I’ve worked in Tech for 30 years, done software development in enough areas and at a sufficient senior level to be able to implement the whole QR code support, both coding and systems design, all the way from an App in a smartphone taking a picture and translating into a URL, to the webserver and if needed database on the other side including if needed an ordering system integrated with some internal order request system.
If I was faced with this I would ask for them to bring me or show me a menu. If they said “no” I would literally get up and leave.
I’m not going to be spending time mucking about with my phone to read in it’s comparativelly small screen something they could have available on an A4 piece of paper or an even larger format hanging from somewhere in the restaurant just to, at best, save them a few cents or, at worst, satisfying somebody’s totally misplaced idea that any Tech is cool just for being Tech. I’m even less going to enshittify my smartphone experience with some app that demands access to my Contacts and wants to pester me with notifications entirelly for the benefit of somebody else.
If there is one thing 3 decades in the Industry, often at the bleeding edge, have taught me is that Tech isn’t necessarilly the best solution for everything and that being newer doesn’t make something better and I’m not interested in being the beta tester for some half-arsed solution which serves most customers’ requirements worse than the older solution and I’m even less interest in installing a software agent doing the will of somebody else on my phone.
It’s exactly because I know Tech so well that I just judge Tech tools as I would any other tools and, damn, so much of it out there are just horrible ill-adjusted unstable tools worse than the old-Tech or non-Tech versions.
somebody’s totally misplaced idea that any Tech is cool just for being Tech
Nah, it’s worse than that. It’s somebody’s totally awful idea that they can meddle with their menu prices in real-time and do “surge pricing” and other schemes to rip you off. If they committed to a paper menu they would have to honor that printed price in most jurisdictions, which would preclude them from such shenanigans.
I’ve worked in Tech for 30 years, done software development in enough areas and at a sufficient senior level to be able to implement the whole QR code support, both coding and systems design, all the way from an App in a smartphone taking a picture and translating into a URL, to the webserver and if needed database on the other side including if needed an ordering system integrated with some internal order request system.
If I was faced with this I would ask for them to bring me or show me a menu. If they said “no” I would literally get up and leave.
I’m not going to be spending time mucking about with my phone to read in it’s comparativelly small screen something they could have available on an A4 piece of paper or an even larger format hanging from somewhere in the restaurant just to, at best, save them a few cents or, at worst, satisfying somebody’s totally misplaced idea that any Tech is cool just for being Tech. I’m even less going to enshittify my smartphone experience with some app that demands access to my Contacts and wants to pester me with notifications entirelly for the benefit of somebody else.
If there is one thing 3 decades in the Industry, often at the bleeding edge, have taught me is that Tech isn’t necessarilly the best solution for everything and that being newer doesn’t make something better and I’m not interested in being the beta tester for some half-arsed solution which serves most customers’ requirements worse than the older solution and I’m even less interest in installing a software agent doing the will of somebody else on my phone.
It’s exactly because I know Tech so well that I just judge Tech tools as I would any other tools and, damn, so much of it out there are just horrible ill-adjusted unstable tools worse than the old-Tech or non-Tech versions.
Nah, it’s worse than that. It’s somebody’s totally awful idea that they can meddle with their menu prices in real-time and do “surge pricing” and other schemes to rip you off. If they committed to a paper menu they would have to honor that printed price in most jurisdictions, which would preclude them from such shenanigans.