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The restaurant industry is saturated. People have plenty of options to choose from and businesses have to compete for every customer. When the fight is this close, something as simple as a negative online review can have serious implications for the future of an establishment. So when someone gives a restaurant a 1-star rating, some of them decide to respond in an attempt to fill everyone in on the big picture and protect their reputation. Or just diss the OP. Takeaway Trauma is an Instagram account that collects these savage replies. Since its launch in September 2020, the fun little project has acquired quite the collection! Here are some of its most popular ones.
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Bored Panda got in touch with the person behind Takeaway Trauma and even though they want to remain anonymous, they agreed to tell us more about the project. "I'm a big takeaway fan and found myself going to order a delivery and thought I’d check the reviews of a particular establishment. After checking the good reviews, I thought I better check the bad ones also," the creator of Takeaway Trauma recalled its origins.
"I came across the most hilarious reviews and was genuinely crying with laughter. Without really thinking about it, I screenshotted the reviews just for my own personal use to send to friends, etc. People seemed to find them funny so I thought, let's try and curate these and create a page out of it!"
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Looking at the images, one can't help but think that people could use a nice gulp of empathy before throwing accusations on the Internet. The creator of Takeaway Trauma shares this belief. "I think people should be more forgiving; people in general are so impatient and want things instantly," they said, adding that we live in a 'now' culture where everyone wants things straight away and wants them to be perfect. "As soon as these high standards aren't met, the natural human reaction is to complain."
"I think a lot of the time, people give too much stick to takeaways, however, with that being said, some of the images of takeaway food I’ve seen really do look awful, so I think you can only really determine it on a case by case basis."
#4
When they first started Takeaway Trauma, they would salvage reviews from TripAdvisor, Just Eat, and all of the main takeaway platforms. Now, however, the account has gotten so big that other people send them in. "I think takeaway reviews and takeaway culture will forever be a growing market so I won't be running out of content any time soon."
The numbers agree. In 2019, the global market for online-ordered prepared food delivery was estimated at $94 billion and it is expected to grow at about 9 percent a year, reaching $134.5 billion in 2023.
The submissions that end up in Takeaway Trauma's inbox still have to get manual approval, though. "I only post ones that I find funny," the creator of the account said. "If they don't resonate with me, I don’t think they’ll resonate with other people."
So far, they are not only funny but also are excellent proof that Wendy's PR team definitely has admirers in the corporate world as well.
#13
#16
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago (edited)
Maybe it's wiser not to order food for delivery in a snow storm...
#18
littlesaresare 4 years ago
How could they possibly know if someone on a review site has ordered before or not?
#19
#22
#29
#31
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
The least the customer could’ve done was put their outside lights on, tell him what the house looks like, tell him what kind of car is parked out front, or look out for the driver and flag him down to be sure he could find them. I mean, ffs, give the guy some help, instead of making him burn gas trying to deliver your food, if you know your house is hard to find!
#34
Bender Bending Rodríguez 4 years ago
This seems like misunderstanding. If replier is Indian, an not familiar with different dietary options, there are high chances they consider milk products to be veg option. Back in the days India only followed two dietary options Veg and Non Veg. Veg = Vegetables and milk products; Non Veg = Eggs, meat, fish. May be follow up request to omit cream may get you more accurate answer as if they can fulfill your request or not.
#35
#38
#40
cookie panda 4 years ago
ok first off, thats just messed up. you order at two am and expect it to be god quality?
#41
#48
#49
Premislaus de Colo 4 years ago
OK, I was hoping for some witty snappy comments, but they're just rude replies...
#52
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
This is a problem with all online ratings. Competitors and disgruntled ex-employees can trash a business’ reputation online, in an effort to steal customers or just for pure spite. Instead of being petty, just work harder and better, and/or sell a better product.
#53
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Makes you wonder which kind of “coke” they were expecting with their order, doesn’t it?
#59
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
Maybe there ought to be a separate ranking option for delivery? I probably would have added the comment about delivery as a "PS".
#60
Hugh Cookson 4 years ago
Yeah, as an ex courier amongst other jobs, I get this .... sometimes addresses are bloody impossible to find - one for instance was a woman who's house was off the main road, down a dirt track, then down another - gated - dirt track, up a badly rutted track (so bad, that I thought my exhaust was going to go), finally got there - an hour after leavibg the bloody main road - all to deliver a bar of fcking soap !!
#65
John Baker 4 years ago
So the chips were still frozen because your driver got pulled over? Gotcha.
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What do you think ?
Aroha 4 years ago (edited)
The most shocking thing here is the fact that neither the customers nor the restaurants know what grammar and punctuation are...
Amy Cohen 4 years ago
I could barely understand them. How do they run a functioning business and can’t write a sentence?
Load More Replies...
Ruthie Davies 4 years ago (edited)
In most of these comments the restaurants are being needlessly rude and not addressing the customers issues. The 'fatty' reply was just awful. Responses like most of these would make me less likely to eat at those places than the low star reviews by themselves.
Sky Render 4 years ago
I can't help but notice that almost everyone in these posts (reviewers and responders alike) has atrocious writing skills. Needless abbreviations of 3-letter words, run-on sentences, no capitalization or punctuation, disorganized composition... Is writing education not a thing any longer?
Zucchini 4 years ago
As someone who is currently learning about writing, I can assure you that writing education is a thing. But it is clear that none of the people here bothered to pay attention to it!
Load More Replies...
Commander OwO 4 years ago
Look. Just because the customer isn't always right does NOT mean they're always WRONG
littlesaresare 4 years ago
This article is worded to suggest these a bad customers. Almost all of them are actually the owners being deplorably rude to their customers. Does the writer of this article think this is acceptable behaviour?
Al Jones 4 years ago
Some of these are funny but so many of them are just people that can't accept criticism. If they disagree with a complaint, I don't think it's unreasonable to politely disagree but why on earth would they insult their customers? Those kind of responses scare off future customers too and you'd think they'd fight for every customer right now. Aside from that, some of the replies were just plain nasty and not okay in ANY context.
SykesDaMan 4 years ago
TL;DR version: Customer: *complains* Owner: "F... You! We are perfect and you suck!" (or some variation).
Fish Boden 4 years ago
"69 Times Restaurants Left Hilarious Replies Under Bad Reviews, Shared By This Instagram Page". These replies are NOT hilarious. Seriously, did you even read them, Rokas?
Paradise 4 years ago
I couldn't finish reading. Was hoping for funny, well-deserved tell-offs to the customer. Found poorly spelled and worded messes from both sides and unfunny, unprofessional, uncalled for owner responses.
Theresa Krause 4 years ago
Hey. Don’t bring the mentally challenged into this. The person who liked these sorry retorts is just a garbage person. If you have legitimate bad customers you have legitimate bad customers. Not everyone who complains is automatically an asshole.
Load More Replies...
Debbie 4 years ago (edited)
This was soooo painful to read. USE PUNCTUTATIONS AND PROPER GRAMMAR! Both the customer and the company. It's good that I don't have a business that gets customer reviews, because I'd state in the review rules (that no one would read) that your comment/review must be readable/legible. I don't mean a typo of a wrong word is bad. But just... capitals, comma's, stops... Please!
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago (edited)
I have never had food delivered to my home as I live 200 yards from a Chinese takeaway and have the option of several places in a radius of a mile. I prefer to order & collect in person(even though that means waiting outside because of COVID-19). I do jobs at McDonalds and was surprised at how many people have the food delivered: IMHO the food at these types of restaurants isn't overly warm to start with and is best eaten within 20 mins of preparation. The majority of the posts dealt with business owners who could not handle criticism and were aggressive/insulting in their replies.
TheRandomBorger 4 years ago (edited)
The worst part is that neither customers nor restaurants have no idea how to write a sentence. I think they should do a recap on 2nd grade english, it's ridiculous
Brandi VanSteenwyk 4 years ago
Although the majority of the customers come across as whining complainers, even more of the businesses emote unprofessionalism. Their atrocious grammar, punctuation and spelling immediately speaks louder than their often rude and inconsiderate replies. I would be completely embarrassed to have my company represented in this fashion.
John Louis 4 years ago
So often there are two sides to every story. Boredpanda is irresponsible for printing only one side and asking us to believe that is the whole story.
Theresa Krause 4 years ago
There’s an undercurrent of micro aggression if the chip shop owners and the customer base are from different classes/ethnicities that is likely going unaddressed. So it could be why the shop owners are so defensive. Some of it could just be bad service though. Since most of it is British I think the race/class thing is heavily in play.
Load More Replies... John Baker 4 years ago
I'd be leery of most of these places. Just because some mentally challenged individual thought the owners' rude, unprofessional (and ungrammatical) replies were witty or clever doesn't mean the customers' complaints weren't valid.
Chaotic_pansexual 4 years ago
I also noticed the complete absence of writing skills. I tried reading a couple out loud and I almost had a stroke
Amanita muscaria 4 years ago
Ehhhhh good quality bad quality I just wanna eat something now...
Tracy 4 years ago
Yes, and people keep using them because they don't WANT to cook most of these things themselves. Some people don't like cooking or aren't good at cooking, and sometimes they just want the convenience of takeout. In some cases it's cheaper to do takeout than to buy the ingredients needed to make it, and there are a lot of people who might not be able to afford the grocery trip.
Load More Replies... Aroha 4 years ago (edited)
The most shocking thing here is the fact that neither the customers nor the restaurants know what grammar and punctuation are...
Amy Cohen 4 years ago
I could barely understand them. How do they run a functioning business and can’t write a sentence?
Load More Replies... Ruthie Davies 4 years ago (edited)
In most of these comments the restaurants are being needlessly rude and not addressing the customers issues. The 'fatty' reply was just awful. Responses like most of these would make me less likely to eat at those places than the low star reviews by themselves.
Sky Render 4 years ago
I can't help but notice that almost everyone in these posts (reviewers and responders alike) has atrocious writing skills. Needless abbreviations of 3-letter words, run-on sentences, no capitalization or punctuation, disorganized composition... Is writing education not a thing any longer?
Zucchini 4 years ago
As someone who is currently learning about writing, I can assure you that writing education is a thing. But it is clear that none of the people here bothered to pay attention to it!
Load More Replies... Commander OwO 4 years ago
Look. Just because the customer isn't always right does NOT mean they're always WRONG
littlesaresare 4 years ago
This article is worded to suggest these a bad customers. Almost all of them are actually the owners being deplorably rude to their customers. Does the writer of this article think this is acceptable behaviour?
Al Jones 4 years ago
Some of these are funny but so many of them are just people that can't accept criticism. If they disagree with a complaint, I don't think it's unreasonable to politely disagree but why on earth would they insult their customers? Those kind of responses scare off future customers too and you'd think they'd fight for every customer right now. Aside from that, some of the replies were just plain nasty and not okay in ANY context.
SykesDaMan 4 years ago
TL;DR version: Customer: *complains* Owner: "F... You! We are perfect and you suck!" (or some variation).
Fish Boden 4 years ago
"69 Times Restaurants Left Hilarious Replies Under Bad Reviews, Shared By This Instagram Page". These replies are NOT hilarious. Seriously, did you even read them, Rokas?
Paradise 4 years ago
I couldn't finish reading. Was hoping for funny, well-deserved tell-offs to the customer. Found poorly spelled and worded messes from both sides and unfunny, unprofessional, uncalled for owner responses.
Theresa Krause 4 years ago
Hey. Don’t bring the mentally challenged into this. The person who liked these sorry retorts is just a garbage person. If you have legitimate bad customers you have legitimate bad customers. Not everyone who complains is automatically an asshole.
Load More Replies... Debbie 4 years ago (edited)
This was soooo painful to read. USE PUNCTUTATIONS AND PROPER GRAMMAR! Both the customer and the company. It's good that I don't have a business that gets customer reviews, because I'd state in the review rules (that no one would read) that your comment/review must be readable/legible. I don't mean a typo of a wrong word is bad. But just... capitals, comma's, stops... Please!
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago (edited)
I have never had food delivered to my home as I live 200 yards from a Chinese takeaway and have the option of several places in a radius of a mile. I prefer to order & collect in person(even though that means waiting outside because of COVID-19). I do jobs at McDonalds and was surprised at how many people have the food delivered: IMHO the food at these types of restaurants isn't overly warm to start with and is best eaten within 20 mins of preparation. The majority of the posts dealt with business owners who could not handle criticism and were aggressive/insulting in their replies.
TheRandomBorger 4 years ago (edited)
The worst part is that neither customers nor restaurants have no idea how to write a sentence. I think they should do a recap on 2nd grade english, it's ridiculous
Brandi VanSteenwyk 4 years ago
Although the majority of the customers come across as whining complainers, even more of the businesses emote unprofessionalism. Their atrocious grammar, punctuation and spelling immediately speaks louder than their often rude and inconsiderate replies. I would be completely embarrassed to have my company represented in this fashion.
John Louis 4 years ago
So often there are two sides to every story. Boredpanda is irresponsible for printing only one side and asking us to believe that is the whole story.
Theresa Krause 4 years ago
There’s an undercurrent of micro aggression if the chip shop owners and the customer base are from different classes/ethnicities that is likely going unaddressed. So it could be why the shop owners are so defensive. Some of it could just be bad service though. Since most of it is British I think the race/class thing is heavily in play.
Load More Replies... John Baker 4 years ago
I'd be leery of most of these places. Just because some mentally challenged individual thought the owners' rude, unprofessional (and ungrammatical) replies were witty or clever doesn't mean the customers' complaints weren't valid.
Chaotic_pansexual 4 years ago
I also noticed the complete absence of writing skills. I tried reading a couple out loud and I almost had a stroke
Amanita muscaria 4 years ago
Ehhhhh good quality bad quality I just wanna eat something now...
Tracy 4 years ago
Yes, and people keep using them because they don't WANT to cook most of these things themselves. Some people don't like cooking or aren't good at cooking, and sometimes they just want the convenience of takeout. In some cases it's cheaper to do takeout than to buy the ingredients needed to make it, and there are a lot of people who might not be able to afford the grocery trip.
Load More Replies...
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