Bully Bloggers or Why It Makes Sense To Be Nice

Around 3 days ago, in the restaurant my in-laws own, there was a lady who complained about the service she received from a certain cashier. She began insisting that the cashier should be FIRED or else she'll blog about her experience. According to her, she's a blogger so her wishes should be followed.

People like that give bloggers a bad name. Using their self-granted "power" to bully people into following their wishes. Not only is that utterly unprofessional, that also goes against the main point of being a blogger (a review blogger, in particular).

Think of bloggers as people who make wildlife documentaries. They don't interfere with their subject, even if this means that a cute little lamb they've been following for a few days now will get eaten by a crocodile. That's the animal world and that's how that world works.

As bloggers, we should also not interfere with the world we are reviewing. This removes the consistency of the environment that we're trying to review. How can we assure our readers that they'll have the same experience as us if your experience hinges on the fact that the staff "fears" you?

What we do, and we believe it's the best practice, we don't announce who we are. We act like normal customers. Of course we ask for a little extra like some more sauce, or a bit more walnuts, but nothing that a "normal" customer won't get. By doing this, we get the "normal" customer experience -- the same experience our readers will get.

Remember, if you have a review blog you have a responsibility to your readers to be objective and to share with them what they can expect. That responsibility means there is no room for you to be a bully. So keep your cool and you'll be more effective. Plus, waiters are people too so be nice.

(photo by Chesi - Fotos CC)