A Facebook page is collecting all those inane online complaints
The best thing about those online review sites like Yelp or Zomato is that anyone can share their thoughts on a restaurant or other businesses. It also happens to be the worst thing.
Once Loyal Customer (OLC) is an Australian Facebook page dedicated to chronicling the embarrassingly minor or ridiculous customer complaints that really shouldn't have been made in the first place.
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Likely ending with the words "I was once a loyal customer" or "I'm never returning here again," the page is full of bizarre rants by the kind of people who would mouth off at a supermarket cashier or a waiter at a restaurant. Only this time, it's forever stored on the Internet and turned into memes for maximum enjoyment. Plus we're loving the abundance of The Simpsons references.
Started in 2013, the page is a clear piss-take of the online review swamp Urbanspoon before it became the glossier Zomato.
"Like many of us, I've worked in customer service in the past," OLC's admin told Mashable Australia via email. The person wouldn't share their identity even though it's unlikely "99.999% of people would even give a shit."
In the admin's previous job he was given the "despicable task" of managing a company Facebook page and its Urbanspoon page to respond to negative reviews publicly. It created an obsession within.
"The more I read, the more I delved deeper. If somebody had left a bad review, I'd meticulously study every other review they'd posted to try and understand if their complaint stemmed from a legitimate place, or if they were an entitled serial complainer fangin' for freebies with no comprehension of how hospitality works," he said. "Some of them were so bad, so funny and deserved to be shared."
Restaurants receiving unreasonable complaints rarely have a loud enough voice to respond with, said OLC's admin, and so the Facebook page was set up as a counter to how idiotic these complaints can be.
"The stupid, immature, Simpsons screenshot laden images of OLC showcase how moronic some of these one star reviews really are and what small businesses have to deal with regularly," he said.
Some of his favourite posts included the cracker that is "Peaking Duck," some guy complaining about a burger as he was expecting it be cheaper because he has no job, as well as a person who preferred a tin of Nescafé Blend 43 as opposed to a thimble "full of pretension."
Let other people's pain be your pleasure, here are our 12 favourites from the wonderful page.
Who knew there were different types of coffee?
Turns out you can't return milk to an entirely different supermarket.
We're pouring one out for Wally Lewis.
Ah, yeah, us neither.
Hospitality staff boozed up? No way.
Some people will just never be satisfied.
To be fair, scalding liquid sucks.
"This is great banter."
Barbecues: We think there might be a lot of meat there.
Being too drunk = gets you kicked out of places.
Anatomy 101: Legs have bones in them.
How rude. These sesame seeds weren't evenly arranged on the bun.
UPDATE: April 13, 2016, 1:02 p.m. AEST Added comments from the owner of the Once Loyal Customer page.
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