My 1-year-old sandwich shop has about a hundred reviews all over the Internet. Overall, I’m grateful to hear honest feedback because it’s my job to check whether my restaurant’s providing excellent food and service.

However, I also meet online “critics” who tour restaurants to collect reviews on Instagram. When these people enter my restaurant, I can instantly tell they’re not interested in any of our products and values. To me, they don’t feel like customers.

There’s no smile nor “hello,” these people stride in and take pictures in burst mode. What am I doing here? I murmur while wrapping sandwiches. The food is served, and I hear the iPhone shutter until they’re gone. They take a cab to hunt the next review. I clean up the table and leftovers.

In a few days, I encounter their reviews online. But no, I never see them again.