• samus12345@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I don’t think wanting a physical menu to look at is unreasonable for any generation.

      • sock@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        or spend like 30 minutes making a decent website i swear online menus are the most asinine thing at every restaurant.

        i don’t even require a menu just give me a list with name, price, and ingredients im good. maybe a touch of heirarchy but like then im good.

    • GVasco@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Disagree, this is one of those changes that not only is very hyginic but also has a juge impact on reducing the amount of work for staff.

      I won’t disagree however that they could still have menus available for the instances people don’t have a smartphone or are having problems with their smartphone. However, overall the impacts are mostly positive aside from incoviniencing the customer slightly to look at the menu on their phone.

      • TheImplication@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The entire point of going out to eat is customer service. If I didn’t want things like this handled for me I would eat at home. “Slightly inconveniencing the customer” is not acceptable.

        What’s worse is I’m now expected to tip 20% to a person that basically runs my food and fucks off. Id be fine with it if I picked up my food at a window. Why am I tipping someone so much money when all they do is deliver food? No talking, no taking an order, no checking in, not even bringing a bill. I was at a brewery recently with one of those order online and bring it to your table setups. I asked for some ketchup when they brought the food and they told me I had to order it through the website. Not going back.

    • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah sorry, if I can view the menu from my phone instead of touching a menu that 6000 other people have touched, without having to deal with either the server taking it away or it being in the way on my table, I don’t see why I would want or need an actual physical menu

        • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          Even a restaurant’s legit web site may require cookies or some other thing that not everyone is comfortable with

        • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I see your point, but that seems highly improbable. That a bad actor would be willing and able to successfully create a QR Code that looks enough like the restaurant’s QR and that neither the patrons nor the establishment itself would notice. Not only improbable, but the roi for the scammer seems very poor.

            • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              They might not be analyzing, but its not like restaurant’s qr codes are just plain generic qr codes. They are branded, so effort would have to be put into making them appear to be authentic. And I think it’s improbable that staff wouldn’t notice. And again, the roi for the bad actor seems incredibly poor.

              • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 year ago

                Alright, what if it’s a restaurant that’s popular within a certain discriminated demographic? The risks for such attack would instantly skyrocket

              • Intralexical@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                They are branded, so effort would have to be put into making them appear to be authentic.

                Not really. Branded QR codes are just regular, unbranded QR codes but messed up— You basically just stick the the branding right on top, and then let the built-in error correction take care of the rest. Should take all of 5 minutes to set up, or maybe 20-30 if you wanna be a stickler for detail.

                And I think it’s improbable that staff wouldn’t notice.

                If I were working at the restaurant— I think I’d notice after a couple weeks— They’d have impunity up to then— But even then, I’d just assume the management switched it out or patched it up because they wanted to change the link for metrics or messed up something backend or something like that.

                The staff is paid to wait tables, not to audit cybersec from the perspective of the customers.

                And again, the roi for the bad actor seems incredibly poor.

                Probably highly variable.

                If the restaurant has a lot of patrons that are wealthy and technologically illiterate, with banking apps on unupdated phones with known exploits, then you’d think “ROI” is basically everything in the bank accounts of the patrons.

                Same if the online menu includes online payment options for whatever reason.

      • JustAnotherGuy@lemmynsfw.com
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        1 year ago

        I’m with you on this, I live in a country where a digital menu is not a given and I hate it more than people who prefer physical menus seem to hate digital menus. I do agree that both should be available as an option

    • aksdb@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Having free WiFi might also be nice. But the physical copy is more versatile.

      • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        That’s exactly why I prefer qr. I don’t need to touch dirty menus and before anyone says that they clean them every night. Doesn’t matter, they use the same watery rag on all the menus, they may not be sticky but they sure as shit are still dirty. I’ve worked at plenty of restaurants, including ‘high end’ ones. The only way to guarantee they’re clean is to just print out a new one for each guest.

    • Lexica@yiffit.net
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      1 year ago

      If the QR code was just encoded text or an image as apposed to a weblink, then this could have been avoided. Although, I’m not sure how many QR readers support images, and if your phone doesn’t have a built-in QR app nor you have a third-party one, then you’d be SOL anyways.

        • Lexica@yiffit.net
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          1 year ago

          Yes, but that’d be the same as just having a physical menu in the first place. And that’s just far too logical for these quirky little restaraunts.

    • uberrice@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I don’t get how people go abroad and don’t just get a local sim. In most countries, a travel sim is something between 20 and 40 bucks. In my opinion, that’s pretty essential.

        • uberrice@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Eh, guess so. I just never go for this extended layover kind of deal.

          And, because I’m European, I do not even need a different sim for the whole of Europe. Unlimited data.

          • TurtleTourParty@midwest.social
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            As a non European, prepaid sims in Europe are complicated. Some companies won’t sell sims to foreigners, some have little to no roaming. Some have activation fees that double the price.

            Some examples: in Germany you need to do a video call to activate your sim, in Italy most providers require you to have an Italian tax number to buy a sim. In Romanian most of the plans have a paltry 1 GB of roaming.

            Also most of the SIMs geared toward tourists don’t allow roaming.

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            I’m Canadian now but kept my Hungarian SIM, still paying it to this day after seven years. It’s 9EUR/mo for some paltry amount of data, but mostly just using it for online services that require a Hungarian or European phone number for MFA. I just bought extra data that counted as EU wide roaming data when I last visited.

            However the options for my wife were very limited as a non-EU traveller. I think it was €30 or something for ~5GB of data usable in Hungary only and limited to ten days (we stayed for 14) and added as an eSIM with the help of an app/website. It was not transferable to other EU member states, and this was one of the best deals we could find that did not require us to go to a physical store location. This included us checking offers for prepaid SIMs from the major providers (Vodafone / -Mobil / Yettel)

      • qjkxbmwvz@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Restaurants have notoriously low profit margins. Not every restaurant of course, but there’s a reason that restaurants regularly fail, especially in cities, and I don’t think it’s because the owners are spending it all on yachts.

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not every restaurant of course, but there’s a reason that restaurants regularly fail, especially in cities, and I don’t think it’s because the owners are spending it all on yachts.

          I think a lot of them are in debt up to their eyeballs and that’s why they fail. They also usually make up for the lower margins on food with better margins on drinks, but there’s a margin on every item regardless.

          Rent is also a factor. Commercial real estate is not cheap.

          And some just plain suck. The food sucks, the prices suck, the service sucks, or the location sucks.

          There are myriad reasons why restaurants fail, and I doubt it’s all because of low margins.

      • imgonnatrythis@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I’m not an economist, but whlouldnt manipulated prices drive things more toward fair market value? A crusty menu meant to last a year is more likely to overshoot prices to cover market fluctuations that occur during that year. At least this is how I think of it.

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      This makes me wonder whether there’s ever price discrimination going on. A system like this could give different prices based on what kind of phone you’re using if they wanted it to, and you wouldn’t necessarily know it.

        • owatnext@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          While a valid point, it misses the possibility of people who may not know what useragent even means; it misses people who may not know that a website can identify what browser or device you are using.

          • Misconduct@startrek.website
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            1 year ago

            This would be noticed and called out the literal second two people go together and have different devices. We don’t all just travel in packs according to our mobile device brand or OS lol

      • kryptonicus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How would this work though? You’re not ordering your food via the QR code link, you’re telling the waitstaff. Unless they ask you what price your saw, how are they going to correlate their variable price to a particular customer?

        However, this would make it a lot easier to implement “peak pricing”. Their menu could automatically update based on time of day, or day of week, and certainly holidays.

        • docwriter@lemmy.eco.br
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          1 year ago

          In some places, the QR link redirects you to a page where you can order items without interacting with the staff.

      • Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Wh… why would they do that?

        I guess maybe if a phone company is secretly paying them to, but why would a phone company go to restaurants to give their customers lower prices? And even if they did, what do they gain from that if they don’t want anyone to know?

        And even if they did, the waiter would also have to take note of what kind of phone the customers use, and give them the respective price on the bill. One slip-up could reveal the scheme.

        • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          The idea behind price discrimination is that some customers will still buy the same product if it is offered at a higher price, while others will not. By figuring out which is which and offering them different prices, you can make more profit. For instance Uber is known to charge higher rates to customers with low phone battery, because they are probably more desperate and would be more willing to pay.

          If a restaurant knows you have an expensive phone, they know you can probably afford more expensive meals and won’t walk out if the prices are high. If you have a cheap phone, they might want to tone it down a little to avoid driving you away. They might be able to make more money by doing this.

          Also you wouldn’t need the waiter involved you can just check the user agent if all ordering has to be done through phones, the whole process would be automatic.

        • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Wh… why would they do that?

          If you’ve got a more expensive phone they’ll charge more because they assume you have more money.

          Alternatively, if you’ve got a cheaper phone they’ll charge more so that they don’t have to cater to the “wrong type of people.”

        • GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt
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          1 year ago

          I saw an article on lemmy about this yesterday, though not sure whether I’ll find it again.

          Hotels, flights, retailers already have an abundance of price discrimination. Target shows higher prices when your device is physically closer to a store and lower prices when you are further away. IPhone users tend to pay higher prices because they assume that since you had the extra money to pay for an expensive phone, you’ll be open to spending more at other stores.

          Likewise, if they see your device or other devices on your network/near you making several searches for hotels/flights the price will increase.

          It’s just another way to build greed into the system

    • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s a huge reason places have kept the QR codes. It’s not entirely their fault. Their costs have unstable and constantly increasing lately. Reprinting new menus with pricing adjustments on a regular basis isn’t free in a industry that’s already slim margins.

    • imgonnatrythis@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Presumably you can place your order via the qr code to so less risk of human error transcribing it wrong or God forbid you get one of those annoying waiters that think they have a super memory and can hold more than 8 items in short term memory and don’t even write things down.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        QR code menus and ordering systems are terrible IMO.

        The tech often sucks, but more than that they make the entire restaurant experience worse.

        I tried to keep an open mind when encountering them at first, but they often nullify any and all interactions you have with the waiters, and turn the restaurant from full service into something like a fast casual restaurant…yet they still prompt you for tips at the end of the meal and add additional percentage overcharge fees for “inflation” or whatever.

        I don’t want a waiter to be over at my table every twenty seconds, but waiters shouldn’t be made pointless by a maître d’, a runner, and a busboy.

        They’re anti-social shit dreamt up by the same kind of minds that gave us the horror that is self-checkout.

        • tweeks@feddit.nl
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          I think I understand your viewpoint, but personally have a different opinion. I’m not going to a restaurant to socialize with the waiter; although some of those interactions can be pleasant it’s still just a functional transaction to me that can go wrong and could be be optimized. My main focus is the people I’m going to the restaurant with and the food/drinks.

          QR for the win for me, but I agree fully that most of those apps kinda suck. I hope time will fix that.

        • imgonnatrythis@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Eh, you sound like a bit of an extravert. I understand where you are coming from. I disagree and would rather have a good interface backed by an available and knowledgeable human only if trouble shooting or questions arise. I also love self check out😉. To each their own. Either of our preferred modalities can of course be implemented crappilly.

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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            I’m just a person who likes to sit at a table and order like a person that paid to eat at a full service restaurant.

            Neither you nor I should expect there to be “troubleshooting” in a full service restaurant. We’re not setting up a new iPad; we’re paying to be served.

            Self-checkout is rife with not only anti-social vibes, but also involves possible legal trouble…and all so that the store didn’t have to hire a few extra checkout personnel.

            Both of these “innovations” are largely for the benefit of the owners and largely at the cost of the people patronizing these establishments.

            I don’t have a choice of stores, but I’m spoiled for choice in restaurants living in the city. I’ll vote with my feet.

        • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I absolutely love self checkouts in shops, makes it more fast-in-fast-out kinda thing. But the very rare moments I have nowadays to go to a restaurant with my wife, I absolutely want to have a proper service and enjoy the evening as whole.

          I can order McDonald’s with home delivery, don’t want that shit in a restaurant

    • solstice@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Related pet peeve: restaurants that have a million items for a million prices, all of them basically the same. Example: sandwich shop not far from me. Every sandwich is +|- a dollar, same with every item. Takes forever for them to ring it up and the variance is pennies. Just charge $X per sandwich and maybe markup a few premium items (roast beef, avocado, bacon whatever).

      When in doubt: simplify

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    What drives me up the wall is when it just links to a scanned image of the menu they used to have, so instead of a full sized menu, you have to pinch and zoom and swipe around on your phone. What’s the fucking point? I went to one and the menu was FOUR PAGES LONG like that! If I hadn’t been promising my daughter I’d take her, I would have walked out.

    • broguy89@lemm.ee
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      Folding phone works well for this. Kinda sucks that you need an $1800 device to have a decent menu viewing experience. I’m more miffed that they expect my reception to be a given. Towers go down, congestion happens, give me a physical menu!

  • XTornado@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I am fine with it but I feel they should have alternatives. Some people don 't have a device, connection. Or have issues with using technology for whatever reason, being old, incapacitated, etc.

    • geogle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Shit cell service, and an inability to easily take in the menu online are my biggest gripes

      • IndefiniteBen@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        If they don’t have a good internet connection available for free for customers with a good mobile website, why would anyone visit and actually struggle through the ordering process?

        • ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world
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          It’s a niche probably imaginary scenario they want to strawman. If a place has shit cell service or no Wi-Fi then they clearly aren’t using QR codes and just shrugging their shoulders confused at every customer.

    • OmegaII@feddit.nl
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      Then they don’t eat there. I don’t see the problem. Might be the owners problem. But hopefully it was taken into cinsideration. If not, though luck again.

      • iegod@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        That’s not quite how accessibility regulations are structured. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are requirements on this in any given jurisdiction. Perhaps not a ‘thou shalt have printed menus’ but some kind of reasonable accommodation I think isn’t absurd.

      • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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        I think it’s pretty reasonable to require restaurants to spend a little money to print menus, and even a little more to get braille ones. There’s millions of people who might have some difficulty or another using a browser based menu, certainly we can do better than saying “sorry, tough luck.”

  • Iron Lynx@lemmy.world
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    It shouldn’t be on the customer to have the tech to view a menu. If you’re gonna run a restaurant, have a paper menu available to customers somewhere, even if your primary menu is behind a QR-code.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    I went to a restaurant that had the barcode menu. I prefer a physical menu, but fine whatever. The problem was, there was no reception inside the restaurant, and you couldn’t connect to their wifi for whatever reason.

    • GiantFloppyCock@lemm.ee
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      This happened to me recently as well, but while traveling when I was low on data. Like ok, I will use your stupid QR code menu, but then you better provide free functional wifi.

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    I love and seek out restaurants that use online ordering and payment. I don’t need someone waiting on me. I’m in the US and they are not paid a living wage, the work is difficult with little reward. Now there is a place in my neighborhood where you sit down the QR code is table based, interaction is simple, clear and designed to work (uses Toast as the backend iirc). You order, the order stays open till you pay it’s a restaurant/bar so if you need another you don’t have to do anything but tap on your phone. They have amazing helpful servers that are paid well. You pay on your phone and leave when you are done. It’s amazing.

    I think this is more about power dynamics than currency and menus. I think many people just want or more accurately demand that others (with less power) to serve them. I’ve even heard people say “it’s not my job to check me out or take my order.” Those same people treat their waitress like shit, when those waitresses are paid basically nothing to take the abuse. Then they try to weasel out of the bill. Seen it time and time again.

    Now, some restaurants do poor a poor implementation of modern menus and it’s frustrating. However… long term those that do it well will win. It reduces friction and costs leading to lower prices higher margins and quicker more accurate service.

    • Redredme@lemmy.world
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      Nobody will win. The waitress stays or will return and still get paid shit. The menu will get digitised because it’s cheaper. You know what less costs mean?

      Higher profits.

      The end.

      Wake up.

      • HanDuo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You might want to reevaluate who needs to “wake up”. Right now the only difference I see between you and Jeff Bezos is who has the money.

        There are many other successful ways to run a business. Co-ops are one example… The legal and regulatory framework of our society should encourage and reward making and encouraging pro-social ethical decisions not discourage them. I think our problem is how we treat each other - not how we order food. Ordering food is just the symptom of the greater ill.

        As long as you think like Bezos, nothing will change and more of your money will flow to the rich.

        Thus, why I suggest the “waking up” that needs to happen is to realize we are in an increasingly unstable dream/nightmare (depending on whether you have money or not) that we collectively need to choose a different way that truly does benefit everyone.

  • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    You’re supposed to enjoy your meal, then tape a QR code to the table and say that’s your payment as you walk out.

      • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        The supply the tablet/phone with the digital menu. Sushi places here do it, I’m ok with that. Making me use my own device, ehhh no thanks. I might as welp provide and make my own food too.

        • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Well, your own device is relatively more hygienic to you, in comparison with shared device. You may hope a restaurant will disinfect device after each guest, but it’s safe to assume they’re not.

          • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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            Debatable…whens the last time you sanitized your phone. (Never…).

            It is also possible to be too hygienic and actually making things worse for you and developing allergies, skin conditions, etc…

            If you’re really afraid of menus, then don’t touch the door knob at the restaurant, or the seats, or the bottles of sauce, salt pepper shakers, etc…

            • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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              Debatable…whens the last time you sanitized your phone. (Never…).

              But it’s bacteria your body already familiar with and probably already have some immunity for.

  • ch00f@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I use a LightPhone II which has no camera. It gets me out of this bullshit all the time.

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    I think if they don’t have a printed menu at the next new place I go to I’m going to just get up and leave.