The Doorman's Fallacy in action

What the “Doorman Fallacy” Is (per thread)

• Doorman = example of a role whose value is wider than the obvious task (opening a door): security, handling exceptions, information relay, social signal, first line of problem detection.
• “Doorman fallacy” = focusing only on the narrow, measurable function and deciding it can be automated, ignoring these soft, hard-to-measure benefits.
• Some argue the NYC doorman is a bad economic example (most buildings don’t have one; in practice it’s a luxury), but a useful conceptual example about invisible value.

QR Menus, Restaurant Apps, and Bill Splitting

• Many dislike QR menus: break social flow, feel “insulting,” depend on often-bad web UIs, emphasize phone use instead of presence.
• Others like them: no waiting for servers, easier individual payment, less chance of miscommunication, card never leaves hand.
• Several note the Dubai brunch story sounds like bad UX, not an inherent tech problem:
  • Multiple QR cards could allow parallel scanning.
  • Per-seat ordering and per-person payment is a solved problem in many POS systems and some regions.
• Cultural variation: in parts of Europe, Canada, etc., individual checks for large groups are routine; elsewhere equal splits or one-person-pay-then-settle are more common.

Parking Apps and “Imaginary Problems”

• Some see parking apps and expiry notifications as clear improvements over physical meters and tickets.
• Others argue digital meters unnecessarily mimic coin-prepay constraints to induce overpayment.

Labor Shifting to Customers

• Recurrent theme: shipping labels, self-checkout, QR ordering, forms, and flat-pack assembly transfer work from staff to customers.
• One side: this is “free labor” whose savings go to companies amid rising prices and consolidation.
• Other side: competition and low margins (e.g., groceries) mean many savings are at least partly passed on; also some customers genuinely gain time/convenience.

Self-Checkout: Convenience vs. Trust and Jobs

• Enthusiasts: faster, less waiting, more control, ability to use coupons creatively; handheld scanners and RFID systems praised.
• Critics: worse UX in many chains, weight checks and glitches, accusations of shoplifting for honest mistakes, job loss, increased surveillance, encouragement of petty theft in a low-trust spiral.

Broader Automation Concerns

• Drones/robots and staffless hotels cited as similar cases: tech handles the “easy” part, struggles with last steps and exceptions.
• Several stress that automation often ignores hospitality, empathy, and edge-case handling, which humans provide “for free” but don’t show up clearly in metrics.
• Others warn against using the fallacy as a blanket defense of every legacy job; some roles are still worth automating despite lost soft value.