Week 2 Part A: Communication Between Business & Consumer

     Social media has given many people access to share their thoughts about businesses whether they are positive or negative. Sometimes it can be very entertaining to look at reviews for a business from someone who you can just tell is unhappy with their life and need something to complain about. Granted, other times complaints are completely warranted. I think depending on the depending on the business, it can make communication and problem solving easier. Big companies don't enjoy having their name tarnished, so when there is a complaint, they have their social media teams on it to resolve the issue. A sad example of this is drivers for Lyft or Uber have come out on TikTok to complain about being assaulted on the job and how communication with the company has fallen through every time until the victim's video gains a lot of attention from the public. I have always thought that big corporations do not care about you as an employee; they care about their public image. It seems that it's easier to solve a problem with complaints towards bigger companies because of the numerous resources that they have to resolve an issue. Smaller businesses, though, do not seem to have the staff to filter through the positive and negative reviews. 

    I looked through a couple of smaller businesses that I use a lot: Cow Shed Bar and Tacos Alex which are both in San Marcos. Both businesses had at least a hundred reviews, but I did not once see communication from the business' end. Looking at both of of these places I frequent was interesting because everyone really does have a different experience. I love the Cow Shed and have been frequenting the spot for about 9 months. I've definitely had my share of negative experiences with wanting to punch a misogynist man in the face for what he was saying about women, a bartender having a rough day and being standoffish, but it isn't something that I would leave a review about. There were a lot of negative reviews about bartenders being rude, some saying that the bar is full of losers who come to waste their paycheck, and complaints about the name...? It's one thing to leave a comment about a bad experience with staff but to drag the business down because of the people who go there or for their name? That doesn't make sense to me because it really doesn't do anything for the business. A lot of people leave reviews out of anger and not with reason. This happened with Tacos Alex as well.

    Tacos Alex is a really small shop in San Marcos that looks like a little house converted into a restaurant. I love it. The food is really good and the people in there work really hard. I've been when it's slow and when the place is busy. They only have about two cooks anytime I go so I recognize that the food will take longer when there are a lot of orders. Some people don't get that though. I saw a lot of reviews about how long it took for them to get their food but then they say something about how they heard six other order numbers being called. Okay Karen so if I'm getting this correctly the two cooks should stop everything that they're doing and make your order first because you're just that important, right? Those types of reviews make me wish that some people did not have access to even leave a review. Have some common sense, patience, and respect. It really grinds my gears, clearly. 

    Personally, I've only left a couple of reviews. One  review was positive and the other was negative. Honestly I felt really bad about the negative review but I was told to leave it. I was in Vegas a few weeks ago and stopped at a liquor store to restock the essential nutrients needed for the fridge. I ended up paying $36 on a 12 pack of seltzers that should have been 25 bucks max. I left a review saying that the guy in the store was really nice but that people should save their money. I still feel really bad about the review, but I would appreciate someone telling me not to spend that much money because it was a scam. The positive review I wrote was for a new dispensary that had recently opened up and the people in there were so nice and helpful. AND they had free snacks I mean come on. 

    If I had a business that was on Yelp I would check it all the time to see how people viewed the business. Depending on how popular the business was I would hope to be able to respond to every comment whether it was positive or negative. It's nice when someone takes the time out of their day to express kindness towards another person or business. For negative comments I would definitely want to find out more about the situation because I really do want to be able to make everyone happy. 

    I left a review on Tacos Alex after seeing a couple negative comments and I mentioned how they don't have a big staff because it is a small family business. I expressed my gratitude about how hard they work to make such good food. I also mentioned that I love looking at the art that they have on the walls and that the place is just so cute to me. The next review I left was for 55 Yard Line. Every time my roommate and I go there the staff is so good to us and we love chatting with them. Their jukebox is decently priced and they always mention something about how we play good music. We always feel welcomed and love to go there on Tuesdays for $4 Stellas.