Guidewire Group

Okay, it might be extreme to use the term “ruin,” but the encounter was eye opening.  Or at the very least, an awakening for those of us who live and breathe the rarefied air of all things social media and believe that social reporting can only work for the advantage of the consumer.

I’ll set the scene:  I met up with my brother, his wife, and their good friends for a foodie weekend in New Orleans.  Bending to the rave reviews, we get a coveted reservation at Louisiana Bistro, where any self-respecting foodie takes the “Feed Me” menu over the standard card.  The idea is simple and wonderful.  Choose 3, 4, or 5 course option.  Chef Mars comes to your table, inquires about your food “issues,” then retreats to the kitchen to create a custom multi-course meal for your enjoyment.  The catch:  it’s all in. Everyone at the table must agree to dine on whatever the Chef sends your way.

Here’s one more catch:  I have a seafood/shellfish allergy.  If it was raised in the water, I can’t eat it.

So along comes Chef to discuss our dietary issues.  No sooner did I reveal the Big Hurdle than he says, simply, “No.”  My seafood issue is too limiting to his repertoire.   Well, I say, we’re a party of six.  Why don’t I order from the menu and the others take the Feed Me option.

“No.  It must be the whole table.”

“Really?”

“Well, if it weren’t for social media, I’d make an exception, but as soon as I do, some idiot with an iPhone will come in here shoving it in my face and talking about how if I made an exception for you, I’d have to do it for them.”

Seriously.

He wouldn’t serve a table of 5 +1 because we might Twitter that we had a great meal or post a photo or two on Facebook, and in so doing reveal the deep, dark secret that on one occasion, Chef made an exception to his hard and fast rule.   The risk that social media would somehow influence what he would and would not be able to cook in the future meant he couldn’t make an exception, even just once.  (Or, as I suspect, he’d already made that exception and was now haunted by iPhone-wielding social media aficionados  who insisted on equal treatment.)

I played the “Who do you think popularized the term social media?” and “We promise we won’t Tweet” cards, but to no avail.  We ordered from the standard card, which I have to say was phenomenal, particularly the inventive and tongue in cheek “BP” (Bitch Please) menu.  My Boudin Booms, plated to look like an oil boom protecting the coast (or toast) from an oozing dark sauce, and Pork Barrel Leeks were delicious.

Still, I’m left to wonder what Chef might have cooked up, if not for the fear that social media might be wielded against him.  For every door that we believe social media knocks down, it just may be boarding up another.