0:26

Hello Internet I'm your husband has Travis

0:28

Mcelroy. And I'm your Wife has Theresa Mackerel

0:31

and you're listening to Show Manners. It's extraordinary

0:33

etiquette for ordinary. Occasions hello might have

0:35

hello. Dear. How are you. Better

0:37

today yesterday. Lots of lots of

0:40

drainage. lots of lots and lots

0:42

problems with my voice. But today

0:44

the on days a new day

0:46

and yeah, I'm I'm on the

0:49

mend. I. Am back to.

0:51

I. Think baseline. this is about right? Or.

0:53

Maybe still a little congested. But

0:56

I. Think I think you

0:58

sound beautiful, melodic with an

1:00

arm and jelic. well. My

1:02

own Thank you. I'm. An

1:04

I'm. My. Usual one

1:07

hundred and ten percent so

1:09

for everyday is a gift

1:11

and. I. Just

1:13

walking on sunshine. Oh okay,

1:15

I'm I'm sorry. Feel good?

1:17

All. right? I

1:19

went to the chiropractor with a separate better

1:21

at about our. How.

1:23

Would you reviewer your Chiropractor? Five

1:26

stars out of five.

1:28

Nice review. Yes, The

1:30

building did spook the early in the

1:32

morning. I liked our as I Go

1:35

is a big scary old timey looking

1:37

building but inside very nice. Loved it

1:39

Loved the decor. They were playing some

1:41

good music. I had great time. Ah,

1:44

Would you be willing to review

1:46

online now? As live in I'll never do.

1:49

You Never do that. I never. Think about. It,

1:51

That's all we're talking about this,

1:53

I know, online reviews specifically. Now

1:55

we do have another episode about

1:58

reviews and yeah, we talked. more

2:00

about the art of

2:02

critique in that episode. Please go

2:04

back and listen to it. But I mentioned

2:08

in that episode that in

2:10

order to be a critic, you

2:12

need to have knowledge and taste of

2:15

the subject, right? I

2:17

talk about how it's important that

2:19

you love the form more

2:22

than you love the creator, that

2:24

you are able to see past

2:26

kind of like the

2:28

surface level and the image and

2:30

expound upon how

2:33

you're affected and all that kind

2:35

of stuff, right? For like people who

2:37

love... But now if you're reviewing like a small diner,

2:39

then you just be like, I don't know,

2:41

man. It was the weirdest tuna salad I've ever had in

2:43

my life. Right. So we're talking today

2:46

specifically about online reviews of

2:48

things like products and

2:50

diners or, you know, places

2:52

like that. Like what a

2:55

person who maybe isn't a critic,

2:58

the challenges and history of reviews

3:02

from those perspectives. Okay. So

3:05

online reviews started back in 1632. Nope.

3:08

Nope. 19 and 95. Somewhere between those two dates. Yes.

3:10

So first of all, way back, way,

3:22

way back, you

3:24

may not have had a choice

3:26

depending upon where you lived to...

3:28

You know,

3:30

be a patron of a business. Oh, I

3:32

see. Right. So it's like there's one

3:35

hard restaurant. There was one restaurant. Yeah.

3:37

One restaurant. One place to go get

3:39

your hair cut. Like there... It

3:42

doesn't matter how bad it was. If you

3:44

had to go there, you had to go there.

3:46

That was it. That was it. If you didn't like it, you needed to move to

3:49

a different town where there were other businesses.

3:51

Or start your own. Or start your own.

3:53

Right? That's a

3:55

possibility. But the reviews

3:58

didn't have a lot to do. with

4:01

the business kind of structure.

4:05

Because even if it was bad, that was

4:07

the only one. It was usually like, hey,

4:09

don't get the tuna surprise. That's the

4:11

second tuna. Let me go a deeper

4:13

one. Don't get the broccoli surprise or

4:16

whatever. The surprise is there's no broccoli

4:18

in it or whatever. It

4:20

would be like, this is the way you wanna get to the

4:22

restaurant, don't get anything else. Right? Right. But

4:25

then we get to the 19th century. And

4:28

this is when we start to see

4:30

a rise in newspapers. Ooh, okay.

4:33

And not only is there the

4:35

newspaper that is a great way of spreading

4:38

information, they also need something to put in

4:40

the newspaper. Yeah, that's

4:42

true. And the more news... They can't

4:44

sell a blank one. They can't be like stuff on

4:46

the front and then you're opening it. Like, I can't

4:48

wait, wait a minute. There's nothing else in

4:50

here. I mean, single page editions are fine.

4:52

But like, you know, they want to sell

4:54

more papers. So they want information to put

4:57

in the paper. Well, the newsies are out there. They're working hard.

4:59

They got us out of the papers. I know. Several

5:01

editions a day sometimes. Yeah. And

5:04

so one of the things that

5:06

started popping up are reviews

5:08

of businesses and such. Which

5:11

at first were probably treated more

5:13

like gossip columns than anything

5:15

else. But you know, as it

5:17

gets more and more formalized, we

5:20

get to respect these things a little bit

5:22

more. Now it's not the only time that

5:24

we see kind of reviews in print. And

5:27

we've talked about this, like I said, in the

5:29

other episode. In the

5:31

19th century France, Alexandra

5:35

Balthazar-Lorrente, Gibon

5:37

de la Renier. The name just keeps going,

5:39

huh? He

5:42

was a food critic. Okay, I'm not sure which of

5:44

those were separate names and which were just hyphenated

5:48

maybe? Is

5:50

that five different names? Yeah, yeah, look. Don't

5:52

hold your frozen clothes. Alexandra

5:55

Balthazar-Lorrente, Grimard de la

5:57

Renier. Yep. I'm

6:01

And so he published the Gourmands

6:03

almanac to give foodies advice on

6:06

which restaurant to eat in France

6:08

are thought it was several tomes.

6:10

Okay, there was a lot of

6:13

restaurants. had the time. Know

6:15

like now? the one I'm sorry I'm

6:18

out. It's Huge. It was

6:20

more of a guidebook array than like the

6:22

formal. Review Hum.

6:25

But then. Once.

6:28

We have the newspapers. the

6:31

you said Now have this

6:33

widely read, inexpensive source for

6:35

news right arm and. Here's

6:37

the thing, right? New. York

6:39

Times have heard of a published. Their

6:42

first restaurant review. On

6:44

January First Eighteen, Sixty Nine.

6:46

Oka that seems so late to me,

6:49

but. You. Have it

6:51

there it is. The reviewer themselves

6:53

wished to remain anonymous. been described

6:55

as only a strong minded. Reporter

6:58

of the time years Abraham Lincoln

7:00

probably not. Outbreak could have been.

7:03

From. Fifty nine could have been probably

7:05

not the you don't know though. The.

7:07

Pc Game is on s He was known for

7:09

his honesty. I betty a feared.

7:12

Occasionally I owe him. I'm saying to

7:14

had been Abraham Lincoln. It begins with

7:17

the assignment as given to them by

7:19

the editor. It says time somewhere else

7:21

today and somewhere else tomorrow. I wish

7:23

you to dine everywhere from the asked

7:25

her house restaurant to the smallest description

7:27

was dining salon in the city. In

7:30

order that you may furnace and account

7:32

of all of these places he adds

7:34

in the article, it was admitted that

7:36

the paper would be paying. For the

7:38

Dennis. Some.

7:41

And so it kind of

7:43

set this precedent. Allow

7:46

residents know what.

7:49

It set a precedent about

7:51

reviewers remaining anonymous, which is

7:53

not something that we really

7:55

has today. As far as

7:57

online reviews you have the

7:59

publish a an email address.

8:01

Usually we have to have

8:03

an account to log in

8:05

to things like Yelp and

8:07

Six I. Am not anonymous like no

8:10

one could figure out who you were right,

8:12

but anonymous in that you can make your

8:14

screen name something else and they were V

8:17

Ret you. Don't have to be associated

8:19

with it, but you are traceable. Mimeme.

8:21

This reporter was Trace who have the time

8:23

of you went to the paper and said

8:25

like a whoever. I'm

8:28

saying you can't say there's no

8:30

anonymity on the internet when you

8:32

are v overlays dry like arms

8:34

of face is more non of

8:36

them. maybe we thing maybe maybe

8:38

All right. So shortly after restaurant

8:41

reviews became popular, it was

8:43

possible that people would see

8:45

the writers rights and so.

8:48

When. You have the Sas who might know

8:50

who you are the you might get a

8:52

different experience. That's what. I'm talking about the

8:54

you start. Worries Darwin

8:56

costumes ah and up in

8:58

disguise. I. Mean maybe, but

9:00

more like. Different. Names

9:02

probably or of that. Some.

9:05

And so there. There is

9:07

a reviewer famously today that

9:10

is still anonymously reviewing Marina

9:12

Laughlin. Com

9:14

who is from The Guardian. She does

9:16

not allow photograph of her to be

9:19

taken and there's only one publish photograph

9:21

of her with a white plate. Covering

9:23

her face as Abraham Lincoln. Know.

9:27

Of. That is Dead. What? Holds.

9:30

On. What? Happens. People.

9:33

Don't. Live for two hundred

9:35

years. Ago so he died of old. It's okay,

9:37

so let's see. like. Other okay, Next

9:40

we has in the nineteen seventies, Tim

9:42

and Nina Zagat begin to compile restaurant

9:45

ratings from diners who mostly at the

9:47

beginning were just their friends. And then

9:49

they publish the very first faggot guide.

9:52

Zagat says the things seem to as

9:54

an Snl sketch. maybe

9:56

with chris farley where he like read

9:59

his it's there I'm

10:01

going to read out of Zagat and he

10:03

would like open the book and just like

10:05

read the Riviere in like, oh, this is

10:07

lovely. Oh, and it's got good read. And

10:09

I just, I can't hear Zagat just because

10:11

of the way that it was said. Oh,

10:13

it's Zagat. Zagat. And

10:15

I think about that all the time. I've never

10:17

seen that. I don't know that I've ever picked

10:19

up Zagat. There's this weird,

10:21

I talk about it a

10:23

lot in different things. I call it cultural osmosis, which

10:25

I think other people like maybe have

10:27

different names for it or maybe I didn't invent that name.

10:30

But this thing of like, I know exactly what that is.

10:32

And someone's like, oh, so you've used it or you've done

10:34

it or you've seen it. I'm like, oh, absolutely not. But

10:37

I know exactly what it is. I could tell

10:39

you everything about it. I have never touched it

10:41

in my life. Interesting.

10:44

Zagat. Thanks, Chris Farley. So

10:47

getting to the heart of the matter, the

10:49

first online reviews began to make an

10:51

appearance in 1999. And

10:54

those weren't even like reviews of brick and

10:56

mortar stores. It was mostly, like

10:58

we've talked about before, like eBay. And

11:04

it was meant to help people kind

11:06

of like suss out the

11:08

legitimacy of who they were buying

11:10

things from. I think at this point, still,

11:13

I mean, what, 25 years later, like

11:16

customer reviews is like

11:19

the biggest metric, maybe most

11:21

important metric when it comes to like

11:24

e-shopping. Because

11:26

this idea, especially when you're dealing with

11:29

like dropshippers and Amazon and stuff and

11:31

you can't pick this thing up and

11:34

it's like, oh, this looks exactly what I need.

11:37

And it's like 10,000 reviews and one star. And

11:39

you're like, oh, this isn't what I mean. I'm

11:41

not getting this at all. I

11:44

mean, I think that also a little

11:46

tangent on that. People

11:48

paying for reviews and

11:50

reviews on one thing. Like

11:53

I have been shopping before and looked

11:55

at reviews to find that the reviews

11:57

that are on the page for where

11:59

the item are not reviewing that

12:02

item, they're for other items. They

12:04

kind of pad out the reviews. This is

12:06

just a word of warning. I watch a

12:08

lot of videos on YouTube about scams and

12:10

stuff, and there's also people who, and I

12:13

don't know which websites

12:15

allow you to do this, but

12:17

there are plenty of people on different

12:19

places who will delete negative reviews. That's

12:23

unscrupulous. Indeed. So

12:26

that way, you look and you're like, oh, this must be

12:28

a scam, and then you look, all these reviews are four

12:30

and five stars, and talk about how great it is. And

12:32

it's like, well, yeah, but they've deleted all the bad

12:35

ones. So this is where

12:37

it differs from

12:39

the critic idea, right? Because now

12:41

every person who can

12:43

sign in, who has an email address or

12:46

whatever, can leave a

12:48

review. They may not be talented in

12:50

reviewing. They may not have any expertise.

12:54

The idea is you read these reviews

12:56

kind of with a little bit of

12:58

the sirens going off in

13:01

your head, like, what does this person

13:03

really know? Are they talking about their

13:05

personal experience? Is it more

13:08

about when this shipped to me, it

13:10

was broken, instead of like- Or

13:12

like they ordered a size that was too small, and

13:14

that has nothing to do. I

13:16

think it's why customer reviews online should

13:19

be viewed as like an aggregate score,

13:21

right? Where, like for example, right, if

13:23

I was looking for the

13:26

best keyboard, right, to use with my computer, I

13:28

might go on something like Wirecutter, or look

13:30

at reviews of like, hey, we are experts

13:33

in this thing, we put it through its

13:35

tests, and this is what we determined to

13:37

be the best thing, right? Okay,

13:39

great, I'm gonna take that one source,

13:42

you know, or whatever, versus I'm

13:44

looking for, I don't know, a bookcase,

13:46

right? And I'm scrolling through an online

13:49

shop, looking at bookcases, and

13:51

I'm looking for things to have, you

13:53

know, thousands of scores, and looking at

13:55

the aggregate number Of like, oh,

13:57

okay, out of these thousands of reviews, the average-

14:00

Image out of five stars as like four

14:02

point nine that's a really good in there

14:04

might be somebody and there's I. I ordered

14:06

his bookcase and in the i don't like

14:08

outlook the my room one star or whatever.

14:11

the yeah but the aggregate score is what

14:13

I'm looking for. So you have this kind

14:15

of like check and balance ray is that. People.

14:19

Who aren't. Maybe maybe they aren't

14:22

beholden to the company or. Insist

14:24

institutions and so they have this really

14:26

like fresh kind of take on things

14:28

and then you have people who don't

14:31

understand that they didn't like the the

14:33

case for the bookcases doing the saying

14:35

that it's supposed to be doing and

14:38

is as expected and so they give

14:40

it one star because I don't like

14:42

it but like you have to it

14:45

is becoming kind of an art form

14:47

of specifically online shopping to be able

14:49

to assist through. These kind of

14:51

things yeah I'm at as especially.

14:55

When. I'm servile that we're gonna talk

14:57

more about at after break but you

14:59

gotta watch out to Derby was like

15:01

ah I own this business of their

15:03

my rivals consumerist and people to write

15:06

negative reviews on their veins even though

15:08

they've never minutes does have a recently

15:10

another unscrupulous fact that yeah where there

15:12

was like this word prefer for on

15:14

the social media's about I believe it

15:16

was like a fox had to and

15:19

that people are like we're gonna. Metaphorically

15:22

burn opposed to the ground with your previous

15:24

but they went. To the wrong

15:26

like with tattoo parlor home and

15:28

they were like feeling was bad

15:31

reviews it was like that wasn't

15:33

even the place. yes this don't

15:35

work. And I am so excited.

15:38

To. Learn more. The thirst. For.

15:41

About a word from another Max on so. Back

15:55

for another game? You know it.

15:57

What's gone on? Just one more

15:59

week? Max Fund Drive. Hm, hard

16:01

to believe. It's been a heck of a

16:03

year since the last one. We're now a

16:05

work-around co-op. We raised $50,000 for charity last

16:07

year. And

16:10

we've added a bunch of awesome new shows. But

16:13

I think we're ready to do it again. Absolutely.

16:16

Lovely new gifts are lined up. The

16:19

episodes will be amazing. And wait till

16:21

everyone hears the bonus content. Yeah,

16:23

plus they know to go to

16:25

maximumfund.org/newsletter so they're getting all the

16:27

news. Like that Meetup Day is

16:29

on Thursday, March 21st. Then

16:31

what's bothering you? Me? Oh,

16:34

nothing. We're all set for Max Fund Drive

16:36

to start on Monday, March 18th. I

16:38

just didn't want you to see this coming. Check. What?

16:42

Hang on! Most

16:45

of the plants humans eat are technically

16:47

grass. Most of the asphalt

16:49

we drive on is almost a

16:52

liquid. The formula of

16:54

WD-40 is San Diego's greatest

16:56

secret. Zippers were invented

16:58

by a Swedish immigrant love story.

17:01

On the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating,

17:04

we explore this type of amazing

17:06

stuff. Stuff about ordinary

17:08

topics like cabbage and batteries

17:10

and socks. Topics you'd

17:12

never expect to be the title

17:14

of the podcast. Secretly Incredibly Fascinating.

17:17

Find us by searching for the

17:19

word secretly in your podcast app.

17:22

And at maximumfund.org. Okay,

17:30

tell me more about reviews. So

17:33

far, you're telling me about it? Two

17:35

thumbs up, five stars. So

17:38

we've got in 2001, the Yellow

17:40

Pages and City Search added

17:42

an online review feature to their own business

17:44

directory. Yellow Pages, for those of

17:46

you listening home, they used to

17:49

deliver books to people with very

17:51

thin, cheap paper. They

17:53

would write these things called phone numbers on

17:55

them, and you would call them, and sometimes

17:57

someone would be there. It was very exciting.

18:00

And then in 2004 Yelp came on the

18:03

scene as like a one-stop shop for small

18:06

businesses reviews and opinions. 2007

18:08

brought us Goodreads for public

18:10

book reviews and then 2011

18:12

gave us Letterboxd for amateur

18:15

movie critics to bask in.

18:17

And so now like

18:19

if if you can talk

18:21

about it you could review it on the internet. And

18:25

you know we've got lots

18:27

of different ways to do like

18:29

Google reviews and then there's Glassdoor

18:31

reviews and I mean if you

18:34

just if you just

18:36

look up hilarious Glassdoor reviews. That's

18:38

job applique right? Yeah. Like employers

18:40

and stuff? Yeah there's a Alex's

18:42

favorite is from an ex Starbucks

18:44

employee where the headline of the

18:46

review is working here is poopy.

18:49

Oh boy! And their advice to

18:51

management was to suck some eggs. Oh

18:54

boy! Okay! So this

18:56

is what we're talking about right? There's a professor

18:58

reviews and stuff too right? Like you can

19:00

see like what kind of teacher you're looking

19:02

at for the next semester. Yeah

19:04

there's like TripAdvisor which

19:07

offers reviews of like

19:09

travel destinations. Facebook

19:11

reviews we find are more

19:14

for businesses when Amazon allows

19:16

you to review products. And

19:18

then so like a

19:22

2019 survey by shopperapproved said that

19:24

a whopping 81% of consumers checked

19:27

Google reviews before trying out a new spot.

19:30

Yeah I would say that's true. I mean if

19:33

I'm looking especially man with kids

19:35

right? Like I need to know if the

19:38

place is like conducive

19:40

to bring children to. I need to look

19:42

at what's on the menu. Are the kids

19:44

gonna eat it? You know like all kinds

19:46

of stuff. I would say that when

19:49

we're looking for a restaurant specifically I do

19:51

tend to look at the menu. I don't

19:53

know if I rely so much on the

19:55

reviews as I do like the pictures. I

19:57

love looking at pictures of the restaurant. because

20:00

I can tell from the pictures if

20:03

it's gonna be like, is

20:05

this place well lit? Is this place

20:07

like all high top tables or something,

20:09

right? Or does it have nice cozy

20:11

boots we can push the children into?

20:13

Things like that. Well, I have

20:15

found that, I think it's on Google, like

20:17

Google Maps, they use a lot to find

20:19

restaurants. If you search good for kids, you

20:22

will pull up like things based on what

20:24

they find in the reviews as well of

20:26

this is good for kids, this is not

20:29

good for kids, and so

20:31

you can find it by searching

20:33

the topics you're looking for, like

20:35

allows dogs or whatever, and even

20:38

if it's just mentioned in people's reviews, it

20:40

will pull up that lets

20:42

you search through it. So how

20:45

to leave online reviews that are

20:47

both thoughtful and helpful?

20:50

First, can I tell, Bebe

20:52

does this thing and it's really funny to me

20:55

where she'll be eating dinner and she's like, hey,

20:57

this dinner, and she'll hold one thumb up and

20:59

then she'll go, no wait, hold on, I changed

21:01

her mind, two thumbs up.

21:03

And I'm like, okay, cool man,

21:05

and it just feels like such

21:08

a reviewer fit, I don't

21:10

know if she's picked it up from a YouTube video or something, one

21:12

thumbs up, no way, I was wrong.

21:15

Two thumbs up, and it's a reveal,

21:18

it's a double switch of no, I

21:20

changed her mind. Two

21:22

thumbs up, and it's like, whoa, Jason,

21:24

whoa. Anyways,

21:27

like and subscribe. So first, I

21:29

think that the

21:31

first thing that

21:34

one should consider is

21:36

when should I write a

21:38

review? When is

21:40

it actually appropriate to write

21:42

an online review for something?

21:45

This is good to talk about because for

21:47

a long time, I think

21:49

it's gotten a lot better, but for

21:51

a long time, the only reviews you would

21:54

see on Yelp were negative, right? Because

21:56

when you have a good experience, you're like, that was nice, right?

21:58

And you just walk away. And it's people

22:01

most want to leave their thoughts when

22:03

they have something to complain about. And

22:06

like I made it

22:08

really hard sometimes to be like, I don't

22:10

know, man, this place is like really well

22:12

reviewed. But here on this website has like

22:14

two stars. And you look and it's like,

22:16

yeah, there are three reviews and they're all

22:18

very negative. And it's because it's like they

22:20

had a singularly bad experience and wanted to

22:22

talk about it. But I think it's gotten

22:24

a lot better now. I think people have

22:26

gotten used to like, even if they don't

22:28

leave a written review, they do the stars or

22:30

they do thumbs up or whatever it is. Right.

22:33

And I think that what you really

22:35

need to ask yourself is, is this

22:37

review helpful? Yeah. Because

22:41

for a couple of reasons. First, let's

22:43

talk about kind of like genericism,

22:46

right? Say

22:48

that you're reviewing something on Amazon.

22:51

If you're reviewing a toothbrush, you

22:54

probably don't need to type up

22:56

a dissertation on how much

22:58

you love this toothbrush because a toothbrush is

23:02

usually just a toothbrush. I'm not sure

23:04

you can make it very funny or if

23:06

it's a toothbrush that has special qualities,

23:08

right? Yeah. No, I'm just talking about

23:10

like a regular toothbrush. They

23:13

are pretty much all the same. And

23:15

they pretty much tell you what you're going to

23:17

get. Are the bristles soft? Are the bristles hard?

23:20

Does it have a little plastic thingy that might stab

23:22

your gums or does it not? That kind of thing.

23:25

I don't think they're supposed to stab your gums.

23:27

Is that happening to you? I think it is.

23:29

Oh, babe, you have to unwrap the toothbrush. I

23:31

would say though, just to use this

23:33

as an example, right? If it

23:35

was something like, oh, this is activated charcoal

23:38

and it has this and this and this

23:40

technology that's going to do this and this

23:42

and this. And you buy it

23:44

and you're like, it doesn't do any of that

23:46

and it tastes, I don't know, like dirt, right?

23:49

Charcoal. It tastes like dirt. It

23:51

does taste dirt. That would be an excellent

23:54

thing to leave in a review for someone like me who's

23:56

like, but they say it's better so I should buy it.

23:58

And then you're like, no, don't do that, Travis. It

24:00

is not better. But on

24:03

the other side, right, you have

24:05

maybe like clothing, right, which is

24:08

really dependent on the sizing and

24:10

the way that it's cut and

24:13

how different bodies are going to fit into

24:15

it is different

24:17

for every person, right? So reviews can

24:19

be helpful where you talk about this

24:21

garment runs very small. It says

24:23

that it's a large and I usually wear a

24:25

large, but it fit me very tightly. So maybe

24:28

size up, that kind of thing. And also,

24:30

I mean, the reviews that I always

24:32

really appreciate and stuff like that, because

24:34

it is online, I'm not picking it

24:36

up. I'm not able to try it

24:38

on. If you're like the fabric's really

24:40

scratchy, right, or like it's very thin

24:42

or I wore it for

24:45

a week and it started to fall

24:47

apart, right, that's very helpful when I

24:49

can't physically pick it up and hold

24:52

it, right? I want to look and

24:54

see if it's like, do not do

24:56

this, right? Or like I buy a

24:58

lot of aquarium equipment, right? And

25:00

one of the things I look for is like,

25:02

it's really loud, right? Or it runs

25:05

super quiet or whatever, because that's one of

25:07

the things I need and I can't know

25:09

that until I've bought it. Exactly.

25:11

So we've got kind of like

25:14

one side of the scale is, was

25:17

it really bad? You're allowed to write a review.

25:20

Was it really good? You're allowed to write a review.

25:23

Now I also think that

25:25

in the age of online

25:27

shopping specifically, if an

25:29

item is as expected,

25:32

I believe that that is okay to

25:34

write a review for, because so many

25:36

times we see a picture of like,

25:38

say a rug, right, that you want to buy. And

25:41

someone in the reviews writes, this rug

25:44

is three by five inches instead of

25:46

three by five feet. That's important to

25:48

know. That's very important to know. It may

25:51

not, depending upon

25:53

how Legit. The store

25:56

is, right, that selling this may be

25:58

on like Amazon or whatever. Hammer

26:00

right, I'm. They. May

26:02

not actually say. And.

26:05

The Pixies could be misleading. I think

26:07

that it's an okay thing to write.

26:09

This was as expected. Well let me

26:11

tell you what you don't need right and

26:13

live I did a bit on my brother

26:15

my brother me for wow I would read

26:17

once or if he suggested and griffin and

26:20

they would have to guess with the product

26:22

was and my favorite ones I was came

26:24

across or something like I bought this for

26:26

my daughter and see didn't like at one

26:28

star well hold on man my I don't

26:30

know if that is the prior like this

26:32

toys as is very broad kids and my

26:34

daughter was i garver ensues i our play

26:37

with this said this product is bad man

26:39

oh man. Specifically. Speaking

26:41

now, you do want to keep

26:43

your views as concise as possible.

26:45

Freitas, you're not getting extra points

26:47

for a flower li frat flower

26:50

of. We frau of

26:52

flowery. yep. Language. But

26:55

you are getting points for getting

26:57

to the point rights and then

26:59

make sure that your grammar and

27:02

spelling and punctuation are correct. All

27:04

of that aids in like understanding

27:06

of you review or because if

27:08

I if I can't read it

27:10

I can't. And you also don't

27:12

yet. Backstory: eat on a bag or when

27:14

I was a kid and an island or

27:17

a move habit and his habits and now

27:19

this he says Avalon movie reviews yeah I'm

27:21

reason people be like I remember seeing the

27:23

some Feeders and blah blah blah blah blah

27:25

like cool man. The. Odyssey

27:27

to now is him as it's as

27:29

the like the movie or not own

27:31

yeah because I'd it isn't then I

27:33

don't. Hate. I don't

27:36

understand looking at movie reviews to the five

27:38

yuan. wants a movie or my arm. I'd

27:40

rather watch the trailer as if I'm interested.

27:42

Business mean right? And my were like hey,

27:45

I'm this movie Tim isn't It just goes

27:47

to a black screen and remains relax for

27:49

you for an hour and twenty minutes and

27:52

that's all there is. I would like to

27:54

know that before I go see the movie,

27:56

otherwise I'm on paradise. Try it out. That.

27:59

That will be. Strength Atlanta okay, were limited.

28:01

He falls apart in a week or whatever

28:03

I get. I love you know that zig

28:06

movies made of Ruth? That's immaterial. Some. Next,

28:08

you need to be very choosy whether

28:10

or not you name someone in your.

28:12

Review. My for. Restaurants Specifically Com:

28:14

If you are writing a good

28:16

reveal, it might be really helpful

28:18

to shout out your server or

28:20

or someone who gave you great

28:22

customer service. Ah, not only is

28:25

that kind of like. Really

28:27

awesome to read that people enjoy

28:29

being take care of. Thought wakes

28:32

the also some restaurants run little contest

28:34

for servers or you know they

28:36

made. A retail software like. There's

28:38

a. Link of

28:40

the bottom or something and co to the

28:43

bottom. Interview this person and if you give

28:45

me and sars or whatever like that is.

28:48

Like I've worked a lot to resell johnson them from they

28:50

move. They paid and. But if

28:52

someone wasn't particularly helpful,

28:54

I would caution against

28:57

naming that particular person

28:59

in the reveal because.

29:01

If. You are that unsatisfied with

29:04

a specific person and I

29:06

would recommend reaching out to

29:08

the owner. Instead.

29:10

Ah, and because they are the

29:12

people who could actually rectify. The.

29:15

Situation You writing and online

29:17

reviews saying how somebody ignored

29:19

you at a restaurant and

29:21

their name was blah blah

29:23

then that doesn't. That doesn't

29:25

make anything better, it just

29:27

makes life worth for that

29:29

particular. Person. I would also say

29:31

that. Than

29:34

I am sure he talked about this before

29:36

but you do not know what factors have

29:38

gone into that person's day that has brought

29:40

them to this point and I would argue

29:43

most of the things that you would complain

29:45

about a spare specific server on like in

29:47

a restaurant is like may be a factor

29:49

of it's completely outside of their control. like

29:52

the restaurant was under staffed and they had

29:54

way too many tables or like the kitchen

29:56

was way behind them. it took longer to

29:58

get your food up. Or like

30:00

the food being made wrong isn't

30:02

rarely like a server small unless

30:05

the internet like it. So I

30:07

would say that somebody's going above

30:09

and beyond. Right is them? Being.

30:11

An exemplary employ. They're. Being

30:14

issues with like wait times you

30:16

know their food being wrong or

30:18

cold or whatever is more of

30:20

an indication that there is something

30:22

going wrong at the restaurant as

30:25

a whole. Way more than Isis

30:27

like man, this one person. Made.

30:29

Everything wrong or whenever it like. I think

30:32

it's more of an indication of their something

30:34

an we pick them up the process and.

30:36

I. Think that that is okay to

30:38

right ear of the else. It is

30:40

okay to write that they're they're succeeding

30:42

for the tables as poor, so their

30:45

servers are overwhelmed right? Or their kitchen

30:47

is badly rent so the food comes

30:49

out called rat for it. Things like

30:51

that right? I think that is very

30:54

helpful for someone whereas calling out a

30:56

person specifically saying it was all their

30:58

fault. Probably. Not very helpful

31:00

and I think that is you are

31:02

writing online reviews. you need to be

31:05

open to responses in two thousand and

31:07

nine Yelp added. The ability for businesses

31:09

to reply to the is so becomes

31:12

more of a dialogue riots in so

31:14

it's possible you might get upon it

31:16

back on your if you from a

31:18

manager who wants to make sense right?

31:21

and I think that that's something that

31:23

you really should try and be open

31:25

to. Not saying that you can't express

31:27

your frustrations but be open. To

31:30

the possibility that the company really wants to

31:32

try and make things better for you.

31:34

Com And if you're a business owner,

31:36

I think that that's a great tool for

31:38

you to be ready to give this

31:40

responses in a. Kind and respectful manner

31:43

of course. Not everyone is

31:45

going to love everything that they

31:47

do and that's okay. Maybe that's

31:49

not the. The. demographic

31:51

maybe that you're aiming for like

31:53

we talked about the kids stuff

31:55

if you say that your restaurant

31:57

is great for kids and then

32:00

Somebody with kids has a poor experience because

32:02

you don't have a kids menu, right? They

32:05

might write that and then

32:07

if you're a restaurant owner Have a

32:09

kid's it get some boxes of craft mac

32:11

and cheese in there get some frozen macaron

32:13

Get some frozen chicken nuggets like a hard

32:16

and listen Hey listen if you're listening and

32:18

you in a restaurant and you have a

32:20

kid's menu and you have macaroni and cheese

32:22

on there and it isn't Craft

32:24

macaroni and cheese has become like a personal chance

32:27

any chance I get What

32:31

are you doing? Because I say to my kid

32:33

there's no there's macaroni and cheese I'm like yeah

32:36

And then it comes and there's like some breadcrumbs and

32:38

it's brulee and it's got all kinds of

32:40

stuff in it And my daughter like no,

32:42

what is this? No,

32:45

just make it craft macaroni and cheese I'm I'm

32:47

over the moon if it's mad like craft macaroni

32:50

cheese Are you kidding me? You can bring me

32:52

out of one of those little microwavable cups of

32:54

craft macaroni and cheese and I'll be so happy

32:56

because my kid Well, I'm eating food

32:58

that I didn't have to make it's amazing Stop

33:01

overdoing the kids macaroni and cheese.

33:04

Who are you trying to impress

33:06

my four-year-old? Come on Sorry,

33:08

I'm done now. It's just you're

33:10

done. Yeah. Okay. All

33:12

right, so Inflammation

33:16

it is after macaroni and

33:18

cheese. No Every time no,

33:21

no, no, okay that word we're done with macaroni and

33:23

cheese. You said you were done same with

33:25

grilled cheese, by the way Oh, yeah, she's

33:27

bread. Don't put other stuff on there. They're

33:29

children. Okay, go on. Okay so

33:33

information Please be

33:35

effusive with your five-star

33:37

reviews. Everybody loves them. They're

33:39

great Also, don't be afraid

33:42

if you have any kind of

33:44

like anxiety to express your frustrations,

33:46

right? But there are a few

33:48

things I would recommend first reach

33:50

out to the company

33:53

first Is sometimes

33:55

if you send them directly to them instead of

33:57

posting it online, they'll be eager to make things

33:59

better for you Especially if it's something... So avoid

34:01

the negative review. If it's like this, it was broken,

34:03

right? Right. Cool. We

34:06

can replace that. That's not an inherent problem with

34:09

the company. I mean, if you're like, this

34:11

was packed badly or whatever. Right. But

34:13

so often, that might be a deal with the delivery. It

34:16

might be, I don't know, who knows, right? But

34:18

most people are willing to

34:20

make it right, especially small businesses. Yeah.

34:23

Right? Also have a reasonable amount of

34:25

empathy. You never know what that person is going through. And

34:29

we've talked about that. We've also talked about thinking

34:31

before you post. Are you angry about

34:33

this situation? Maybe

34:35

having a cooling off period will help give you

34:37

a little more insight

34:40

on the matter. Sleep on it. Talk

34:42

it out with your friends. Maybe try

34:45

not to rely too much on this

34:48

perceived anonymity. Right? Yeah. I

34:51

would also say, along with a certain

34:53

amount of empathy, have a reasonable expectation

34:55

of the process, even before you get

34:57

there. Right? And you

34:59

have to engage, because there would

35:01

be a big difference between like,

35:03

oh, I'm going to this chain

35:05

salon, right, where there's 18 people

35:08

working all the time, to this independently

35:11

owned small business salon, where there's

35:13

maybe two people, and I might

35:16

have to wait a little bit

35:18

longer, because it's only two people, but

35:20

the server, whatever. Right? And

35:22

so those are different experiences. But

35:24

if you go into it expecting

35:27

one or the other, you're

35:29

going to be disappointed, and your review is

35:31

going to reflect that. Yes. I

35:34

would also say, don't

35:36

feel guilty if you are an anxious

35:38

type person, and I sometimes am. Don't

35:41

feel guilty about reporting something like racism,

35:44

or homophobia, or blatant sexism, or anything

35:46

like that. Because

35:48

if you felt like creeped out, or

35:50

upset by a place, writing

35:52

a review is a good way to make sure

35:54

that other people avoid that experience. Yeah. So

35:57

I think that is okay. I agree. Thank

36:01

you so much for listening. Thank you to our

36:03

editor, Rachel, without whom we could not make the

36:05

show. Thank you to our researcher, Alex, without whom

36:07

we could not make the show. And thank you

36:09

to you for listening. You're great,

36:11

five stars, one sum up, no wait. Two

36:14

sums up. Go

36:16

to macroymerch.com, check out all the cool

36:18

merch that's there

36:20

for your purchase. All five star

36:22

stuff, all amazing stuff. And

36:25

let's see, what else, Teresa? We always

36:27

thank Brent, Brentsselflossblack for writing our theme music,

36:29

which is available as a ringtone where those

36:31

are found. Also, thank you to

36:34

Bruja Betty Penn of Photography for the cover

36:36

picture of our fan run Facebook group, Schmanner's Fanners.

36:38

If you'd love to give and get excellent advice

36:40

from other fans, go ahead and join that

36:42

group today. As always,

36:44

we are currently taking topic

36:47

submissions and questions and idioms,

36:50

always. Please submit those to

36:52

schmannerscast.gmail.com and say hi to

36:55

Alex because she reads everyone.

36:57

And that's gonna do it for us. So join

36:59

us again next week. No RSVP required. You've been

37:01

listening to Schmanner's. Manner Schmanner.

37:05

Get it. Shh.

37:08

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:11

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:14

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:18

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:21

Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:24

Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.

37:28

Maximum Fan. A worker-owned

37:30

network of artist-owned shows. Supported

37:32

directly by you.