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Comment by CaptainOfCoit | Hacker News Reader

Can only read the first paragraph, but even that seems wrong, so I guess the rest of the article would be the same...

> Not that long ago, QR code menus were the go-to fix for restaurants looking to speed up service without hiring more servers. Then the diners staged a revolt.

No, QR codes is one possible solution to the problem of changing menus, and having to reprint all the time. Also, QR code menus (at least where I am) became mandatory during the pandemic together with mandated contact-less payments, and that's when it really became popular around here.

Besides, thinking that QR codes can replace servers seems to indicate to me that the article author has literally no idea what they're writing about, if they don't even understand the basic function of servers...

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> Besides, thinking that QR codes can replace servers seems to indicate to me that the article author has literally no idea what they're writing about, if they don't even understand the basic function of servers...

It just said QR code menus can speed up service, not replace servers. Seems logical to me that if servers are spending time bringing out food rather than standing around waiting for guests to tell them what they want and writing it down that service will generally be speedier.

>No, QR codes is one possible solution to the problem of changing menus, and having to reprint all the time

And because QR codes can be used like that that prevents how that restaurant try to use it for what the article said?

If you read the other comments here then it definitely happened like the article said.

That's like saying companies don't use Excel as a database application because it's a spreadsheet.

In many places QR codes have partially replaced servers as you're now "directed" to pay via a link supplied via said QR code, a job that used to be carried out by said servers until not that long ago.

Yes. And runners aren’t servers.

I'm not a native English speaker so I had to search for the exact meaning of "runners" vs "servers", enough is to say that I've never been to a restaurant where those two roles were different, and I suppose that the majority of the restaurant-going population shares my experience.

Or maybe in the US there is indeed a distinction being kept between "runners" vs. "servers", but truth be told I've never seen it in place here in Europe.

> Or maybe in the US there is indeed a distinction being kept between "runners" vs. "servers"

I've lived my entire life in the US and I've never heard of this distinction either. But I've also never heard the term "runners" in this context either, so perhaps the commenter is talking about a different sort of restaurant than I go to or something.

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