Some time ago, I post I made set off a chain of events. Part of that chain of events was an amusing comment chain that reminded me of the sheer joy I get when business owners tell their critics to get absolutely fucked, and if they don't like it, they don't have to be a customer of the business.

I was reminded of a restaraunt near my house, and as I said in the comment:

There was an Uyghur restaurant near my old house. They were a family. They barely spoke English. They were beautiful. They shouted and bickered in their native tongue.

They didn't give you plates, they were in the Butler's pantry near the kitchen with the tea and cutlery.

They were disorganised. They were chaotic. They were a family who served amazing food, offered gathering points for their community, and welcomed strangers to their culture of barely functioning in a small building next to a cleaning supplies store with smiles full of missing teeth and decay.

I took so much pleasure in reading their responses to their customer reviews.

Event 1

Event 2

This has led me down the path of thought toward other businesses that respond in the same way. Recently, a friend was applying for a job (a friend, not me - I'm still, as I type this jobless!) and they looked up the google reviews of the business. They had the same joy I had, but then questioned whether they'd want to work for a company that responded to their reviews in such a way.

Event 3

Event 4

These are just four examples, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, heck, maybe even millions of such examples out there.

But it does make wonder. Are these businesses so confident in their product that tehy do not care at all about the negative reviews, and the customer's they've lost? The second company had a number of very long, apologetic, quite clearly chat GPT generated responses on more recent reviews, but well, most of the time, the Internet remembers.

But definitely, people do. Reviews are the ultimate form of word of mouth, and our words (or perhaps) our fingers have an increased potency when it comes to reviewing businesses in a public square, such as the search results.

It is very easy to type a review, it is just as easy for business owners to provide comedic gold mines in response.

But what about using the businesses that publish their responses so vexatiously and callously? What makes them feel the need to reply at all? It is a reaction, instead of a response, or is it just them letting their emotions get the better of them.

As we see countless times on video footage, when police arrest someone, they often say "you have the right to remain silent", but when the customer makes a critique, often, the business replies.

There's been no shortage of legal threats to customers over online reviews, and increasingly, businesses defend themselves by validating if the reviewer was an actual customer of theirs - even in places on local sub Reddits.

But I always have a twinkle in my eye when I read these business owner review responses, because they're braver than I'd ever be. They have balls. And most of them are still in business, anyway.

Do you have any business owners who have left amusing or abusive responses to reviews by their customers? I'd love to see more!