Field note · 9 April 2026
Cash at the door and the last screen of a cleaning booking
Householders finish the request, then ring the shop to ask if cash is still all right, because the last screen only shows a card.
Noraini’s cleaners still collect cash in many landed houses. The booking app was given a last screen with a card drawing and no sentence about cash. Householders completed the request and then telephoned, because they did not want a van to arrive expecting a terminal.
That telephone call is not a success. It is a second queue for the counter. On the sitting we watched, two of four completed bookings generated that call. Adding one line — “Cash on the day is fine; cards if you prefer” — is a wording change, not a new payment setup. Some vendors still bury that line behind a “pay now” button. Until the button is gone or renamed, the shop will keep answering the same question.
We stopped before any money moved. This kind of stall does not require a test purchase. It only requires watching someone reach the last screen and hesitate.