Minor things that bother you

[abefroman329]

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.

[hbelkins]

When you're on your way to a doctor's appointment in Lexington (90 minutes away) and you're 10 minutes from the office and you get a call canceling the appointment because they've already done to you in the hospital what they had planned to do to you at the appointment.

[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 also agree. From the restaurant's perspective, it's easier because they don't have print out all new sheets every time an item is added or subtracted. But for the customer, physical menus are easier. Thankfully it's not a super widespread practice yet (not around here anyways) - seems like only a few restaurants have switched to QR codes.

[hotdogPi]

This isn't truly something that bothers me, as I can often take advantage of it, but I have the most recent post in the "random thoughts" thread and don't want to take away from it.



Restaurant menus that aren't self-consistent with their prices.

I know of two places, one a takeout place and one a tavern, where a large pizza can be cheaper than a small pizza depending on what toppings are on each. For the one that's a tavern, it's because their pre-made ones (of both sizes) are more expensive than choosing two toppings added to the base price of a no-topping pizza.

I found a Greek place that's quite expensive, where prices are in the 20s and 30s... except their side orders of 6 oz kabobs are $10 for chicken, $11 for pork, $12 for beef, and $14 for veal. They also have meze (i.e. appetizers) for between $10 and $24. This means that with two people, if they each get 6 ounces of meat via side order and share a meze, it's significantly cheaper than what they want you to spend and barely more than 6 oz steak plus two sides at Longhorn/Chili's/Outback/etc.

With a few exceptions, sit-down places will not sell sandwiches for under $10 in the United States, even though they should be cheaper. This means two things: 1. Expensive places (meals in the 20s) will have sandwiches for only slightly more than cheap places (meals in the 13-16 range). 2. Sandwiches in Europe, even in prime tourist places (e.g. inside the British Museum, at the base of the Eiffel Tower), are cheaper than they are in the United States.

These prices are ten years outdated, but I know of a place where a side order of mac and cheese is $8.25, and the full meal, which is the exact same thing plus two sides, is $15. The side order alone is large enough for a full meal.

[dlsterner]

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 am as well.  I don't have my cell phone with me 100% of the time, and it can be irritating to be seated, have the QR code pointed out, and have the host/hostess walk away before I can say that the QR code isn't going to help me any.

[J N Winkler]

I do not know of any restaurants around here (admittedly, a metropolitan area with population around 600,000) that point customers to QR codes in lieu of handing out menus.  It surprises me a little that this is a thing even in large cities.  Just a few years ago restaurants were blaming smartphones for ever-longer table turnaround times.

[Big John]

If one tells me to use a UR code, I will be totally lost on what to do and I will go somewhere else

[thspfc]

If one tells me to use a UR code, I will be totally lost on what to do and I will go somewhere else

And of course, we again failed to find the medium between annoyance with unnecessary implementation of a simple technology, and outright rejection of that technology in any situation whatsoever because reasons . . .

[vdeane]

If one tells me to use a UR code, I will be totally lost on what to do and I will go somewhere else

And of course, we again failed to find the medium between annoyance with unnecessary implementation of a simple technology, and outright rejection of that technology in any situation whatsoever because reasons . . .

Not so simple if your phone refuses to scan QR codes.  My browser (Vivaldi) has the capability, but the camera isn't capable.  The image is too fuzzy.  And someone without a smartphone would be completely SOL.

[Scott5114]

Meanwhile, mine has the capability, but I would greatly prefer a paper menu because it is much simpler to see how it is organized and skim over the parts you aren't interested in when you can see the whole thing instead of having to scroll.

[SSOWorld]

On the other hand there are retailers who flat out refuse to accept contactless payments (Menards, Lowes - looking at you) or retailers who refuse to accept contactless payments that are not their own (WallyWorld - thats you).  No I do not expect them to refuse cash, checks or credit card swipe/insert.

EDIT: Smaller businesses who do not take contactless I can understand because of the need to pay the extra fee - they have the opportunity to pass it to the customer, but they do not have to.  The big ones, I have an issue with.

[Scott5114]

Wait, do retailers pay a higher fee when you do the RFID credit card tap instead of inserting the card? Or do you mean things like Appoogle Pay?

[SSOWorld]

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/credit-card-processing-fees/

They also have to purchase a compatible machine.  Local restaurants here passed the costs to the customers.

Retailers had the option of intentionally turning off both contactless and chip reading.

[ZLoth]

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/credit-card-processing-fees/

They also have to purchase a compatible machine.  Local restaurants here passed the costs to the customers.

Retailers had the option of intentionally turning off both contactless and chip reading.

Uh... turn OFF chip reading? WTF??? Mastercard had stated that magnetic stripes will be optional beginning in 2024, and will be gone by 2033. We should have been requiring chip-and-PIN quite a long time ago, along with bringing the credit card processing machine TO THE TABLE rather than have the server take the card away. And, for the record, I consider checks to be insecure transfer instruments because the ACH account codes are RIGHT... ON... THE... CHECK!!!!!

Meanwhile, mine has the capability, but I would greatly prefer a paper menu because it is much simpler to see how it is organized and skim over the parts you aren't interested in when you can see the whole thing instead of having to scroll.

Disagree.... somewhat. I would like to see a menu both online and on paper. It is much easier to read a menu on a tablet instead of a mobile smart phone, but who carries a tablet around with them. I also take exception to the restaurants who only make their menus available online as a PDF document instead of just putting the listings directly on the web page.

[LilianaUwU]

The British monarchy.

[abefroman329]

Uh... turn OFF chip reading? WTF??? Mastercard had stated that magnetic stripes will be optional beginning in 2024, and will be gone by 2033. We should have been requiring chip-and-PIN quite a long time ago, along with bringing the credit card processing machine TO THE TABLE rather than have the server take the card away. And, for the record, I consider checks to be insecure transfer instruments because the ACH account codes are RIGHT... ON... THE... CHECK!!!!!

I used to work for Discover, and it's even more maddening if you've seen it from that perspective.

The info on a mag stripe is static.  The info on a chip is dynamic.  It is virtually impossible, if not impossible, to clone the information on a chip.  The merchants bear the cost of fraudulent transactions.  Yet they've been incredibly unwilling to update their systems to accept chip cards.

And it ain't just MasterCard.  Every credit/debit card issuer would love to be able to quit making physical cards completely.  It's a huge expense for them.

[abefroman329]

I do not know of any restaurants around here (admittedly, a metropolitan area with population around 600,000) that point customers to QR codes in lieu of handing out menus.  It surprises me a little that this is a thing even in large cities.  Just a few years ago restaurants were blaming smartphones for ever-longer table turnaround times.

Here it was very much a pandemic thing.  There were a handful of restaurants/bars that were doing that here before spring 2020, but it really took off after that.

[SSOWorld]

I do not know of any restaurants around here (admittedly, a metropolitan area with population around 600,000) that point customers to QR codes in lieu of handing out menus.  It surprises me a little that this is a thing even in large cities.  Just a few years ago restaurants were blaming smartphones for ever-longer table turnaround times.

Here it was very much a pandemic thing.  There were a handful of restaurants/bars that were doing that here before spring 2020, but it really took off after that.

As did contactless payments.  I use apple pay.  Goog pay and samsung pay also exist as do several "less reliable(?)" in-store payment methods along with PayPal and Venmo.  All 4 major US card brands (MC, Visa, AmEx and Discover) provide contactless tap, but for Visa and MC, it's up to the bank whether to utilize them.

Banks that focus on health are the most reluctant to enable chip tech.  However, I just recently was able to set up my HSA card in Apple Pay despite it not being chipped.

[jeffandnicole]

We had stopped at a restaurant recently in Philly that wanted us to use their QR codes to view the menu. The QR codes on the tables weren't working, so we had to look up the menu on the website, which didn't feature up to date pricing. It would've been much faster just to get a damn menu.

Contsctless payment options aren't related to a card being chipped. As long as the credit card company permits the card to be loaded onto a contactless payment method (Applepay, Samsung pay, Fitbit, etc) thats what matters. One of my AmEx cards wasn't chipped, but I had it loaded onto my Fitbit to make payments.

[ZLoth]

The merchants bear the cost of fraudulent transactions.  Yet they've been incredibly unwilling to update their systems to accept chip cards.

Yeah, because "it ain't broke", and "you don't replace something that is working fine and ain't broken". 

In other words, another expensive that needs to be minimized. 

[Scott5114]

I mean, as a business owner that accepts credit cards online but not physically, I resent the credit card companies enough for taking about a dollar out of every $25 transaction I do. Being forced to budget more money for hardware that, from my perspective, does the exact same thing as the hardware I had before, without providing me any additional benefits, would make me downright rancorous. Since the benefit for the upgraded tech is mostly on the bank and credit card company's end, if they want to upgrade their protocols, they should be the ones paying for the hardware.

When I decide I really like a business, I go out of my way to pay in cash so they can make a little bit more money.

[abefroman329]

Being forced to budget more money for hardware that, from my perspective, does the exact same thing as the hardware I had before, without providing me any additional benefits, would make me downright rancorous.

You are getting additional benefits: You'll have far fewer fraudulent transactions to deal with.

[Scott5114]

Being forced to budget more money for hardware that, from my perspective, does the exact same thing as the hardware I had before, without providing me any additional benefits, would make me downright rancorous.

You are getting additional benefits: You'll have far fewer fraudulent transactions to deal with.

Businesses don't deal with fraudulent transactions, though. Those are handled between the bank and the cardholder.

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

At least I know about the overpriced sodas and snacks.

[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. 

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.

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.