[diggum]

Recently my son and I were at the mall and decided to grab dinner at a popular ramen spot. They had replaced the hostess with an iPad and a waitlist app. Ugh, I thought, but fine. I can type my name and the number 2 on an app just as easily as letting someone write it down.

Except it wasn't as easy. The iPad first demanded that I make an account with the waitlist app service. I could do it on their iPad but it encouraged me to download an app on my own device instead. There was no “no thank you, just get me a table please” option.

We noped out of there pretty quick and even avoided it the next visit to the mall. I don’t know what kind of money they’re saving by switching to this system, but they’ve definitely lost a $60/visit customer who would probably stop in 3-4x per year.