4 ms·

This is such an obvious vulnerability. It blows my mind that out here in SoCal - especially post-COVID LA-proper, you'll often encounter restaurants only provi

This is such an obvious vulnerability. It blows my mind that out here in SoCal - especially post-COVID LA-proper, you'll often encounter restaurants only providing menus via QR code. Between that practice and the increasingly common outright refusal to accept cash, every time I visit friends in Santa Monica it's become an exceptional experience just to get a morning espresso using cash and no smartphone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4YgudTcnM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4YgudTcnM

yawnxyz 4y ago
basically every restaurant in Sydney right now
throwaway22032 4y ago
Yeah. It's honestly just really weird and a bit cringe. I started to choose holiday destinations based on whether it's like, a normal business environment. This began during coronavirus, but now with the whole cashless thing becoming sticky it's become a seemingly permanent choice.
JohnFen 4y ago
> you'll often encounter restaurants only providing menus via QR code. What?? > increasingly common outright refusal to accept cash Well, those two things alone are excellent reasons for me to avoid going there.
- brundolf 4y ago
  This is common here in Austin too. I don't usually mind; paying on my phone from the table is more convenient for everybody than waiting in a line to order, and if you're with friends you don't have to figure out splitting the check But I'll definitely start giving the QR codes a closer look before scanning now
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    Oh, great. If that ever starts happening in my parts, that will be a huge pain in the ass.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  Even here in Barcelona I see this. It started during Covid. But some restaurants have hung on to this. In particular Asian ones.
burnished 4y ago
Do you mean that you have asked for a physical menu or other accommodation and been refused?
- pengaru 4y ago
  Yes, increasingly some places just don't maintain a print menu of any kind anymore. At least in one case I was referred to an illegible chalkboard which I guess is better than nothing, even if it was incomplete. But being near-sighted it's preferable to hold a paper menu... Even if it's just some low-brow unlaminated printout I'd be satisfied! But nope, welcome to the future. Nowadays if I find myself in such a place and they at least will accept cash for payment, I'll just make them describe the menu verbally. Maybe if enough of us generate that amount of inconvenience for them they'll get a clue and learn how to use a printer. It's like it's part of their trendy/hipster image to not have menus and do everything through a phone. Part of how they appeal to a younger demographic perhaps? I think that's the visible aspect, but the deeper motive is more about invading customers' privacy by getting hooks into their phones. Then on the cashless side it's discriminatory and rooted in mistrust of employees handling cash...
  - burnished 4y ago
    Thank you, it sounded absurd so I had to check. What is the vector for privacy invasion beyond the normal for visiting a website? Is there a company offering pay for access here or something?
  - MandieD 4y ago
    Anything that requires the use of a smartphone discriminates a bit against the large group that is the most reliable voting block in most western democracies: people over 70. Yes, lots of them have and fluently use smartphones, but plenty of them don't, and most smartphone interfaces are awful for anyone with less steady hands and diminishing near vision. To me, this is a coordination problem: how to get very technical privacy enthusiasts working together with older people who only wish to be allowed to keep getting around their normal worlds in a way they fully understand. We want what we want for very different reasons, but what we want ends up being effectively the same things.
RockRobotRock 4y ago
Refusing cash was never about COVID or the environment, it's about keeping homeless people out.
- pengaru 4y ago
  They were definitely already pushing cashless pre-COVID, but COVID green-lighted a lot more of it in the name of flattening the curve by being "contactless". The same rationale was being used to push the QR codes and deprecating paper menus. COVID-19 is a master class of "never let a good crisis go to waste". BTW it wasn't strictly about keeping homeless out, it's also to prevent theft of the register by staff. This is definitely not a one-dimensional issue. But I do think the discrimination against the homeless facet is all the cities need to outright ban the practice for their licensed public-serving businesses.
  - JCharante 4y ago
    Staff would also prefer not counting cash and having to be responsible. My first job in high school was at Dunkin and I hated having to count $2000 worth of coins and bills at the end of my shift. I'd gladly break a $50 or $100 bill for people so that it'd be easier to count at the end of the day. One day my drawer was $100 short and thankfully the manager believed me. Protocol is for each staff to have their own drawers and swap them in/out but in practice everybody shares drawers making accountability more like whomever the manager dislikes that week. Homeless people should just buy a prepaid debit card and top it up at supermarkets. Cash has no place in a modern society.
    - DiscourseFan 4y ago
      >Cash has no place in a modern society. Cash is an anonymous form of payment, it is secure and untraceable. Anyone can get it and it is not associated with anyone in particular. It doesn't just have a place in modern society, as long as we live in a money system, to protect the privacy of citizens it is necessary that we use cash.
      - 4y ago
ss108 4y ago
I don't begrudge a place not dealing in cash, but the no paper menu thing is really annoying, and I find surprising unanimity among my friends about this. I am currently in NYC but visit LA regularly.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
marssaxman 4y ago
I am thinking of beginning a personal boycott of any place with a "no cash" sign on the door.

yawnxyz 4y ago

basically every restaurant in Sydney right now

throwaway22032 4y ago

Yeah. It's honestly just really weird and a bit cringe. I started to choose holiday destinations based on whether it's like, a normal business environment. This began during coronavirus, but now with the whole cashless thing becoming sticky it's become a seemingly permanent choice.

JohnFen 4y ago

> you'll often encounter restaurants only providing menus via QR code. What?? > increasingly common outright refusal to accept cash Well, those two things alone are excellent reasons for me to avoid going there.

brundolf 4y ago
This is common here in Austin too. I don't usually mind; paying on my phone from the table is more convenient for everybody than waiting in a line to order, and if you're with friends you don't have to figure out splitting the check But I'll definitely start giving the QR codes a closer look before scanning now
- JohnFen 4y ago
  Oh, great. If that ever starts happening in my parts, that will be a huge pain in the ass.
wkat4242 4y ago
Even here in Barcelona I see this. It started during Covid. But some restaurants have hung on to this. In particular Asian ones.

burnished 4y ago

Do you mean that you have asked for a physical menu or other accommodation and been refused?

pengaru 4y ago
Yes, increasingly some places just don't maintain a print menu of any kind anymore. At least in one case I was referred to an illegible chalkboard which I guess is better than nothing, even if it was incomplete. But being near-sighted it's preferable to hold a paper menu... Even if it's just some low-brow unlaminated printout I'd be satisfied! But nope, welcome to the future. Nowadays if I find myself in such a place and they at least will accept cash for payment, I'll just make them describe the menu verbally. Maybe if enough of us generate that amount of inconvenience for them they'll get a clue and learn how to use a printer. It's like it's part of their trendy/hipster image to not have menus and do everything through a phone. Part of how they appeal to a younger demographic perhaps? I think that's the visible aspect, but the deeper motive is more about invading customers' privacy by getting hooks into their phones. Then on the cashless side it's discriminatory and rooted in mistrust of employees handling cash...
- burnished 4y ago
  Thank you, it sounded absurd so I had to check. What is the vector for privacy invasion beyond the normal for visiting a website? Is there a company offering pay for access here or something?
- MandieD 4y ago
  Anything that requires the use of a smartphone discriminates a bit against the large group that is the most reliable voting block in most western democracies: people over 70. Yes, lots of them have and fluently use smartphones, but plenty of them don't, and most smartphone interfaces are awful for anyone with less steady hands and diminishing near vision. To me, this is a coordination problem: how to get very technical privacy enthusiasts working together with older people who only wish to be allowed to keep getting around their normal worlds in a way they fully understand. We want what we want for very different reasons, but what we want ends up being effectively the same things.

RockRobotRock 4y ago

Refusing cash was never about COVID or the environment, it's about keeping homeless people out.

pengaru 4y ago
They were definitely already pushing cashless pre-COVID, but COVID green-lighted a lot more of it in the name of flattening the curve by being "contactless". The same rationale was being used to push the QR codes and deprecating paper menus. COVID-19 is a master class of "never let a good crisis go to waste". BTW it wasn't strictly about keeping homeless out, it's also to prevent theft of the register by staff. This is definitely not a one-dimensional issue. But I do think the discrimination against the homeless facet is all the cities need to outright ban the practice for their licensed public-serving businesses.
- JCharante 4y ago
  Staff would also prefer not counting cash and having to be responsible. My first job in high school was at Dunkin and I hated having to count $2000 worth of coins and bills at the end of my shift. I'd gladly break a $50 or $100 bill for people so that it'd be easier to count at the end of the day. One day my drawer was $100 short and thankfully the manager believed me. Protocol is for each staff to have their own drawers and swap them in/out but in practice everybody shares drawers making accountability more like whomever the manager dislikes that week. Homeless people should just buy a prepaid debit card and top it up at supermarkets. Cash has no place in a modern society.
  - DiscourseFan 4y ago
    >Cash has no place in a modern society. Cash is an anonymous form of payment, it is secure and untraceable. Anyone can get it and it is not associated with anyone in particular. It doesn't just have a place in modern society, as long as we live in a money system, to protect the privacy of citizens it is necessary that we use cash.
    - 4y ago

ss108 4y ago

I don't begrudge a place not dealing in cash, but the no paper menu thing is really annoying, and I find surprising unanimity among my friends about this. I am currently in NYC but visit LA regularly.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

marssaxman 4y ago

I am thinking of beginning a personal boycott of any place with a "no cash" sign on the door.