1.) Fast food places: Get a free small “to go” fries when ordering two or more combos at the drive through. (No more bitching about who ate half your fries on the way home. :))
2.)Online webcam for auto shop places. Go online and watch them work on your car.
Restaurants: charging stations at every table.
Good one. This should have been a thing a long time ago. My gym has them one their treadmills.
It’s pretty common for auto shops to have 3 different labor rates:
That’s certainly how my plumber works.
Damn, I misread that as “changing station”, as in changing a diaper. That would be a big ol’ “NOPE” right there.
I was just meeting with a company that was helping to develop a charging station for restaurant tables that will come with adds on it they were also talking about getting them into any type of waiting room.so i wouldn’t be surprised if they were every where in 5 years.
Restaurant ordering and paying tablets at every table. Why do I have to wait for someone to take my order or to bring me my bill? They have these at my local Applebees, which is the only reason I go there.
Me too.
Damn, that’s my next big idea:
ALL RESTAURANT SEATS ARE FULLY FUNCTIONAL COMMODES!
I mean, it’s perfect. Download one meal while uploading the next. No more embarrassment for having to leave the table… even multiple times… to go to the restroom. Add more tables with the savings in restroom space increasing your sales per square foot.
It will be… marvelous.
The world needs better dishes at ice cream parlors.
Why do they serve 3 scoops of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup on top----in a tiny paper dish 2 inches wide and one inch deep?
Sure,it looks impressive to have a mountain of ice cream stacked high and overflowing…
But it’s hard to eat.
The dish should have a wide rim around the base,like a saucer under a tea cup.
Of course,that would make it hard to stack the paper dishes in a tube for shipping.
So why not just make matching paper plates/saucers,and placed on the counter?
After the kid behind the counter hands you your oh-so-pretty-but-ready-to-start-dripping sundae in a tiny cup,you pick up a saucer as you sit down to eat it.
Added bonus: the table stays cleaner.
(yes,folks, this is a problem tougher than rocket science.
We need a president to boldly declare that before this decade is out, we shall send a man to an ice cream parlor and return him safely to earth, with no sticky mess.)
Not sure if you want specific suggestions but I wish Amazon would let you sort orders by shipped date. Often a preorder I ordered 6 months ago just shipped and it is hard to find it to check the tracking if I am on their site.
There used to be a body shop in town that offered exactly this. But either they’ve discontinued the service or I can’t remember which shop it is anymore.
I’d love a button to summon the server. (like the one on airlines, but not just for emergencies) They don’t have to come over to check on me periodically, but when I need one, they appear.
I suggested this to friends who were opening a brewery. Every other seat at the bar has an outlet for usb. People love it and stay longer, lingering over drinks while posting online.
A few years ago a veterinarian did this for hospitalized pets. Owners were given a password that allowed them to view video feed from a camera aimed at their pet.
It was great until someone’s declawed cat got off its bandages and bled out while they watched in horror.
Many airport bars have places to charge your phone/laptop at the table or bar.
Sometimes I think it sucks because they are often so busy with campers, you can’t get a beer. So there is kinda a downside to this I think.
On the bright side, the airport bar charges $12.68 for a pint of crap beer, so you are better off!
In most restaurants in Japan, each table has an electronic button. Push it, and the server shows up at your table. This is probably a cheaper solution than having expensive tablet computers all over the dining room. It’s also standard practice there that no matter how nice or crummy the restaurant, you take your bill from the table to the cash register and pay on your way out - no need to wait for a server to visit your table. The latter is kind of established custom at greasy-spoon diners here in the US, but we probably won’t see it adopted at nicer restaurants any time soon. But I’d love to see the “make your server come” buttons spread to US restaurants.
Going back decades to a low-tech solution, a restaurant had small flags on the table. When you needed attention, you raised the flag. I’ve been in restaurants in which I felt I needed a flare gun to get service, and others where the wait staff wouldn’t let us eat two bites without bugging us, so any solution would be nice.
My complaint about Amazon is how they lump reviews together. Let’s say a movie has been released in several different editions; DVD, Blu Ray, 4K, a director’s cut, a special multi-disc box set - all the reviews for any of these editions will be included under the headings for all of them. So somebody will mention some special features and you don’t know if they’re actually in the edition you’re looking at or including in a different product. Reviews should only be included if they’re for that specific product.