Anyone else miss just turning up?

[sunhasgotthis]

These days it feels like you've got to download an app to book in a fart! I really miss just turning up somewhere, paying, without everything shoehorned into tight slots.

It's difficult for me as one DC is ND and if he's having a bad day we can't do stuff outside the house. So we don't do anything paid for as it can end up a waste of money.

Yes agree Op. I hate it too I so much preferred just buying tickets to things at the door.

All spontaneity is gone. Including friends and people (not just services). It's shit.

This happened to me today!
I went swimming to a pool I hadn't been to before
"Hello" I said to the lady at reception. "One for swimming please."
Lady: "Are you registered on our system?"
Me: "No, I've never been here before."
Lady: "You can't buy a ticket until you've registered on our system and booked a slot. You can register your details on that machine over there. Or why don't you download the app."
Me: "I don't want to download an app thanks, I just want to go swimming."
Lady: "Sorry, it's the rules."
😡 😡 😡
By the time I got home not one but two emails from the leisure centre company professing their excitement at my swim. Bugger off!

I hate it all so much. I've managed to avoid having to download an app for anything so far ... but I think I'm living on borrowed time.

@FinnJuhl

ours still has it in place. I'm on the fence, it's kind of annoying having to book when they don't take 'same day' bookings.

on the other hand, it's SO much quicker now with no queues!!

I just wish you could book 'same day'.

This more^
plus the tendency of new “cool”cafes not to have prices out, then you need to ask them about every single thing literally. Like the concept of considering prices when making choices is completely alien to them.

@bigyellowduster

yeah at my local pool you can't even just turn up for the public swim which is mow scheduled times & I think expensive too £8 for a slot. I just want a swim, not shares in it!!

Wow!
You need to book a time slot at our local one but the lane booking is an absolutely new level of CFery

Ours is similar except the slots are an hour. But you have to book in advance. So if you turn up unbooked, 5 minutes after the session starts, even if the pool is empty (and nobody else is booked) you can't then get into that session!

Yes to Christmas stuff, does my head in that I have to book things now.

ive come back from a few days by the sea, one thing I looked at was booked until mid Sept but I didn’t even know I would be in the area until 3 weeks ago.

Omg technology fail right there! I think this is such a good example of how things are generally worse ans harder, not better! And somehow more expensive too!!

And you know what else is annoying?

The pressure to review everything. “How was your parking experience?” “How was your courier experience?” “How was your being kept on hold for a long time experience?” I don’t even bother to use this to vent frustration, as whether it will be read or not is another matter. (I have emailed if I think a website is difficult to use, for example.)

An adjective I’m frequently using to describe any leisure activity is “complicated”.

Yes. Sometimes I just want spontaneity, or to order at a cafe on holiday without downloading an app because I'm never going to use it again.

We were on holiday once and wanted to use a local council sports facility. I had to join the leisure centre (free) get a pin number, then they had to email me a code before we could go ....fir an hour. Then I got emails for months (before I unsubscribed) about a leisure centre 2 hrs away that I never intend to use again!

I should add I was only willing to go to that level of faff because we had taken DS away for a few days and the first 2 things he chose to do were closed due to covid staff shortages!

I agree.

I like not having to queue for ages to get in somewhere that’s clearly too full and crowded. My way of coping was going everywhere early, ie being there before they opened so the queues would usually be shorter and the attraction would be quieter. Sometimes it was overkill as there would be no queue and not busy. Plenty of times, if I got somewhere with a huge queue, I’d just turn round and go somewhere else. Booking online means the ”load” of visitors is spread more evenly over the day which is better for the attraction and the visitor.

I actually like the ability to go online and check stock availability in a shop before wasting time, petrol and parking charges to go to a shop to find they’re out of stock.

I like being able to order a meal on an app as you can usually tailor your meal with different options, add things, take things off, etc- far better than trying to communicate with staff in what is usually a loud environment especially for people with impaired hearing. I used to hate it when a waitress would be quick firing questions about sides, sauces, etc when I couldn’t hear her properly due to noise and/or strong accents.

I hate it.
I was recently in a situation where my phone battery ran out. WTH are you supposed to do then? Or you get mugged or just lose your phone.

Luckily I was ok but I just thought in some situations you'd be really stuck. No tickets, no Uber, no payment for anything.
It's a bit nuts.

The hoops you have to jump through to book concert/ football tickets - gave up going to watch our team, you have to be online at 7am to get put in a virtual waiting room for aaaggges, then when you finally get through and request 2 tickets you get "sorry you can't have that many tickets together please select again". I don't want to sit on my own!!

Miss the days you could go and queue up for concert tickets at Our Price - it was all part of the experience, standing with other fans.

Nail on the head. Too many people due to population growth.

Would people prefer the non booking approach at Beamish museum where on busy days the car park fills quickly and people have to wait until someone else leaves or they have to give up and go somewhere else?

Beamish never used to get so busy. More people, more people wanting days out, etc.

I'm more cynical and presume getting customers do do things via an app (eg ordering food) means businesses need to employ fewer staff.

I've had to deal with a solicitor recently and they gave me some app/online portal to use (create password blah, blah, blah) except the stupid thing is not fit for purpose. Each time I did something, it wouldn't let me click to the next screen. If I did manage to log in and complete a form I got an automated email congratulating me for doing so. I had to keep screenshotting the issue and sending an email, then the solicitor I was dealing with couldn't sort it out, so had to get the IT person involved, and he agreed the app could be problematic. About 16 emails later, from 3 different people, the problem was rectified! If they'd been old school and sent the forms in an email attachment, it could have been done in half the time without the IT person input.

But you can still do all that with an app. Roll up outside, decide what you want to see, book on the app, buy your popcorn from a person, get your ticket scanned by a person, modern cinemas well laid out and the seats are clearly labelled so the vast majority will not need showing to their seat. Even if you can't use the app you can spontaneously buy tickets from the popcorn person.

As for restaurant menus, post pandemic everywhere I've been (and I eat out most weeks) has gone back to hard copy menus, the odd one has been order by QR code but most have gone back to table service. If it's a choice of QR code or order at the bar I'll gladly use the QR code, no misunderstandings as you can check your order, no jostling or getting ignored at the bar, more time with the people you are dining with, or no risk of losing your table if alone. Leaving the bar ordering quieter for those who do need or want to use it.

means businesses need to employ fewer staff nailed it. Apps mean you now do the work, don't know how anyone can't see this.

I really prefer apps.

I can remember a few times turning up to something like the York chocolate attraction to be told the next available slot was the next day, when we were only there a day.

At least with booking online, you can avoid wasted journeys and disappointment when something is full.

As for early booking for Christmas attractions, it's always been that way, long before apps. About 20 years ago, we wanted to take our toddler son on a "Santa" special train at a nearby steam railway. Thought we'd be fine to book in November, but when we phoned, they said all sold out and that they opened the bookings in August and recommended we phone the day the phone booking line was open otherwise they sold out within a couple of days! That was 20 years ago before apps!

Even where app/advance booking isn't compulsory, I still like the option of being able to book in advance to "skip the queue" as I've always hated having to wait in long queues whilst people in front are faffing around wanting advice, not sure what ticket they want, faffing around with payment etc. So much better just by passing the (usually stupidly long) queue for tickets and going straight to the entrance, showing an app screen or paper printout for them to scan and going straight in.

Always hated that at places like drive through safari/animal parks where there were always long queues of cars, each one seemingly taking forever to pay etc. The last time we went to Knowsley, it was all pay by app (year after covid) and even though there was a lot of cars going in, it was so much quicker as the staff on the entrance were just scanning screens/printouts, so barely any queue and barely any waiting, even though it was just as busy.

As others have said, there are more people than ever going to these attractions, etc., so timings etc have to be managed. It's bonkers for something to be full to capacity between 11 and 2 when it's quiet 9-11 and 2-5 - by making people book in advance, they can spread the number of visitors over the day. Lots of people thinking they'd get somewhere at 11, can easily get there at 9.30 instead if they know in advance they're the only slots left.

It was like this pre covid too. We went to Barcelona around 2018 and had to book a few days in advance for tickets for Park Guell - we'd been looking on line for a few days and saw that it got booked up 2/3 days ahead, so when we knew which day we wanted to go there, we got it booked. When we got there, loads of people trying to book at the gate were being turned away and told they were fully booked for the next 2/3 days - lots of disappointed people. When we got in, it was still heaving with people - full to capacity!

Same with the Anne Frank House. You can't book in person - they have no booking/ticket office. It has to be done by app, and you're looking at 4-6 weeks ahead due to massive demand and, obviously, it's a small house, so visitor numbers have to be limited. It took OH about a month of logging in every day to check if any places were available. Finally got some for the afternoon of our last day in Amsterdam, just managed to squeeze it in before going straight to the airport afterwards. Well worth it though. But again, this was long pre covid.

When demand is so high, you can't just be turning up on the day and hoping for the best. With population growth and more people wanting "staycations" etc., it's inevitable that some kind of "rationing" and control of entries is required for popular attractions.

Yes! I'm actually shocked people don't see this. It's made everything less convenient and more stressful, I'm sure this is one of the major reasons people seem to be so busy and distracted now, particularly noticeable the past few years. Wake up people. It's like we are all zombies asleep and this is being done to us.

💯 spontaneity is where the magic happens ✨️