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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think logging people at restaurants etc is a waste of time?

37 replies

Twintwix · 19/06/2021 18:28

Don't understand what purpose it serves. You only have to isolate it you are within 2 metres of an infected person for more than 15 mins. Why would you be within that distance in a restaurant or cafe unless they were at your table? And in which case, you would have to give their details to contact tracing people anyway - same as you do for any contact outside hospitality? No one logs where anyone is sitting anyway or how long you are there for, so I don't see what the point is in collecting all this data on who visits what venue?

OP posts:
choosername1234 · 19/06/2021 18:41

Ive been wondering exactly the same especially and as your exit time isn't logged either I wonder how accurate the data would be anyway?

Minfilia · 19/06/2021 18:42

It’s a fair question.

I was asked to scan the QR code today for an outdoor, distanced seating area Hmm I didn’t bother!

Squirrelblanket · 19/06/2021 18:44

I mostly just pretend to log in, I'll actually do it if they ask to see it. And I have contact tracing turned off anyway. 🤷‍♀️

Zarene · 19/06/2021 18:44

I wondered that while checking into the zoo a few weeks ago. It's a massive area with thousands of people there. What on earth do they do with the info?

Ilikewinter · 19/06/2021 18:46

I raised this on a different thread earlier, on the few places ive checked in the app says my check out time was midnight - so it could potentially ping me to isolate and I could have been sat at home at the time??!!
What a total waste of time!

Queenoftheashes · 19/06/2021 18:47

Yeah I pretend to log in. Fuckn waste of time

Eminybob · 19/06/2021 18:52

I don’t even have the app. I mostly just take a photo of the qr code.
According to track and trace I’m a hermit who hasn’t left the house in the last 18 months.

Iquitit · 19/06/2021 18:59

Yep, complete waste of time, but a hoop that hospitality venues have to jump through to be open at the moment. Pain in the arse for the staff - especially when people get arsey about it, which is a waste of time because it's not them that make the rules.

I just go along with it, don't like giving people hassle when I don't need to and it won't achieve anything anyway.

quizqueen · 19/06/2021 19:01

It's just a box ticking exercise like most other things in life/at work etc. They have to be seen to be doing something.

M0nkeybars · 19/06/2021 19:03

Businesses are just doing everything they can to comply with rules, as best they can. They're under so much pressure.

Georgyporky · 19/06/2021 19:03

On holiday in UK recently. Out of 10 lunches & dinners, we were only asked for details at one place - it's a complete nonsense.

frg124 · 19/06/2021 19:05

I have to confess I also pretend to log in, if pressed to by the staff. Or give an incorrect mobile number. For the same reason that I shouldn't need to isolate if tables are 2 metres apart and I've had both vaccinations. I'm not saying this is the right decision ethnically but everyone has their own interpretation of what they deem to be a reasonable requirement.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 19/06/2021 19:06

People pretend to log in or use a burner phone or use fake details. It's all a total waste of time and a farce.

frg124 · 19/06/2021 19:06

Sorry ethically, not ethnically!

eatsleepread · 19/06/2021 19:11

Agreed. I had to do this today at a smart restaurant. They wouldn't give us a paper copy of the dinner menu, even though we were having difficulty scanning it into our phones (poor WiFi reception). But the wine and dessert menus were paper!
The whole thing is so pointless.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 19/06/2021 19:12

The point of checking in to venues is NOT to ask people to isolate if they happen to have been checked in to somewhere at the same time as someone who later tested positive. As PP has said as there is no "check out function" you may not have actually have been there at the same time. The contact chasing and isolation notification is a separate part of the app and will only ping if you (or your phone) has been in close contact for at least 15 minutes with someone who later tests positive.

The point of the venue check in is if there is an outbreak of cases linked to the venue, then they can alert their customers so that they can be aware and look out for symptoms. You will NOT be asked to self isolate based on a venue check in alone - only if you were in close contact with the relevant person.

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 19/06/2021 19:14

Yep l always pretend to do it too.....no way would l isolate cos someone infected was in the same room as me on the same day

shouldistop · 19/06/2021 19:17

I don't do this, I just pretend to check in. I'm not willing to be told to isolate because someone who was sitting at the opposite end of the restaurant to me, later on that day is ill.

Taswama · 19/06/2021 19:18

I think I read somewhere that the data collected has never actually been used, so it is utterly pointless.

Mummatron3000 · 19/06/2021 19:18

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon exactly, glad someone’s talking sense here!

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 19/06/2021 19:20

@Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin

Yep l always pretend to do it too.....no way would l isolate cos someone infected was in the same room as me on the same day
You won't be asked to isolate unless you were in close contact with the person who tested positive. That isn't how the app works.
hennybeans · 19/06/2021 19:25

Yes, it is such a pointless thing.

I go once a week to a group who meet in a private room at a cafe. I have to check in on the app but I'm sat upstairs in a room away from everyone else but the few friends I'm meeting. And I never "check out". It's all just inaccurate.

I had uninstalled the app but all the businesses here seen to be very hot on making you check in. I think it's only still in use so it doesn't seem like a waste of govt money.

Shelovesamystery · 19/06/2021 19:26

I work in hospitality and have to ask people to do this. I hate asking.

I've noticed that a lot of people show me the green tick on their phone when they've scanned the QR code and I've been thinking "why are you showing me that?". I don't care if they've actually scanned it, I've asked them to and watched them do it, I've done my part. Not my business whether they have prended to scan it or actually done it. But then I was asked to show the green tick in mcdonalds the other day, so now I get why people have been showing me.

I hate the pointless "look how covid secure we are" hoops that have to be jumped through.

fourminutestosavetheworld · 19/06/2021 19:27

I pretend to sign in since I have had two notifications to isolate after going to restaurants where I was absolutely nowhere near another customer - not within 10m, never mind 2, and outside at one of them.

I've stuck to the rules throughout but it isn't working how it should, so of course people are going to start applying their own rules.

looptheloopinahulahoop · 19/06/2021 19:29

I do it on the app although the other day it wouldn't actually work so I didn't check in. Although someone said on here a few days ago that they went somewhere where they insisted on seeing the green tick before they let them in.

I always sit outside when I am at my local pub, so not sure why I am having to check in at all just because I've gone inside to order and am there far less time than I would be in a shop.