Exactly this.
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The QR system seems to make some sense where getting the grub matters more than the going out “experience”. Menus can be marketing devices, or a bunch of information for the hungry, the latter more amenable to the QR “service” system.
As for marketing, we’ve noted elsewhere that the QR system really interfered with an admirable restaurant’s (and new to us) operation when we couldn’t appreciate the kitchen’s potential from seemingly endless scrolling – doing themselves the disservice of our party ordering instead of choosing something, just so we could get the meal underway. Maybe a glass of Barolo would’ve helped, but then you’d have to QR it, instead of relaxing with glass in hand and the whole menu on a page or folder in your hands to think about . . .
As for the hungry wanting meal delivered quickly, it’s still hit and miss if the restaurant’s operation isn’t optimally constructed around the patrons having to take the initiative in getting food and drink on the table. Our few experiences with QR seem to point in direction that the larger the dining area or the more rapid the turnover, the more likely QR works for both patrons and proprietor.
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I don’t know this restaurant, so sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is it that you’re tipping for?
It almost sounds like the same experience one gets at McDonalds - you don’t tip there, right?
Do they at least give you a numbered placard and run your food out to your table?
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At that point. A thank you is better than a tip.
No placard, but yes.
I asked this on another forum. Noblesse oblige was the answer I got, and it’s as good a guess as any.
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With card-checkout fast food/takeout, the device is commonly programmed to present tip choices. Basically, the places that do this are slut-shaming customers into tipping even though there’s been no service provided other than handing over a bag.
I think we may have very different definitions for this phrase.
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Thanks. The Italian deli/bakery where my daughter worked as a baker during HS and college breaks was counter-order, then they’d run it out to you. But they also circulated, doing coffee refills at breakfast (but not sodas later in the day), and bussed the tables afterwards (they used real, if cheap, dinnerware).
I don’t mind tipping there but less than full, usually 12% just because I’m weird like that. They had a pooled tip system where everyone shared, which tended to add about $6/hr to my daughter’s pay.
The tips were paid out cash each following workday but were also reported on paystub and to taxing authorities.
I do struggle with noblesse oblige if counter-order, counter-pickup, put your plastic bowl (e.g., poké joint) on the bin next to the trash cans. I’d have to say I’m less than consistent, mainly manually entering a small tip like 5-10% based on whether I got a friendly greeting or not.
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During the pandemic, I tipped (overtipped, actually) at take out pick up because the workers were working in the face of a serious risk. Now that we are sort of normal, I don’t tip if I don’t sit down. Except for the takeout Mexican place because the counter girl gives me extra condiments for my burrito.
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When the normal wait staff was doing only takeouts during the pandemic, they were probably still being paid the same amount, which was less than non-tipped staff, so tipping them made sense. But tipping staff being paid a non-tipped wage seems to me unfair to the back of the house staff.
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The places purchase check out devices with pre programmed options for tipping. It’s built in to the software with some applications. I have no idea if they can shut off the programmed tip choices. One shop owner told me he couldn’t turn it off.
I ignore it and tip a small amount in cash if I think it’s worth it.
I also agree that this is a very strange use of the term “slut shaming.”
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And you believed him?
Oh, I think it captures what’s happening: laying a scummy guilt trip. Your sense of humor may vary. No real or accused sluts involved.
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It was an extremely small French bakery in my neighborhood; the owner/baker has only 2 or 3 employees. He works very long hours and I do believe it is plausible that he doesn’t have the time and/or the skills to figure out how to turn off the tipping option, if that’s possible. It doesn’t matter whether I believe him or not. I just skip over that part of the screen and I give him a small cash tip because he is a fantastic baker and I want his very small shop to stay open in my neighborhood.
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Are these all multi-location places / chains that use this QR ordering platform? I’m trying to figure out how I have never encountered this apart from an airport. I never dine at chains though.
Your baker may be different, and you are enlightened to so easily pass over the automated tip screen. I confess I still feel an instant of guilt when I’m tempted to hit “No tip”.
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I agree. Very cringe-worthy. Misuse. Has nothing to do with sense of humor.
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I think it’s supposed to read like “slut-shaming is bad, and so is shaming people for not tipping enough.” But it doesn’t.
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Cringe away.
I’ve been following this thread and have been reading all the posts over time. My takeaway from the reading is that people who don’t dine out a lot have many things they don’t like about restaurants while those who do sort of shrug and roll with the punches as the saying goes. Which sort of makes sense.
If you don’t like to dine out for whatever reason, there will be many faults. If you eat out a lot again for whatever reason, you’ve seen it all and nothing really surprises you.
I am in the camp of eating out regularly. The only combination of things that ensures I won’t be back is mediocre food with crappy service. There’s not a single thing that I would point to and say if a restaurant has this, I won’t go. I guess I am not that picky.
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