of sweat, you will look and smell disgusting to other people. That’s hardly “nothing”.
- CWuestefeld 5y ago
  A year ago it was generally believed that fomites passed by contact was or could be a significant path for spread of the covid-19 virus. This turns out not to be the case - but that hasn't stopped a huge number of organizations from demanding high levels of surface cleansing. If you're just unusually fastidious, I guess that's your right. But when you're claiming (or at least implying) that everyone must conform to those same levels to avoid covid-19 transmission - which is what we're still seeing quite a bit of - then that's hygiene theater.
  - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
    Yeah, the CDC has acknowledged the surface thing [1], but sadly people are still operating on last year's knowledge and stil think disinfection is super important. Meanwhile despite new knowledge that Covid spreads in the air (not just through visible spit)[2], things like good ventilation (e.g. keeping windows open) hasn't really been pushed to people's heads. Maybe it's the failure of media? [1] https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/low-risk-of-catching-covid-from-surfaces-new-cdc-guidelines/ https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/low-risk-of-catching-covid-fro... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/opinion/coronavirus-airborne-transmission.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/opinion/coronavirus-airbo...

wyager 5y ago

> With covid, many restaurants removed paper menus to avoid transmission Any time a business claims to do something in the name of health or environmentalism, they are actually just using those as an excuse to cut corners.

ajsnigrutin 5y ago
Cut corners and charge more... I've been to a restaurant where they raised the prices of drinks to accomodate for using biodegradable plastic cups (sit-in restaurant!)... this is not enviromentalism, this is charging 20c for a 5c cup, instead of using glasses like a normal restaurant. Also, the reusable cotton bags are just an excuse to charge more, because you'd have to reuse a cotton bag 7100 times, to make it as friendly as using plastic bags ( https://theconversation.com/heres-how-many-times-you-actually-need-to-reuse-your-shopping-bags-101097 https://theconversation.com/heres-how-many-times-you-actuall... ). ...of course, paper is rarely an option.
scrollaway 5y ago
Or, you know, the government is asking them to do it. Here in Belgium the government asked a lot of mostly useless measures out of our bars and restaurants. You think they're happy paying hundreds, sometimes thousands of euros having Plexiglas screens installed all over the place, inconveniencing customers and staff alike?

syshum 5y ago

That is all fine, but then they should find a better way to secure their WiFi Network to allow easy access to the Menu I.e Not have a captive portal if your only going to the menu, have the captive portal if you want full access to the internet Clearly they cheaped out on hiring a network company that setup their wifi wrong If I have jump through a bunch of hurtles to view your menu I am out