How many of you know the term QR code? Yes, I know you would have seen it on big noticeboards when COVID struck.
It’s that funny black square of squiggles, and you have probably scanned a QR code or two in your day, but do you know what it means? Perhaps I am a slow learner but I only found out the other day that it meant Quick Response. Of course! That makes sense, said my slow brain.
But I am about to take umbrage at the term and the use of the technology. And I don’t mean to sound like a Luddite but …
In some settings it may be fine, nay useful even, but one area has come to my attention and I want to shout out loud and clear that I HATE the use of this code rubbish.
I sat down at an eatery to have a bite of lunch. Nothing too fancy mind you, nor too expensive. (Writers can barely afford a coffee but that discussion is for another day.)
The waitress came over and greeted us, smiling, happy and not too condescending, considering our ages.
“Would we like to order?” came the question. “Yes please,” came the reply that seemed a bit redundant, a tautology even, seeing as we were seated at the restaurant. I hadn’t planned on starving that day.
“Well, just scan the QR code and then you can order off the menu.”
QR code confusion
She lightly skipped away as each of us slowly registered what this meant. The following whingeing would have done a four-year-old proud. Bloody hell, came all the replies. I hate these things. I don’t want to use this shit. What a bugger, can’t stand this stuff. How can we all peruse the menu with it just on one phone? I don’t have a smart phone and I refuse to play. How can we all split the bill this way? Do we have to pay on one phone and then work it out later?
Now I know these are really first world problems, and I do feel a tad guilty even complaining. After all, I am not being bombed to smithereens somewhere, for which I am grateful. But …
I do not want to read a menu on a phone. I do not want to order my meal on an app. I want to chat with a human being who can perhaps answer my questions re the menu and the food choices. He/she/they may have suggestions, insights and even a lively banter to entertain a bunch of old folk keen on social interaction. The Quick Response concept is well and good in some contexts, but please let us not be subjected to this in our dining experiences.
I can see the use of the app with theatre tickets and the like, and we don’t end up having cardboard tickets that we can lose, but I know many old folk who print their ticket out as well as have it on the phone in case the technology fails or someone steals their phone. There is also an assumption that all folk have a smartphone. That is not always the case, and again this excludes the poor among us.
The supermarket self-checkout is also a case in point to this so-called new age of living. Why am I doing the work for the supermarket and denying a job to some pimple-faced adolescent who would love to serve me at the end of a conveyer belt? Not only am I doing their job but I am being denied the chance to talk to the aforementioned adolescent who may have some interesting views on modern music and life in general. They may even be the only person that an old person speaks to in a day. Think about that.
A sobering thought.
Do you like QR codes in restaurants? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
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I loathe QR codes in restaurants. We go out to relax and hopefully not have to think too much. These QR codes take forever to use, very time consuming indeed and they are downright confusing. By the time we get through ordering we’re all flustered and exhausted. The lack of service these days beggars belief.
Absolutely agree wth Dianne & Kerrie. I totally ignore these things at a restaurant, turn them face down on the table. There’s usually a bit added on to compensate whoever is managing the QR code service for that restaurant. GET LOST you leechers ! If we cannot order from a paper menu, then we’re out of there !
I to detest QR codes – and lump them into the same category as self-checkouts. I would be more inclined to use either of these technologies if there was something in it for me – eg discounts or better service or something like that. However, they are just a one-sided mechanism to benefit the business and inconvenice the customer.
Another concern I have with QR code is it is really just an obscured URL – you have no idea what website it is going to take you to and so it comes with all the same pitfalls as clicking on links in your email – I am not comfortable with either.
I’ve also read that QR codes can contain malware, viruses etc that can log into your phone & steal information. Buskers on the streets now use them since cash is drying up.
Who knows what your connecting to.?
While I agree with the sentiments expressed in both the article and the comments there is one advantage that has been overlooked. Mention was made in the article about spitting the bill which is not possible in most restaurant situations and is often frowned upon if requested. The QR code overcomes this as each person, using their own phone, can order and pay for their own meal.
We prefer to frequent restaurants where they have an ordering station and individual diners go up and order & pay direct at that counter, no worrying about split bills then !
if you don’t have a smart phone you’re out of the race
Ditto to all the above comments – my response now is to ask to talk to the manager/owner, then explain why he’s not getting my business & then walk out. If enough of us do that, then they might have a change of heart perhaps!
I have cataracts in both eyes and am on a waiting list for surgery. I can’t read stuff on my phone. I can order off a paper menu using a magnifying glass…
If that is how to order a meal, I would walk out. Find another food place that has printed a menu.
Agree, I too would walk out
YES. Totally agree. Id do the same.
I certainly won’t use technology to order my food! If they don’t want to pay staff to serve me, then I don’t want to patronise their establishment.
I won’t even use the self-serve checkouts at supermarkets – they’re so impersonal, and I don’t receive money (pay), staff discounts, nor compensation if I have an accident when I use them. I won’t even online ordering, as I refuse to pay by card. It’s cash only for me.
Sometimes older people (me included) need to get more tech friendly. I absolutely find using the QR code for ordering great – everyone has to pay for their own order via their own phone, you don’t feel rushed with hovering wait staff. Most establishments that offer the QR code also will either offer table service or order at the counter, so really there is no problem. The same with self serve checkouts, I get to pack the way I want without holding up the line at a staffed checkout with telling them no don’t put the melon on top of the egg – yes this happened once. I understand there will be people who don’t use them for their reason, but it isn’t all bad and for those of us who enjoy using some of this new technology from ordering food to putting the groceries in our bags ourselves – each to their own preference.