Minor things that bother you

[D-Dey65]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

[thspfc]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

QR codes are very useful in many situations. Restaurant menus just aren't one of them (though if for whatever reason online is the only option, a QR code still beats having to navigate through the restaurant's website or type in a long and tedious link).

[ZLoth]

I'm in Sacramento this week, thus I'm partially working from a hotel. Which brings us some of my gripes...
Parking at $14 per night... not included in the hotel fee. Why?

Because you're in a city, and land is limited, and quite often the hotel (or property owner if not the hotel) doesn't even own the garage or parking lot used for parking.  Honestly, $14 isn't bad.  In big cities, you're fortunate to pay under $40 in downtown locations. Even in Alexandria, VA at a hotel I'm looking at staying at soon, parking is $30, and other hotels were higher than that.  (I found a parking garage a block away where 24 hour parking is $8; I'll probably use that.)

I'll gripe about parking fees at suburban hotels where they charge for parking, yet parking is free at basically every other parking lot, on the street, etc.  But I expect there to be a parking fee in a city.

Technically speaking, I am staying at a suburban hotel, not in downtown Sacramento. There is no transit routes nearby. The cost of parking should be included in the hotel free, not as a surprise added fee.

The $4.95 daily fee if you want to use the Internet for streaming.

Higher-end business hotel like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt?  They tend to charge, figuring most of their customers are either business customers that are going to write it off, or higher-tiered program customers that will get it for free.

I'm on a Hilton property called Hampton Inn. Yeah, I understand some of the hotel pricing where a good chunk of their clientele can probably expense it out.

At least I know about the overpriced sodas and snacks.

My local convenience store charges $2.39 for a 20 ounce soda.  I've actually paid *less* in hotels over the past year.

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

[DenverBrian]

I'm in Sacramento this week, thus I'm partially working from a hotel. Which brings us some of my gripes...
Parking at $14 per night... not included in the hotel fee. Why?

Because you're in a city, and land is limited, and quite often the hotel (or property owner if not the hotel) doesn't even own the garage or parking lot used for parking.  Honestly, $14 isn't bad.  In big cities, you're fortunate to pay under $40 in downtown locations. Even in Alexandria, VA at a hotel I'm looking at staying at soon, parking is $30, and other hotels were higher than that.  (I found a parking garage a block away where 24 hour parking is $8; I'll probably use that.)

I'll gripe about parking fees at suburban hotels where they charge for parking, yet parking is free at basically every other parking lot, on the street, etc.  But I expect there to be a parking fee in a city.

Technically speaking, I am staying at a suburban hotel, not in downtown Sacramento. There is no transit routes nearby. The cost of parking should be included in the hotel free, not as a surprise added fee.

The $4.95 daily fee if you want to use the Internet for streaming.

Higher-end business hotel like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt?  They tend to charge, figuring most of their customers are either business customers that are going to write it off, or higher-tiered program customers that will get it for free.

I'm on a Hyatt property called Hampton Inn. Yeah, I understand some of the hotel pricing where a good chunk of their clientele can probably expense it out.

At least I know about the overpriced sodas and snacks.

My local convenience store charges $2.39 for a 20 ounce soda.  I've actually paid *less* in hotels over the past year.

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

You can indeed pick up two for $4...PLUS the value of your time spent leaving the hotel and going to the nearby convenience store or supermarket. OTOH, the soda in the hotel is RIGHT THERE.

[abefroman329]

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

If you want free pop that's made in-house from generic ingredients, I'm sure they'd be happy to indulge you.  No promises that it will taste good, though.

[Scott5114]

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

You can indeed pick up two for $4...PLUS the value of your time spent leaving the hotel and going to the nearby convenience store or supermarket. OTOH, the soda in the hotel is RIGHT THERE.
[/quote]

Or you can do what I do, which is to get an extra 12 pack the last time you hit the grocery store at home, toss it in the trunk, and then bring it up to the room with the rest of your stuff and put it in the mini fridge.

[1995hoo]

Regarding hotels, I was in New York for the week and I found myself wondering why housekeeping replaced both bars of soap in the bathroom each day. Seems like a waste.

[formulanone]

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

You can indeed pick up two for $4...PLUS the value of your time spent leaving the hotel and going to the nearby convenience store or supermarket. OTOH, the soda in the hotel is RIGHT THERE.

Or you can do what I do, which is to get an extra 12 pack the last time you hit the grocery store at home, toss it in the trunk, and then bring it up to the room with the rest of your stuff and put it in the mini fridge.

This is what I do every week on the road. At a minimum, I get a 12 or 24-pack of water. And the prices are like that other bastion of a totally captive audience, the airport stores which charge $4-5 for water, and even higher rates for everything else that might be edible.

I do get 1-or-2 sucky-late Monday nights in which dinner is whatever I can scape up from the overpriced hotel shop, because I didn't burn through my daily per diem by 11:00pm and have to be up early in the morning for work. I get it, this ruins it for everyone else, but my life's not all first-class travel glamour and clicky-clicky of route shields.

[D-Dey65]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

QR codes are very useful in many situations. Restaurant menus just aren't one of them (though if for whatever reason online is the only option, a QR code still beats having to navigate through the restaurant's website or type in a long and tedious link).

QR codes are a rip off. Every time I try to use them, they don't work. Except for one time when I was walking on the Thomson Avenue Bridge in Long Island City. It gave me some kind of reading, and then it wouldn't stop giving me any no matter what I did.

Anyway, right now this damn storm is making my PC move too slow.

[thenetwork]

I'm in Sacramento this week, thus I'm partially working from a hotel. Which brings us some of my gripes...
Parking at $14 per night... not included in the hotel fee. Why?

Because you're in a city, and land is limited, and quite often the hotel (or property owner if not the hotel) doesn't even own the garage or parking lot used for parking.  Honestly, $14 isn't bad.  In big cities, you're fortunate to pay under $40 in downtown locations. Even in Alexandria, VA at a hotel I'm looking at staying at soon, parking is $30, and other hotels were higher than that.  (I found a parking garage a block away where 24 hour parking is $8; I'll probably use that.)

I'll gripe about parking fees at suburban hotels where they charge for parking, yet parking is free at basically every other parking lot, on the street, etc.  But I expect there to be a parking fee in a city.

Technically speaking, I am staying at a suburban hotel, not in downtown Sacramento. There is no transit routes nearby. The cost of parking should be included in the hotel free, not as a surprise added fee.

The $4.95 daily fee if you want to use the Internet for streaming.

Higher-end business hotel like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt?  They tend to charge, figuring most of their customers are either business customers that are going to write it off, or higher-tiered program customers that will get it for free.

I'm on a Hyatt property called Hampton Inn. Yeah, I understand some of the hotel pricing where a good chunk of their clientele can probably expense it out.

At least I know about the overpriced sodas and snacks.

My local convenience store charges $2.39 for a 20 ounce soda.  I've actually paid *less* in hotels over the past year.

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

We stayed at a Choice Hotels property south of downtown Denver a few years back that had a 24/7 COMPLIMENTARY fountain drink station in their lobby.  Came in handy since the Temps were near 100 that week!!!

As far as the hotels that charge for the wifi, I stayed at one where the FREE wifi was "intentionally" throttled down so much that there was no other real choice as my Verizon coverage was also near nothing since this was in a very small town in a remote region.

[jeffandnicole]

I'm in Sacramento this week, thus I'm partially working from a hotel. Which brings us some of my gripes...
Parking at $14 per night... not included in the hotel fee. Why?

Because you're in a city, and land is limited, and quite often the hotel (or property owner if not the hotel) doesn't even own the garage or parking lot used for parking.  Honestly, $14 isn't bad.  In big cities, you're fortunate to pay under $40 in downtown locations. Even in Alexandria, VA at a hotel I'm looking at staying at soon, parking is $30, and other hotels were higher than that.  (I found a parking garage a block away where 24 hour parking is $8; I'll probably use that.)

I'll gripe about parking fees at suburban hotels where they charge for parking, yet parking is free at basically every other parking lot, on the street, etc.  But I expect there to be a parking fee in a city.

Technically speaking, I am staying at a suburban hotel, not in downtown Sacramento. There is no transit routes nearby. The cost of parking should be included in the hotel free, not as a surprise added fee.

The $4.95 daily fee if you want to use the Internet for streaming.

Higher-end business hotel like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt?  They tend to charge, figuring most of their customers are either business customers that are going to write it off, or higher-tiered program customers that will get it for free.

I'm on a Hyatt property called Hampton Inn. Yeah, I understand some of the hotel pricing where a good chunk of their clientele can probably expense it out.

Hampton Inn are actually Hilton properties.  All Hampton Inns have free Wi-Fi, so you must have chosen the upgraded Wi-Fi. 

Hampton Inn's websites (and all of Hilton's hotel websites, for that matter) do tell you if they charge for parking.  If it's free, it's prominently displayed.  If it's not, then you simply click on the Parking option on the hotel's website, and it tells you if they have self or valet parking, and the charge.  It's not a surprise fee. 

If you booked the hotel thru a 3rd party (such as Expedia), then that's on the 3rd party website to disclose that. If they didn't, then you should be upset at the 3rd party, not at the hotel itself, and you have a valid claim against that 3rd party that they should refund you for not disclosing the fee.

[kkt]

I'm in Sacramento this week, thus I'm partially working from a hotel. Which brings us some of my gripes...
Parking at $14 per night... not included in the hotel fee. Why?

Because you're in a city, and land is limited, and quite often the hotel (or property owner if not the hotel) doesn't even own the garage or parking lot used for parking.  Honestly, $14 isn't bad.  In big cities, you're fortunate to pay under $40 in downtown locations. Even in Alexandria, VA at a hotel I'm looking at staying at soon, parking is $30, and other hotels were higher than that.  (I found a parking garage a block away where 24 hour parking is $8; I'll probably use that.)

I'll gripe about parking fees at suburban hotels where they charge for parking, yet parking is free at basically every other parking lot, on the street, etc.  But I expect there to be a parking fee in a city.

Technically speaking, I am staying at a suburban hotel, not in downtown Sacramento. There is no transit routes nearby. The cost of parking should be included in the hotel free, not as a surprise added fee.

The $4.95 daily fee if you want to use the Internet for streaming.

Higher-end business hotel like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt?  They tend to charge, figuring most of their customers are either business customers that are going to write it off, or higher-tiered program customers that will get it for free.

I'm on a Hyatt property called Hampton Inn. Yeah, I understand some of the hotel pricing where a good chunk of their clientele can probably expense it out.

At least I know about the overpriced sodas and snacks.

My local convenience store charges $2.39 for a 20 ounce soda.  I've actually paid *less* in hotels over the past year.

The cost of a 20oz soda is $4 per bottle. I can pick up two for $4 at a nearby convenience store, or even cheaper at a supermarket. Now, if only I drank coffee.

You can indeed pick up two for $4...PLUS the value of your time spent leaving the hotel and going to the nearby convenience store or supermarket. OTOH, the soda in the hotel is RIGHT THERE.

And the hotel KNOWS this and prices their sugar water accordingly.

[thspfc]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

QR codes are very useful in many situations. Restaurant menus just aren't one of them (though if for whatever reason online is the only option, a QR code still beats having to navigate through the restaurant's website or type in a long and tedious link).

QR codes are a rip off. Every time I try to use them, they don't work. Except for one time when I was walking on the Thomson Avenue Bridge in Long Island City. It gave me some kind of reading, and then it wouldn't stop giving me any no matter what I did.

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

[formulanone]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

QR codes are very useful in many situations. Restaurant menus just aren't one of them (though if for whatever reason online is the only option, a QR code still beats having to navigate through the restaurant's website or type in a long and tedious link).

QR codes are a rip off. Every time I try to use them, they don't work. Except for one time when I was walking on the Thomson Avenue Bridge in Long Island City. It gave me some kind of reading, and then it wouldn't stop giving me any no matter what I did.

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

I've experienced a few QR codes that went to a 404, due to link rot or using some garbage URL-shortener. I figured the whole point of a QR code was to mask some really long web address which was prone to a misspelling or a missing tilde.

That said, haven't run into QR codes in restaurants very often (twice).

[thspfc]

I'm with the Boomers on the hatred of restaurants handing out QR codes instead of paper menus.  Especially when the broadband signal in the restaurant is bad and the wifi network is useless.

I can say the same thing about the MTA's apps, and I'm not even a boomer. QR codes are all bullshit anyway.

QR codes are very useful in many situations. Restaurant menus just aren't one of them (though if for whatever reason online is the only option, a QR code still beats having to navigate through the restaurant's website or type in a long and tedious link).

QR codes are a rip off. Every time I try to use them, they don't work. Except for one time when I was walking on the Thomson Avenue Bridge in Long Island City. It gave me some kind of reading, and then it wouldn't stop giving me any no matter what I did.

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

I've experienced a few QR codes that went to a 404, due to link rot or using some garbage URL-shortener. I figured the whole point of a QR code was to mask some really long web address which was prone to a misspelling or a missing tilde.

That said, haven't run into QR codes in restaurants very often (twice).

404s are seemingly much more common upon clicking a link than scanning a QR code. Sure, we all use links more than we use QR codes, so that's kind of bound to happen. But (as someone who has zero computer knowledge outside of how to use one), I don't think the QR code would make any difference; if the code is broken, then the link itself is broken, and would give you a 404 regardless of how you access it.

[D-Dey65]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

[thspfc]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

Then the rip-off is what the code links to, not the code itself. This is the same as saying "hyperlinks are a rip-off" .

[D-Dey65]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

Then the rip-off is what the code links to, not the code itself. This is the same as saying "hyperlinks are a rip-off" .

Well, there's the rip-off to taxpayers. Spending all this money on technology that does nothing just so you can do away with paper schedules.

[1995hoo]

Regarding QR codes, one place where I think they could be very useful would be on public transit systems–both on the maps and on any in-station signage with things like fare information or similar (including how to operate the fare machine, if it doesn't use a touchscreen). In the most recent round of edits to the WMATA map to add the Silver Line, a lot of people suggested there be a QR code linking to a website with travel information in various other languages, given how many foreign tourists DC gets (not to mention the large number of residents who either speak English as a second language or don't speak it at all), but WMATA didn't do it.

The first time I encountered a QR code at a restaurant, I was with my mother. It was in the fall of 2020. She was baffled by it and had no idea what to do until I showed her. I think she was somewhat bemused when I showed her that nowadays airline and Amtrak tickets typically use QR codes too.

[vdeane]

When websites have maps showing locations with a marker that has a point as if to point at the location, but instead positions the marker such that the point doesn't actually point to anything.  The Thruway service area map is an offender - the point is only accurate for the ones on the WB direction of I-90.  Crumbl Cookies does it too.

[GaryV]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

Then the rip-off is what the code links to, not the code itself. This is the same as saying "hyperlinks are a rip-off" .

Well, there's the rip-off to taxpayers. Spending all this money on technology that does nothing just so you can do away with paper schedules.

Because printing and distributing paper schedules is free?

[ZLoth]

When websites have maps showing locations with a marker that has a point as if to point at the location, but instead positions the marker such that the point doesn't actually point to anything.  The Thruway service area map is an offender - the point is only accurate for the ones on the WB direction of I-90.  Crumbl Cookies does it too.

If you zoom in, it does point at the building, but you really have to zoom it. It would have been better if the arrow was pointed UP instead of DOWN for EB, it would assist in clarification.

[ZLoth]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

Then the rip-off is what the code links to, not the code itself. This is the same as saying "hyperlinks are a rip-off" .

Well, there's the rip-off to taxpayers. Spending all this money on technology that does nothing just so you can do away with paper schedules.

Because printing and distributing paper schedules is free?

And ends up being litter?

[vdeane]

The way streaming services will often place stuff on their services without announcing it with the rest of their content.  At the end of every month, I Google search "[service] [name of next month]" to find out what's coming and leaving each one during the month so I can plan out what I'm watching when.  But multiple times I've found that something I was looking forward to watching debuts only due to a TV commercial or coming across a news article in Google News or on social media (or the list of things leaving a service, having never seen it on an arrival list), because the company didn't bother to include it in the list of things they were releasing that month.

When websites have maps showing locations with a marker that has a point as if to point at the location, but instead positions the marker such that the point doesn't actually point to anything.  The Thruway service area map is an offender - the point is only accurate for the ones on the WB direction of I-90.  Crumbl Cookies does it too.

If you zoom in, it does point at the building, but you really have to zoom it. It would have been better if the arrow was pointed UP instead of DOWN for EB, it would assist in clarification.

And if they were properly positioned so that the point pointed at the service area, it wouldn't matter what zoom level you're at.  At the default zoom level, Sloatsburg and Ramapo look like they're in New Jersey. 

Here's the Crumbl Cookies map.  It manages to make the Syracuse location look like it's in Cortland until you zoom in a lot.

The point of the point is to show where something is when zoomed out.  If you're zoomed in so much that the incorrectly positioned marker looks fine, then you don't need it (which is why it looks fine).

[D-Dey65]

As long as we're bringing our personal anecdotes, I've never had a QR code not work and I can't remember a time that happened to anyone else I know.

Also, I'm not sure where "rip-off"  came from, because they don't cost you anything.

Some are connected to certain apps that you have to buy. They're not a fortune, but even if they didn't cost a thing, it doesn't make sense to get those things hoping that you'll get the info you're looking for and then nothing happens. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the menu at a restaurant, or when the next bus or train is coming, or anything else.

Then the rip-off is what the code links to, not the code itself. This is the same as saying "hyperlinks are a rip-off" .

Well, there's the rip-off to taxpayers. Spending all this money on technology that does nothing just so you can do away with paper schedules.

Because printing and distributing paper schedules is free?

At least it shows something. I wouldn't mind the technological replacements if they worked. If I'm reading MTA's BusTime app, I don't want to find out that the bus I'm waiting for is a route that supposedly doesn't exist, unless I'm indoors in a place with decent wi-fi. And I don't want to scan those stupid QR codes and get no response at all. Unfortunately, that's all I ever get.