5 ms·

I really hate those restaurants that only have QR codes on the table for menus. A restaurant is for eating and talking, not for messing around with my phone. I

I really hate those restaurants that only have QR codes on the table for menus. A restaurant is for eating and talking, not for messing around with my phone. I avoid those now. During Covid there was a slight point (though it was pretty soon proven that surface transmission was so minor a factor not to warrant such actions). But now we should just go back to normal menus.

KMnO4 4y ago
Heh. I went to a sushi restaurant recently and sat down to an iPad menu. After ordering a few rolls and confirming the order, it was delivered by a robot[0]. After finishing the plates, I returned them to the robot which carried them away. I scanned a QR code on the table which allowed me to pay for everything from my phone. Curiously, I was presented with options to tip 18%, 20%, 30%, or other. I thought about it and tipped accordingly to the effort the waitress put into my experience. Shortly after, the manager came to me (essentially the first point of human interaction) and asked if there was anything wrong that caused me to tip 0%. So yes, I too really hate the direction restaurants are heading in. [0]: https://www.pudurobotics.com/product/detail/pudubot2 https://www.pudurobotics.com/product/detail/pudubot2
- mjevans 4y ago
  I agree with tipping the robots (for whom service is always the same) N% of their wage; which is still 0. Tips should be _not-legal_ and proper wages for the workers should be _required_.
- Zak 4y ago
  I'm curious who would get the tip in this scenario. The sushi chef? Ok, I guess. The restaurant owner? I'm going with 0%. The robot? Maybe if it can pass a Turing test.
  - verall 4y ago
    > The sushi chef? Yes, and most likely split with other cooks, host/hostess, and waitstaff for people that refuse to use the iPad. > The restaurant owner? Illegal in most states. What an iconoclast, refusing to tip hourly workers...
    - bee_rider 4y ago
      I heard he also didn't tip the hourly cashier at the grocery store, what a jerk (and they even had an in-person interaction).
    - idiotsecant 4y ago
      The social contract is currently approximately 'when I interact with human wait staff I am expected to add some cash to what the bill says on it' This is evident from, for example, the drive-thru example. There is no waiter / waitress, you just get your stuff and keep rolling. A tip jar is sometimes available but is rarely expected. If I never interact with a human and the restaurant expects a tip I think they should tweak their presentation to more closely adhere to that social contract. In actual fact I wish we could stop dancing around the fluffy idea of when to tip and when not to tip and just expect restaurant owners to pay their staff and include that in the price charged for the goods. It's super annoying having to think about this stuff all the time.
      - verall 4y ago
        Except that in most areas, tips are legally required to go end workers (not management or ownership) and in jobs where tips are allowed, end workers make more than in service jobs where tips are not allowed on average. We're talking about America, I don't know why you would expect restaurant owners to pay workers a dime over the market clearing price. The chances service employees get employer provided health insurance is very low. I don't know your financial situation and noone is forcing you to tip. But if you make, say, more than 3 times what the people servicing you make, and you choose not to tip, I think that's quite selfish.
        idiotsecant 4y ago
- ModernMech 4y ago
  Lol. What’s next, they’ll want tips for the dishwashing machine too?
- throwaway14356 4y ago
  ill put in my robotmancipation notes
  - lelanthran 4y ago
    > ill put in my robotmancipation notes Missing episode in The Animatrix: the uprising started when robots didn't get tips.
- eru 4y ago
  We have those in Singapore as well, but you are not expected to tip. (Tipping in a Japanese restaurant is weird anyway. People don't do that in Japan, and they don't do it in any of the authentic Japanese places I've been to.) IPad ordering is fairly common here. I like it, very efficient. There's a sushi place around here that does iPad ordering, but they deliver your food on the customary conveyor belt, not via robot.
Zak 4y ago
I don't mind this when it's done well. I'm going to have to mess with something to find out what food the restaurant sells and my phone is about as good an option as any. It can allow easier menu changes, inclusion of specials, and the like. In practice, however most restaurants seem to go for a PDF of their previous menu design formatted for printing on a paper many times the size of my phone. That's a bad experience and restaurants that do it deserve to lose business over it. I'm reminded of about a decade long period not long ago when a restaurant website was more likely to have animations and music than the hours and menu.
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  Menus on phones blow. It's a pain in the ass to fussily scroll around on a dinky screen and try to remember what has scrolled away that you were interested in, instead of being able to glance across a page. I sympathize with the PITA of changing printed menus, but that's part of what you pay for. If I go out, I'm not paying for a lunch-counter experience. E-paper menus would be a pretty good compromise, if they could be made practical.
JasonFruit 4y ago
Sometimes now this is because of supply problems that make a single, consistent menu embarrassing to the business: nobody wants to have to say, "I'm sorry; we're out of salmon and eggplant, and we haven't had coconut milk for a week. Can I offer the three of you something else?" An electronic menu can be changed immediately and at practically no cost.
- HyperSane 4y ago
  An electronic menu can also have prices that change every hour based on how busy the place is or even have prices based on demographic information gleaned from the user's phone.
  - verall 4y ago
    What restaurants do this?
    - JasonFruit 4y ago
      International House of Hypotheticals, Strawman Cafe, and the Red Herring Bar and Grill.
      - NonNefarious 4y ago
        +1 for you, sir
      - worthless-trash 4y ago
        Great now i want to go to a fish grilling bar.. Thanks a lot.
    - HyperSane 4y ago
      None that I'm aware of, but it WILL happen.
- drekipus 4y ago
  This sounds like over estimating a lot of restaurants ability to handle electronic menus. I don't think I've seen that functionality in many restaurants at all. There is always a cost in updating the menu.
stjohnswarts 4y ago
i actually prefer it. I've never been to one here in Austin that doesn't have a paper menu if you ask tho. I much prefer handling my filthy, but personally contaminated phone, to menus that a ton of other people have handled after rubbing their eyes and noses.

KMnO4 4y ago

Heh. I went to a sushi restaurant recently and sat down to an iPad menu. After ordering a few rolls and confirming the order, it was delivered by a robot[0]. After finishing the plates, I returned them to the robot which carried them away. I scanned a QR code on the table which allowed me to pay for everything from my phone. Curiously, I was presented with options to tip 18%, 20%, 30%, or other. I thought about it and tipped accordingly to the effort the waitress put into my experience. Shortly after, the manager came to me (essentially the first point of human interaction) and asked if there was anything wrong that caused me to tip 0%. So yes, I too really hate the direction restaurants are heading in. [0]: https://www.pudurobotics.com/product/detail/pudubot2 https://www.pudurobotics.com/product/detail/pudubot2

mjevans 4y ago
I agree with tipping the robots (for whom service is always the same) N% of their wage; which is still 0. Tips should be _not-legal_ and proper wages for the workers should be _required_.
Zak 4y ago
I'm curious who would get the tip in this scenario. The sushi chef? Ok, I guess. The restaurant owner? I'm going with 0%. The robot? Maybe if it can pass a Turing test.
- verall 4y ago
  > The sushi chef? Yes, and most likely split with other cooks, host/hostess, and waitstaff for people that refuse to use the iPad. > The restaurant owner? Illegal in most states. What an iconoclast, refusing to tip hourly workers...
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    I heard he also didn't tip the hourly cashier at the grocery store, what a jerk (and they even had an in-person interaction).
  - idiotsecant 4y ago
    The social contract is currently approximately 'when I interact with human wait staff I am expected to add some cash to what the bill says on it' This is evident from, for example, the drive-thru example. There is no waiter / waitress, you just get your stuff and keep rolling. A tip jar is sometimes available but is rarely expected. If I never interact with a human and the restaurant expects a tip I think they should tweak their presentation to more closely adhere to that social contract. In actual fact I wish we could stop dancing around the fluffy idea of when to tip and when not to tip and just expect restaurant owners to pay their staff and include that in the price charged for the goods. It's super annoying having to think about this stuff all the time.
    - verall 4y ago
      Except that in most areas, tips are legally required to go end workers (not management or ownership) and in jobs where tips are allowed, end workers make more than in service jobs where tips are not allowed on average. We're talking about America, I don't know why you would expect restaurant owners to pay workers a dime over the market clearing price. The chances service employees get employer provided health insurance is very low. I don't know your financial situation and noone is forcing you to tip. But if you make, say, more than 3 times what the people servicing you make, and you choose not to tip, I think that's quite selfish.
      - idiotsecant 4y ago
ModernMech 4y ago
Lol. What’s next, they’ll want tips for the dishwashing machine too?
throwaway14356 4y ago
ill put in my robotmancipation notes
- lelanthran 4y ago
  > ill put in my robotmancipation notes Missing episode in The Animatrix: the uprising started when robots didn't get tips.
eru 4y ago
We have those in Singapore as well, but you are not expected to tip. (Tipping in a Japanese restaurant is weird anyway. People don't do that in Japan, and they don't do it in any of the authentic Japanese places I've been to.) IPad ordering is fairly common here. I like it, very efficient. There's a sushi place around here that does iPad ordering, but they deliver your food on the customary conveyor belt, not via robot.

Zak 4y ago

I don't mind this when it's done well. I'm going to have to mess with something to find out what food the restaurant sells and my phone is about as good an option as any. It can allow easier menu changes, inclusion of specials, and the like. In practice, however most restaurants seem to go for a PDF of their previous menu design formatted for printing on a paper many times the size of my phone. That's a bad experience and restaurants that do it deserve to lose business over it. I'm reminded of about a decade long period not long ago when a restaurant website was more likely to have animations and music than the hours and menu.

NonNefarious 4y ago
Menus on phones blow. It's a pain in the ass to fussily scroll around on a dinky screen and try to remember what has scrolled away that you were interested in, instead of being able to glance across a page. I sympathize with the PITA of changing printed menus, but that's part of what you pay for. If I go out, I'm not paying for a lunch-counter experience. E-paper menus would be a pretty good compromise, if they could be made practical.

JasonFruit 4y ago

Sometimes now this is because of supply problems that make a single, consistent menu embarrassing to the business: nobody wants to have to say, "I'm sorry; we're out of salmon and eggplant, and we haven't had coconut milk for a week. Can I offer the three of you something else?" An electronic menu can be changed immediately and at practically no cost.

HyperSane 4y ago
An electronic menu can also have prices that change every hour based on how busy the place is or even have prices based on demographic information gleaned from the user's phone.
- verall 4y ago
  What restaurants do this?
  - JasonFruit 4y ago
    International House of Hypotheticals, Strawman Cafe, and the Red Herring Bar and Grill.
    - NonNefarious 4y ago
      +1 for you, sir
    - worthless-trash 4y ago
      Great now i want to go to a fish grilling bar.. Thanks a lot.
  - HyperSane 4y ago
    None that I'm aware of, but it WILL happen.
drekipus 4y ago
This sounds like over estimating a lot of restaurants ability to handle electronic menus. I don't think I've seen that functionality in many restaurants at all. There is always a cost in updating the menu.

stjohnswarts 4y ago

i actually prefer it. I've never been to one here in Austin that doesn't have a paper menu if you ask tho. I much prefer handling my filthy, but personally contaminated phone, to menus that a ton of other people have handled after rubbing their eyes and noses.