How about, I dunno.... TEST CITY and TEST VEHICLE ?

Google Pay dug its own grave when they rebooted a year or three ago with the whole "we're going to track all of your payments in one place" thing.

No thanks. I don't need that kind of "convenience" and I certainly don't need them tracking even more about me.

Can someone explain NFTs to me? Seriously, I don't understand how this is a thing.

You pay some money so a blockchain attributes something to you... but there's nothing physical involved. And how do "rights" work? Is it there legal backing for this method of attributing rights to even virtual assets?

It all seems like such a big scam. Please tell me I'm missing something.

These sorts of laws are good for some people, but I don't like that it removes flexibility for others.

I, personally, have a very flexible work arrangement, which works out best for me and for my employer. I'd hate to have legislation like this passed (in my country) that would prevent my employer and I from having our current arrangement. It seems like a bit of an overstep on the part of the government.

(Of course I don't know the specific details of the Portuguese version of this; I'm speaking generally, since this kind of thing seems to be a popular idea for many.)

Simple. I try it [incorrectly] enough times that the phone permanently locks itself.

That happened to me two months ago.

Not when speech recognition is involved.... The computer is just as bad at that as the people on the other end of the drive-through speaker.

And most people can't navigate their cars precisely/accurately enough to use a touch-screen from the driver's seat.

So I'm not sure how they're expecting this to have good results.

I'll stick to subtitles, thank you very much.

And being upset makes it okay for them to hold other foreign nationals hostage?

I'm sure there are lots of people lining up to work for you. So, you're hiring, right?

I can't really take this sort of criticism seriously unless the person saying it is stepping up and doing something about it themselves. Seems like nobody that has this kind of commentary actually runs a business though. Imagine that.

One good outcome of the pandemic is that I've seen a number of [normal, non-QR-code-nonsense] places combine a service charge into the normal bill---and they advise against tipping separately. It would be nice to see the whole country move in that direction, but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

Your "pay at the end" experience sounds much better than anything I've seen here.

I've eaten in some places that force all ordering through the QR codes on the table. Like I couldn't even walk inside the place and order a second drink at the bar partway through my meal. (Inside seating was open and there was a bartender standing there at the bar.)

Also it's offensive that they want me to tip (while placing the order through a website or app) before service has been rendered.

I'm all for progress, but forcing everything in this direction is a bit ridiculous.

This just keeps getting better.

But no, they're just speaking out against the evil oppressor that is the entire West, right?

... until some idiots in the government force other vendors to do the same thing, after it's been normalized by Apple.

But... think of teh children!