Things I didn’t know: The Restore is closing. My initial response: oh, that’s sad. The Restore, an initiative of Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake, supports their mission of providing safe, affordable homes for those who are in need of stable housing. The Restore also helps reduce waste by keeping otherwise usable home furnishings out of landfills. Learn more here:
A friend posted that this week is their last week. I checked out their website and found - - whew! - - that it’s not as final as all that. They are moving, so will be closed for a while. I believe this is their second move. Didn’t they used to be around the corner? In the meantime, they are having a big sale!
You know what else I didn’t know?
I had no idea that the Dancel Y in Ellicott City has an enormous outdoor pool. Did you? No? That’s because they don’t. I went to their website to double-check. But they are running multiple adverts right now that would definitely give you that impression.
Apparently if you join that gives you access to other Ys in Central Maryland that do have outdoor pools. I’m not impressed. Truth in advertising and all that. Bait and switch, maybe?
Speaking of things that are and they aren’t…
The Dish: Many restaurateurs love ChatGPT. Many diners don’t., Christina Tkacik, Baltimore BannerSomething about this headline made me laugh. Remember when businesses used to say, “The customer is always right”? Does anyone still say this? (It’s not exactly true in all circumstances, I know.)
Let’s think for a minute: if you are trying to push something on your customers that they don’t want, what are you in business for, exactly?
Consider the push in the last several years or so to replace restaurant menus with QR codes. Restaurants could cite a variety of what sounded like very good reasons to make the switch. But, for the most part, restaurant patrons HATED using QR codes in lieu of physical menus. They had good reasons, too.
I can think of one place that tried this that had wildly unreliable wifi. It wasn’t worth the effort involved. I just went elsewhere.
The tech industry may be pushing restaurants to jump into the “AI revolution” but, if your customers hate it, what good will it do you? I certainly don’t want to patronize a business that won’t listen to and respond to customer input on something as big as ChatGPT.
One restauranteur in the article seems to be responding to public dissatisfaction by saying, “I don’t know why it bothers them!”
Well, go find out then. You haven’t listened hard enough.
Imagine that you introduced a menu item and people hated it. Would you keep serving it in exactly the same way - - just shrugging your shoulders, saying, “I don’t know why people don’t like it” ?
What a waste of food, money, and consumer goodwill that would be.
Fliers, adverts, and social media posts made using ChatGPT using AI-concocted images are less authentic, less engaging, and absolutely less human than those fashioned by human creators. I am not willing to spend my time or money on anything or anyone that wants to make my life less authentic, less engaging, and less human.
Why would I?
Be who you are. The alternative is just too creepy.
ReplyDeletePlease do not submit comments here. This function will be disabled shortly. Use the link above instead. Thanks!