4 ms·

I tried to remove the browser from my smartphone and it was impossible because of all these stupid QR scanning requirements everywhere.

stronglikedan 24d ago
The word "requirements" is doing a lot of work there. I've never met a QR code where scanning it was required of me.
- thesdev 24d ago
  So you'd leave the restaurant if it has a QR menu?
  - onetokeoverthe 24d ago
    yes
  - bigstrat2003 24d ago
    I certainly would, unless it was something I was doing for someone else's sake (like a birthday dinner for someone). Why would I do business with a restaurant that can't be bothered to provide a good experience for customers?
  - branon 24d ago
    Depending on what type of computer (if not smartphone) you have at hand, you can probably use a search engine to find the same menu. Or ask somebody at your table. Or ask the server. Or point at somebody else's food and say you want what they're having. Or eschew the menu entirely and ask to be surprised. Chef's choice can be fun. Or leave yeah, I think that's valid. TFA is predicated on the notion of pretty-much-lying to people by telling them you don't have a smartphone even if you do. Leaving a restaurant if you can't find a menu seems like it'd be on similar ideological footing.
    - creaturemachine 24d ago
      The idea is you shouldn't have to have any sort of computer on your person to participate in public life. If a proper eat-in restaurant can't maintain a paper menu then it's an indication of the level of service that's sure to follow.
      - branon 24d ago
        Perhaps that's the grandparent commenter's idea but I don't think it's the point the article is making: > So, seriously, I do really like the smartphone idea. It’s just that I don’t have any browser or "social" app on it. And I don’t want anything else than what I have. > I wish I could say it is all I have, that I’m a true minimalist. He defines true minimalism as having an _ideologically conformant_ computer, not no computer at all.
  - francisofascii 24d ago
    This happened in an airport restaurant. I asked the server to get me the cheeseburger with fries.
  - inigyou 24d ago
    Restaurants have thin enough margins already. They aren't turning away a customer for not bringing a phone. There's one tiny burger place just around the corner from me that's delivery/pickup only, not even a QR code, but they have a sign outside saying 10€ combos and they're 15€ on the website... I just asked them. They have very good halloumi burgers and perfectly cooked fries. They were happy to accept my cash, too.
  - Kim_Bruning 24d ago
    Do you mean leave if they don't have an alternative? I'm not religiously opposed to QR-code linked menus myself, but it just so happens that the last restaurant I ate at, the QR menu was broken and I was forced to ask for a paper menu anyway. Now if a restaurant puts a lot of care and curation into a web based menu (and posibly ordering system!), and lovingly craft a complementary QR code to point to it, then why not? A lot of the time the caring is the important part.
  - coldtea 24d ago
    If they can't be bothered to bring a printed menu when asked, yes.
  - everdrive 24d ago
    If they wouldn't find another to help me? Absolutely. I can't imagine I couldn't just ask the server a question like "what's cheap and good?" or "I'll take the soup of the day."
  - buildsjets 24d ago
    Yes, I have left restaurants because they only offered a QR code menu, and I plan to continue to do that in the future.
  - slumberlust 24d ago
    Yea, ditto if they only take orders via tablets. Vote with your wallet.
  - cowboylowrez 24d ago
    I personally do not use QR codes. I suppose there could come a time where I could benefit from scanning one but I still have access to restaurants where you can order manually from humans and they cook the food themselves also.
- ddj231 24d ago
  a bit off topic but the construction of the phrase: some word + "doing a lot of work" sounds so much like a claudism
  - atrus 24d ago
    Well, yeah, people have been using that phrase for years, if not decades. I'm not sure if you were aware, but they actually trained Claude on human text, so it naturally sounds like the human text it trained off of.
    - ddj231 23d ago
      the word “decades” is doing a lot of work here. Knowing that Claude is trained on human text is really the load bearing point. I can’t unsee this argument. Jokes aside, of course it’s trained on human text. The issue is that it has a specific tone which leads to formulaic sentence construction that is tiring. But the plus is that it’s easy to spot if you want to avoid AI generated text.
- runjake 24d ago
  Anecdotal, but I've encountered a number of places where it's more or less required. - Restaurants: Menu is QR only. In one case, ordering food was QR only. - Queueing up at my local Costco optical department requires scanning a QR code. - Various other check-ins for various other government agencies and businesses. - Urgent care check-in paperwork requiring QR code. No paper, and typing the loooong URL in manually is horrific.
  - iamnothere 24d ago
    Have you tried saying “my phone is broken”? I doubt it’s as stringent as you think. I have never had an issue and I don’t carry a smartphone. Usually they just hand you a paper menu or a tablet depending on what you’re doing.
    - runjake 24d ago
      I didn't have my phone physically on me at the time. They did not have paper menus at all. They kind of rattled off a selection of items from memory. I ordered something.
    - account42 23d ago
      Often there technically are other options but this is still like saying you don't need to participate in society and can move to a cabin in the woods.
      - iamnothere 23d ago
        What’s the problem? Are you saying that people who live in cabins are doing something wrong? I used to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It has its downsides, but there were plenty of positives as well.
        huurtehoog 23d ago
        You can't see a difference between will and constrain? Force-feeding for example is torture, despite how much one may like eating.

stronglikedan 24d ago

The word "requirements" is doing a lot of work there. I've never met a QR code where scanning it was required of me.

thesdev 24d ago
So you'd leave the restaurant if it has a QR menu?
- onetokeoverthe 24d ago
  yes
- bigstrat2003 24d ago
  I certainly would, unless it was something I was doing for someone else's sake (like a birthday dinner for someone). Why would I do business with a restaurant that can't be bothered to provide a good experience for customers?
- branon 24d ago
  Depending on what type of computer (if not smartphone) you have at hand, you can probably use a search engine to find the same menu. Or ask somebody at your table. Or ask the server. Or point at somebody else's food and say you want what they're having. Or eschew the menu entirely and ask to be surprised. Chef's choice can be fun. Or leave yeah, I think that's valid. TFA is predicated on the notion of pretty-much-lying to people by telling them you don't have a smartphone even if you do. Leaving a restaurant if you can't find a menu seems like it'd be on similar ideological footing.
  - creaturemachine 24d ago
    The idea is you shouldn't have to have any sort of computer on your person to participate in public life. If a proper eat-in restaurant can't maintain a paper menu then it's an indication of the level of service that's sure to follow.
    - branon 24d ago
      Perhaps that's the grandparent commenter's idea but I don't think it's the point the article is making: > So, seriously, I do really like the smartphone idea. It’s just that I don’t have any browser or "social" app on it. And I don’t want anything else than what I have. > I wish I could say it is all I have, that I’m a true minimalist. He defines true minimalism as having an _ideologically conformant_ computer, not no computer at all.
- francisofascii 24d ago
  This happened in an airport restaurant. I asked the server to get me the cheeseburger with fries.
- inigyou 24d ago
  Restaurants have thin enough margins already. They aren't turning away a customer for not bringing a phone. There's one tiny burger place just around the corner from me that's delivery/pickup only, not even a QR code, but they have a sign outside saying 10€ combos and they're 15€ on the website... I just asked them. They have very good halloumi burgers and perfectly cooked fries. They were happy to accept my cash, too.
- Kim_Bruning 24d ago
  Do you mean leave if they don't have an alternative? I'm not religiously opposed to QR-code linked menus myself, but it just so happens that the last restaurant I ate at, the QR menu was broken and I was forced to ask for a paper menu anyway. Now if a restaurant puts a lot of care and curation into a web based menu (and posibly ordering system!), and lovingly craft a complementary QR code to point to it, then why not? A lot of the time the caring is the important part.
- coldtea 24d ago
  If they can't be bothered to bring a printed menu when asked, yes.
- everdrive 24d ago
  If they wouldn't find another to help me? Absolutely. I can't imagine I couldn't just ask the server a question like "what's cheap and good?" or "I'll take the soup of the day."
- buildsjets 24d ago
  Yes, I have left restaurants because they only offered a QR code menu, and I plan to continue to do that in the future.
- slumberlust 24d ago
  Yea, ditto if they only take orders via tablets. Vote with your wallet.
- cowboylowrez 24d ago
  I personally do not use QR codes. I suppose there could come a time where I could benefit from scanning one but I still have access to restaurants where you can order manually from humans and they cook the food themselves also.
ddj231 24d ago
a bit off topic but the construction of the phrase: some word + "doing a lot of work" sounds so much like a claudism
- atrus 24d ago
  Well, yeah, people have been using that phrase for years, if not decades. I'm not sure if you were aware, but they actually trained Claude on human text, so it naturally sounds like the human text it trained off of.
  - ddj231 23d ago
    the word “decades” is doing a lot of work here. Knowing that Claude is trained on human text is really the load bearing point. I can’t unsee this argument. Jokes aside, of course it’s trained on human text. The issue is that it has a specific tone which leads to formulaic sentence construction that is tiring. But the plus is that it’s easy to spot if you want to avoid AI generated text.
runjake 24d ago
Anecdotal, but I've encountered a number of places where it's more or less required. - Restaurants: Menu is QR only. In one case, ordering food was QR only. - Queueing up at my local Costco optical department requires scanning a QR code. - Various other check-ins for various other government agencies and businesses. - Urgent care check-in paperwork requiring QR code. No paper, and typing the loooong URL in manually is horrific.
- iamnothere 24d ago
  Have you tried saying “my phone is broken”? I doubt it’s as stringent as you think. I have never had an issue and I don’t carry a smartphone. Usually they just hand you a paper menu or a tablet depending on what you’re doing.
  - runjake 24d ago
    I didn't have my phone physically on me at the time. They did not have paper menus at all. They kind of rattled off a selection of items from memory. I ordered something.
  - account42 23d ago
    Often there technically are other options but this is still like saying you don't need to participate in society and can move to a cabin in the woods.
    - iamnothere 23d ago
      What’s the problem? Are you saying that people who live in cabins are doing something wrong? I used to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It has its downsides, but there were plenty of positives as well.
      - huurtehoog 23d ago
        You can't see a difference between will and constrain? Force-feeding for example is torture, despite how much one may like eating.