The other morning I was taken aback as the owner of my favourite café was lamenting how poorly she felt after reading an ordinary review of her café on urbanspoon.com
She knew that it shouldn’t have gotten her down but because she is so passionate about what she does every little niggle hurts.
Ironically in my eyes, this very morning the long line of customers had already started to form outside her thriving little café as it did every Saturday and Sunday morning. The customers love the fact that the staff remember your name, remember your order and generally provide a vibe that you just feel great being immersed within. Yes on occasions I would rather that my toast be left in the toaster that fraction longer or the amount of feta could be a little more generous but if you make mention of any of these issues (if the staff haven’t already noticed) they are remedied in the fraction of a second sans any pantomime or attitude. So to set the scene Toast Café in East Perth is just not the type of place that you could ever really complain about, and 1000’s of people week on week lay testimony to this.
Never the less if you bother to scour urbanspoon.com you can find the odd crack.
This got me thinking …. why do folk feel that they have to reach out and play critic?
- Is it because they have been bombarded with reality TV shows and now feel they are expert on just about anything going around.
- Or is it because they have been suffering to be noticed so much that finally they have a forum to vent.
- Maybe it is because deep down they resent the fact that this vibrant ambitious lady has taken the plunge to present her passion as a business which is booming and they just must chop the poppy down.
- Or the establishment just wasn’t for them so why didn’t they just simply choose to go elsewhere.
For me the opinion of any single critic is becoming less and less meaningful as I choose what to view or engage with. I am far more moved to try something by a passionate recommendation of a raving fan than I am the snide whispering of some people who just didn’t get it. If you are trying to woo me, and I think lots of people like me the win then, is creating raves, not avoiding pans.
Keep going Ursula, we know you care but we love what you and your team are doing. On the waterfront in East Perth, Toast is providing the ambience the vibe the joy and the stickability.
In years to come your statue could very well become a focal point on the boardwalk, the only difference is it will simply be the seagulls that will poop on you!
