Place: In-N-Out Burger
Lunch: Double Double (no lettuce, no tomato, add pickles and grilled onions), chocolate shake
You know what I never noticed before? In-N-Out’s grilled onions are reconstituted dehydrated minced onions.
They’re fine, it just seems odd for a chain that boasts of “fresh” so much. And it won’t matter to the In-N-Out faithful, who are as fiercely and blindly behind the brand as Apple fans are to theirs.
This was made apparent in news stories covering the closure of the oldest operating Burgerville. The Portland chain’s Beaverton outlet was my childhood burger joint and it still retains that classic exterior look. I’ve stopped in for lunch on every trip home for years.
It’s a big deal to a lot of people to see it go, including to the media, who covered it and posted said stories on Facebook. Which meant there were lots of comments. That included lots of snarky negative comments.
“Who cares. They’re overrated.”
“Their quality has gone down hill and they’re overpriced.”
“The whole chain will be out of business as soon as In-N-Out opens.”
Wait...what? In-N-Out? Yes. In-N-Out is opening a restaurant soon in Salem.
A single location, specifically, that is 40 miles from this Burgerville (and most other Burgervilles), is going to put all 40 Burgervilles out of business.
This isn’t just a Burgerville issue, of course. The same thing happens with all the major chains. Everybody loves to dump on McDonald’s and Burger King like it’s a sport. But no matter how many new and even better competitors grow, they’re still the biggest burger chains.
This happens with any business, news story, musical artist page, you name it. It was on the official KISS page that I got fed up with the idiots who “like” the page and follow the posts for their big tour just so they can leave comments like “its fake Paul’s lip-synching” and “they’re a cover band without Ace and Peter.”
And that’s when I started blocking people.
When you block a user on Facebook, they can no longer see your posts, you can no longer see theirs, and they can’t send you friend requests. And if they’re already friends, they’re automatically unfriended.
The KISS feed suddenly became so much more readable.
So I started to do the same with toxic users on other feeds. Then I started muting the radical firebombing political posters regardless of party affiliation who I am friends with (muting hides their posts from your feed, but they can still read yours) or selectively putting some on 30 day mutes. And I started hiding all content from meme sources my friends are constantly sharing on their feeds. (Hiding a source means you’ll no longer see shared posts from that source without completely muting your friend.)
I also started blocking big pharma advertisers so I don’t have to look at their disgusting ads.
You know what? Facebook has become a lot more tolerable. My feed is more readable. It’s not perfect, but it’s better.
So the next time you see that same username posting yet another stupid negative unnecessary comment, click on their profile, find the option to block them, and send them into the abyss.
You’ll feel much better in the morning.
