Tommy Siegel | Bluesky
Transcript
Single panel comic
Illustration of a highway with 3 billboards for fast food chains. A bridge is visible in the background, as are power lines running along side of the service road.
Each billboard has a chain logo, with secondary text below.
Wendy’s
- Your fifth favorite burger is now an app
McDonald’s
- Will you give us your data for food?
Burger King
- Guess what: No app? No food
I doubt the person who drew this comic has had the misfortune of trying to order food in China. It’s basically a literal form of what the comic is poking fun of, and it’s ubiquitous.
In China, you can go up to the counter, but you cannot place an order. Sometimes, you cannot even read a physical menu. Not even so much as a menu on the screen. You have to scan the QR code using the Panopticon app (also known as WeChat) and then get bombarded with advertisements. Like us and get a free drink! Click here for a random coupon! Join our WeChat group! No, no, no, no. Then click through their garbage UI to find the one thing you actually want. Make sure you don’t accidentally replace your order with one of their “recommendations” that pop up! Then, try to check out. Do you want to join our WeChat group for exclusive deals? Do you want to create an account? Dismiss, dismiss, dismiss.
Click here to pay. Only WeChat Pay is accepted. No cash, you backwards peon. Enter your mobile number here. Required to order. Ha ha, nice try, 123456789 is not your mobile number. No worries, we got it from WeChat. You’ll get 3 order confirmation texts and 2 advertisements a week for the next six months.
I saw a post about this last night. Really scary stuff.
I’ve seen this in Abu Dhabi. A bit creepy but it came with inbuilt convenience like letting your party members each pay for their items or splitting into X portions (you can pay for n*X portions if you want). Sure it’s handy but just give me a paper menu for fucks sake, let me ask the staff for a recommendation
If China makes it too hard for people to get food, they’re gonna go back to eating people.
Mfw the “communist” country that can do no wrong according to the tankie instances out-enshittifies the home country of enshittification and capitalism in general 🤦🏻😄
Meanwhile, the best baseball player in the world is Japanese, the number one ranked player in the NBA is Serbian, and they’ve even been overtaken as the most obese people by the citizenship-deprived residents of American Samoa!
If not for Handegg and money hoarding, the US would hardly be #1 at ANYTHING anymore!
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Now download our app.
they’re the current leaders at global terror
I thought that was Israel, US is being led, not leading
israel is just a US colony.
It only exists so the US has a “friend” in the sandbox, and that friend has been getting the US hurt lately.
Israel and Russia keep their shit pretty localised (espionage notwithstanding). The US exports its shit globally.
Hey now, we’re still the #1 lapdog of the petrochemical industry!
If not for Handegg and money hoarding, the US would hardly be #1 at ANYTHING anymore!
The US has ended like 40 wars this year alone!
The US has ended just the Iran war 40 times already, without even counting the others.
I’m so sorry but you are full of shit. You can definitely order on the counter, all restaurants still have physical menus. I see it all the time with the elderly. They struggle with wechat or AliPay - which are apps western countries can only dream off - hence all stores can serve you normally.
And most shops have AliPay over wechat anyway except in 3rd and 4th line cities.
If you use AliPay, nothing gets bounded. Not your phone number or anything. The mini app isn’t even available again until you go scan or NFC again.
And the UI of the miniapps in general is very good and intuitive because they want you to order quickly.
Also you don’t have to link your wechat account, nor your phone number. This is specifically forbidden by the Chinese version of the GDPR in regards to personal privacy.
I know it is extremely popular to shit all over China because ‘China bad’. Most western that come here are amazed at the technology and convenience of shopping, travelling and ordering. My parents who speak no Chinese and are in their late seventies, happily go to any small local shop and order their meal without my help.
You clearly want to karma farm and keep the negative western propaganda flowing, up to you but be real and do not tell such bullshit.
Let me guess nothing happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989?
Let me guess? Nothing happened to the indigenous people of the US and the few that remain are forced to live on reservations?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_genocide_in_the_United_States
Just like China washes their history, I’m sure this is not on the forefront of any American history book. And this is only a smitchen of shit the US has pulled and is pulling to this day.
But good on you, regurgitating the one thing that you know off that happened in China 40 years ago.
Edit: why don’t you defend the 52 citizen that died in ICE or DHS custody since DJT took office? Not to mention the blatant murder of Renee Good - mother of 3 or Rubin Martinez - a nurse
https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/25/us-deaths-in-ice-custody-surge-under-trump
Sycophants like you just rub me the wrong way.
Never been to Luckin Coffee I see
Also there is no such thing as karma on Lemmy
No I haven’t because in Shanghai where I live, there are fantastic coffee shops,like now as most of China. Shanghai has the most coffee shops in the world actually.
So why would I go to a such a terrible chain that is almost more shit than Starbucks?
Well, at least we can agree on that lol. I hate Luckin Coffee
jesus fucking christ.
Is it really apps that are getting out of control? I still get by just fine not using them.
Prices, on the other hand… I’ll just say sitting down at a proper restaurant is often a viable alternative.
A lot of places charge a premium for not using the app. I’ve never heard of any that require you to use it
I knew a place where, during the day, I could get all-you-can-eat Sushi for the same price as a McDonalds menu.
Absolute no-brainer.
Yeah I remember the moment when I realised I could buy 3 full sized avocado and cucumber California rolls, for the price of one Big Mac or Whopper. The math was easy.
Plus, there was this thing where if I showed up at 6am, they would sell me the sushi literally hot off the presses before they officially opened (if I paid cash). Warm rice, cool vegetables, and crispy nori; God I want sushi now.
First time I saw a restaurant with an app only menu (that obviously required your phone number too) I just froze in confusion, looked at the staff like they were stupid (they looked me the same) and left. It was in Tallinn, Estonia. Later when I checked the rewievs of the place, those implied that it was more of a money laundering place than an actual restaurant, but I won’t go further into that. Suspicious anyways. Found great food in the next door restaurant, they had a normal menu as did most other restaurants except some take-away pizzerias.
Tallin is a gorgeous place. Did you hit up Headless Chicken too?
Yes, it is! Gotta go again some year and will try to remember that place, looks good. The Vegan Restoran V was amazing!
This is not generally common here in the US, but Indian restaurants now tend to have no menu, just a QR code that you scan and then you order from their website (no apps so far, or at least they’re not mandatory yet). I was a mobile app programmer until about five years ago and I had to ask these guys how to scan a QR code.
Interesting. I wonder what they do when someone has no phone or internet access tho? I have worked in many restaurants and saying no to money is usually not the way to go.
I have fast food maybe once a year, closer to every 2 years. I don’t understand the appeal. Unless it’s Culver’s. Even then, rarely done.
Even the infamous McDonald’s French fry doesn’t taste like it’s worth the calories any more.
Asad’s Hot Chicken is damn good, but so far they’re only in the Philly/NYC greater area. I expect they’ll be spreading out a lot further soon … and then turning to shit like everything else does.
Culver’s still makes pretty good food though.
For now, at least.
After I got kids it all makes sense to me. I.fucking.love.McD.
A happy meal with nuggets, let them tire them selves out in the play area.
I can sit there drinking one black coffee. Tried a chicken wrap and my god it was awfull. Way to expensive (even for Norway). Hoped for some saldad, tomato and a little chicken. Nope. Some shredded green stuff with some chicken and the awefull cheese square that for some reason was stuck outside the wrap to the cardboard, the most high quality item in the meal tbh.
Freshly brewed drip coffee was nice.
Ok, that’s fair. McDonald’s coffee is readily available and much better than Starbucks plain coffee. Generally safer than gas station coffee.
Their coffee is so disgusting in the usa. They have nothing on Starbucks.
Starbucks usually tastes like someone scraped the char of a heavily used grill and used the particulates as coffee grounds.
Their coffee has to taste like that to cut through all the whipped cream, chocolate and caramel.
I’m talking the plain, standard cup of coffee.
I’ve tried some. You could save up points, but redeeming points didn’t work properly. Then the points expire because they want to push you to go back. In the end its a big hassle and not worth the scraps you receive.
Yes. This was my experience. Too much hassle just to be upsold.
No app, no food? no money.
Yeah if a place is app only, I’m not eating there.
Get ready for burger+ subscription.
screw em all. they just want all your personal info to sell for increased profits
I’m never going to install an app for a fucking fast food restaurant lol
I was broke and in college and the app deals were so incredibly cheap then. I used to exploit a burger king coupon that was a free kids meal with a $1 purchase. At the time you could get a 10 count nugget for $1. That kept me fed for sure
Fast forward to today, and now you have to have the app to get a still expensive meal. It’s a bit more expensive than full priced meals used to be. It’s not even worth it anymore
Just curious about the lemmy consensus, what is it about the app specifically that people find distasteful? Is it the concept of ordering through your phone instead of in person, the app making a profile of your ordering habits, or some nefarious third thing the companies do by getting an app on your phone to steal data?
It also forces you into the iPhone/Android phone with Google Play services duopoly. And I simply don’t want some stupid app on my phone.
Plus it’s also just inconvenient. I give you money, you give me food. It should be that simple.
I think the answer is generally all of the above
Privacy is a big one
For me, I don’t think they make any sense. Ordering through the app is slower. I have to add a credit card and select a location before I can even start ordering. Half the time I get to the end to find out the discount/deal I was using isn’t honored by that specific location. In all, it would be much faster to just order at the restaurant than use the app at the restaurant
Most seem to assume you’re ordering before arriving, which requires pre-plannung that defeats much of the convenience of fast food IMO
Also I really dislike the fact the vast majority of the time, the reality is people are ordering while driving. It’s a safety hazard
As someone who walks, I love ordering before arriving. You just order it as you walk to pick them up, don’t even need any pre-planning.
The bigger problem with apps is because each app takes quite some space and you can only use it for one franchise per app, when WEBSITES exist. I do still often order through website on places that have them.
Also, it’s quick to repeat your last order with an app. I eat at a subway-style pizza place called Mod, and there’s at least 20 pieces of information to relay to the person making the pizza. I’d rather have it print out an easy to parse list for them to work with.
I’ve never seen a restaurant in the US or Europe that requires you to download an app to order. They bribe you with coupons and discounts to download the app, which is fair enough, I suppose, but you’re not obligated to. You can still walk up to the counter, tell your order to a human, and then pay with cash. No algorithm will ever know who you were or what you ordered.
I’ve never seen a restaurant in the US or Europe that requires you to download an app to order.
Same. So far it’s only been the perks of some sort sell. But either way, it’s gonna be a hard no from me. I refuse to install apps from significantly more consequential businesses/organizations even; restaurants are just never going to make the list for me personally.
They bribe you with coupons and discounts to download the app, which is fair enough, I suppose, but you’re not obligated to.
They jack up prices and then offer what their menu prices should be through the app. It isn’t a discount and this deceptive pricing practice is not fair enough.
All the places around me are installing ordering kiosks inside, which not only removes even more human interaction but also tracks data I’m sure because you have to use a card to pay. I hate it so much
Sadly, you get forced to a digital kiosk most places in my city if you walk up to the counter and expect to order there… but at least you still can avoid downloading the app. It’s actually been helpful for me as I eat less fast food now, lost some weight.
I think the vast majority of stores with the kiosk still have a cash option, but it takes forever to get an employee for the register
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Taco Bell is for sure the worst with forcing the stupid kiosk, they just hate hiring staff for a register. It’s a terrible experience all around going into a Taco Bell anymore because of the terrible customer (none) service.
I’ve seen a few of those stores around, but they seem to be the minority. At least as of a year ago. I used to travel quite regularly for work and taco bell was a common place to go. Living out of hotels sucks sometimes
Of course they don’t require it, but you pay way more at some without it
Subway near me is $11.50 for the footlong I’d normally get. They regularly offer $7 footlong on the app, or buy one, get one free
At $11.50, I’d never eat there. For $7, it’s a decent deal
For a while, you could get fries or a McChicken for free or nearly do with the app. Like 5 years ago.
If you’re getting a deal, it’s fine? People pay iPhone prices for Google Pixel phones and don’t care that Google makes like $1700 a year off their data, and they defend this.
If you’re not getting a deal, don’t use the app. If you used it before but you don’t use it now, that data isn’t still helping them. It’s stale. Like a lot of their food. And that Pixel phone.
Yeah, they definetely kept the best deals for people that used the app as incentive to use the app. Now that focus has kind of shifted and the deals have been cut back to a minimum and its the same ones every time. The free fry is still cool and sadly the only way to get a 20 piece nugget for $5 bucks. Its nuts, but they want $5 for a 10 piece now which is nuts. If you cant get a deal dont go, but sometimes you can get everything for a decent price still and thats when I will sometimes go.
Tbh, Google Pixels have an unlocked bootloader, which is pretty rare nowadays, and nothing stops you from installing an OS without Google services. And I highly doubt they are able to extract any meaningful data when you are using such OS, even if there are hardware backdoors installed. It’s just extremely hard to do complicated* stuff, including data collection, while not being detected, and with just access to low level hardware; network packet analysis would give away any such attempts immediately. (*as in ‘more complicated than a few hundred assembly instructions’)
The problem with a third party ROM without Google Services is that a lot of these apps simply won’t work without Google Services present. You might as well be using a flip phone as far as this stuff is concerned.
Modem firmware is a bit more than a few hundred assembly instructions. It’s mostly owned by Qualcomm, implementing trade secret designs made up by the boards of all sorts of corporations. Yes, even on the Samsung SoC design ordered by Google. That’s the price of phone calls.
Yeah, the mysterious Intel ME probably does similar things, but nonetheless these subsystems don’t have capabilities nearly as huge as the main OS, so they can’t store a lot of data, or do a lot of computation, or do stealth networking - (rant warning) such as embedding data in packets, that would require stealing the cryptographic keys from the main RAM, or even from other physical modules, basically so much convolution, that would be defeated by a simple update to the networking stack with changed offsets etc., I mean you would have to do crazy things to embed a universal rootkit you can never update yet is never detected doing shady stuff. This sounds more in the area of CIA capabilities, not really hardware manufacturers, but I really doubt they would risk revealing something so serious just to collect some meaningless data. TL;DR CIA backdoor probably exists, data collection backdoors are not feasible.
Intel ME can, in fact, inject packets, for it’s intended purpose of managing laptops at enterprise level. Don’t know how exactly but it was said it’s running minix, so I guess there are drivers hardcoded for some adapters. IIRC (source: truss me bro) it could use Wi-Fi in raw mode without the OS, associate by itself and stuff.
But uh, yeah, about the modem: it’s less that there’s some evil backdoor with global conspiracy but more that the cell towers can determine precise location at no cost (stored for a while which cops can look at it) and that there’s radio fingerprinting and stuff, with a whole entire load of nothing you can do about it because of how little we know. Pretty harmless when radio is off. Not really phoning anyone with your phone anymore but yeah.
Dropping all that garbage food for high prices they are doing you a favor for your Health and pocketbook
Stop buying fast food. The companies are scum, its terrible for you and you will save a lot of money.
Fucking hell fast food costs as much as a sit down meal these days, of far better food.
I just haven’t done fast for for so long that I didn’t know the prices had skyrocketed.
Have started carrying out from local restaurants by calling ahead instead of any fast food for this reason.
It does
Maccas: Double Quarter Pounder Deluxe meal: $17
Local bowlo: grilled fish, chips and schooey for $15
Your sit down meals must be incredibly cheap. In this area, they’ve gone up, too. We usually don’t get out of a sit down meal for less than about $50 these days. And we’re not ordering extravagant meals or any alcohol. Fast food will be $20-$30 for the two of us.
Not a problem. I don’t want their overpriced garbage anyway.
You’re better off finding the local taco truck with Hispanic consumers or even an American / Asian fusion place for some takeout.
Fast food serves zero purpose now. It’s not cheap and it’s not good. So why on earth would I ever install an app for any of these ghoulish companies?
Because it’s fast?
Basically every restaurant is fast now. The Sysco/US Foods duopoly has made it infeasible to prep/cook fresh in-house
It’s mostly just heating up pre-made foods now (that I grudgingly admit have gotten a lot better over the past 10 years)
Chain ones maybe but there’s absolutely still restaurants that cook food from scratch.
It isn’t fast either.
It’s Louisiana fast … aka slow as paint peeling.
Last time I ate at McDonald’s they had 1€ burguers. Last time I checked it was like almost 20€ for a shitty menu.
Not in your widest dreams. I rather make myself a quick burger at home.
I haven’t been out to eat since the pandemic. And, the more I read about how much it’s changed for the worse, including how ridiculously expensive it’s become, I don’t think I’ll ever eat out again.
Whoa nellie.
I mean, I guess it depends on your area and such, but there still great places to eat out if the situation allows for it. Of course groceries are cheaper, but some places are still affordable.
I wouldn’t touch any of the comic’s chains though. I think I went to a McDonald’s once since the pandemic, for a quick breakfast while on the road, and it was indeed disproportionately expensive. But (as an example) taco Tuesday at Rosa’s Cafe is still reasonably priced here.
![but seriously this fast food situation is getting out of control [Tommy Siegel]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/333c7b0d-a459-48ce-baf4-108ba3f5aa2d.png){kind=link}