The coronavirus pandemic saw a number of changes in how we live, in ways big and small.
Some were welcome: flexibility about remote work, say, or cocktails to go.
But here’s one adaptation that can’t fall by the wayside fast enough: the now-commonplace QR code menus offered in place of the paper version in millions of American restaurants.
They are unnecessary, anti-social, discriminatory and unpopular. They fully degrade the experience of dining out.
If you don’t know what a restaurant QR code is, I envy you. It’s the black-and-white square code you find on a placard at the table when you are seated, asking you to scan it with your phone’s camera for a link to the establishment’s offerings.
Offered up as a bit of hygiene when restaurants reopened after the shutdowns of the early pandemic period, online QR code menus are unnecessary, since the coronavirus is (we now know) an almost entirely airborne pathogen.
But all too many dining establishments continue to use them.
A physical menu sets the stage. It highlights the fact that this is a special occasion, even if it’s simply a quick bite at a local diner.
The menu signifies that it’s time to take a break in a busy day, that this meal is something separate from the normal course of events. It also pushes us to interact with others.
We share menus. We point to things; we ask the wait staff questions about the meal and what they particularly like.
It’s like opening a program at a theater, for a show you and your companions are about to experience together…….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/15/against-qr-code-restaurant-menus/