[j1elo]

> I couldn’t access their menus. They were only on Instagram, and it’d force a sign in before showing me the content. > so many restaurants and cafes here purely use Instagram (or sometimes Facebook) to host their menus.

That's idiotic. Really, reaaaally idiotic. Like, "talk to the manager and tell them they are doing a very stupid thing" levels of idiotic. </Rant>

This "we're too modern and digital to get out heads out of our asses" attitude towards adopting "cool technology" with complete disregard for an analog Plan B gets to my nerves.

Here, since Covid, lots of places stopped offering physical menus, instead they put a QR code to some webpage or gigantic PDF file that contains the menu (and can be updated every day to push prices up if needed, heh).

I hate that services assume you must have a hundreds-dollar device on your pocket at all times to even be able to access the basic service they provide. I just power off my phone and tell them "look I ran out of battery, what should we do?". They usually do have a physical menu, thankfully.

But other things aren't so nice. My employer offers a restaurant card, and because now we live in a "digital era", they don't issue physical cards any more, only digital ones to be used with Google Wallet on Android. Turns out I'd like to install GrapheneOS on my Pixel, and you got it: Wallet doesn't work on GrapheneOS for payments! I'd want my physical restaurant card, please.

[molochai]

Went to a Starbucks the other week, had a gift card to blow... looked pretty dim and potentially like they were closing shop but I could still see people. No hours posted on the door, "scan this QR code to get the hours." I opted to tug on the door handle to figure out that they were, in fact, closed.

I get why that is useful for them (looks cool, no having to reprint the physical hours stickers, less ugly than a paper version I guess) but the assumption that it is easier for me to pull out my phone and scan the code versus just... trying the door... whew.

Reminds me of working in restaurants ages ago. Credit card swiper down? Cool, pull out the "knuckle buster" for your "analog Plan B" -- all's well, though the manager's probably pissed at staying late to manually enter the transactions. We probably could not even do that anymore because many cards have gone to non-imprintable numbers.

[kassner]

I really don’t understand why some societies rely so much on Meta services, specially considering they are SO MUCH WORSE to administer, specially for a non-tech user, compared to creating a website in Wix (or even a free Wordpress.com account), or maybe updating your Google Maps business with the right information.

Maybe that shows a lack of critical thinking in the general population? I.e.: people must be using FB/IG because it’s the only thing they know, and never questioned themselves if there are other avenues?

[philistine]

They simply go where the eyeballs spend their time. It sucks there, but what are you going to do? You're competing with 20 other restaurants, and they're all on Instagram.

[ajross]

> This "we're too modern and digital to get out heads out of our asses" attitude towards adopting "cool technology" with complete disregard for an analog Plan B gets to my nerves.

All restaurants have an "analog plan B", it's called walking in and asking for a menu. These are tiny businesses run by people who love food, not tech. It really is asking too much to expect them to work at and understand the ideas behind digital freedom, at least if you want them to serve you good food.

Notably Google Maps curates a photo set of the physical menu of basically every restaurant in the urban USA, if not everywhere. I find a lot of people don't actually know this. I never bother looking at restaurant sites anymore except for places where I know they're likely to have changed the menu (and even then it's a crapshoot, per your original point).

[kassner]

> All restaurants have an "analog plan B", it's called walking in and asking for a menu

At least every second month I walk out of a new restaurant I’ve discovered because they don’t even care to have it.

Employees treat you like it’s your fault that you can’t see the prices behind a Meta auth wall. They won’t even offer to read it out to you or show in a device of their own.

Nowadays, if I see a triangle-shaped cardboard with a QR code on top of each table, I’m 95% sure I will walk out of there hungry. And angry.

[crazygringo]

I've never been to a restaurant without backup menus.

Even if they have QR codes, they have some paper menus or tablets.

And it's not even for people without devices or logins -- it's because phone batteries run out and they run out all the time. Restaurants don't generally make a lot of profit, and they need every customer they can get.

Do you bother to ask? Or do you just assume?

[kranke155]

This is literally the new normal in a lot of places in Europe. I have no idea where you are that you think you could complain about this, they would just eye roll at you.

[j1elo]

> Whoa, wait a minute, Doc. What are you talkin’ about? What happens to us in the future? What, do we become assholes or somethin’?

[OsrsNeedsf2P]

Not only Europe, it's common in Asia too. You can hate it, but you can't fight the tide.