FourSquare and GoWalla are the talk of the town in Austin this week, but I’m really not interested.
A few months ago, Holly and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in San Francisco. We stayed at a nice hotel and ate at very nice restaurants. Each time, I checked in (usually when she wasn’t looking). After a while, though, I started thinking about how this looked to the people following me.
To me, I was celebrating a huge milestone with the person I love, blowing through years of saved up hotel points and money. To anyone that followed me, I was a rich dick, staying at a hotel with butler service and eating at extravagant restaurants.
The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like the impression that I gave out. I hated it, in fact.
Flash forward a few weeks. I’m at Whole Foods and I check in. As soon as I push the button, I think about how boring as hell that probably looks. Watch out, Scott’s at Whole Foods – how totally unexciting.
What I came to realize is that, when it comes to checking in at places, there is no middle ground. You’re either boring or a rich dick.
So I’ve all but stopped checking in. I’ve stopped telling people where I am.
Groucho Marx once said ‘I wouldn’t join a club that would have me as a member.’ If there is something really cool going on, hopefully I’ll be invited. If not, I just don’t care that much to be there.
A friend of mine recently turned me on to the 3/50 Project. The concept is simple: find 3-local businesses that you’d miss if they were gone and spend a total of $50 at each of them. It is really simple. Fifty bucks isn’t too much and you’re probably spending the money elsewhere anyway.
However, $50 at your local market is so much more important than $50 to Safeway. In fact, if you spend $100 at a local business, $68 of that money stays local compared to $43 at a national chain. Next time you’re racking up a $300 bill at WalMart, keep this in mind. Spend the extra couple of bucks to help your community.
I love the idea of this and the easiest way that I’ve found to support this, since I don’t really buy stuff, is to do so via restaurants. Well before I made the decision to support the 3/50 Project, I made a decision not to eat at restaurants that have television commercials.
My feeling on this is two-fold. One, from a health standpoint, generally stores that advertise on television don’t sell food that is very healthy. Next time you’re watching television and you see a commercial for a place that sells food, ask yourself if you really want to put that into your system. I f’ing love McDonalds fries, but they are so bad for you. Don’t get me started on Chili’s / Fridays / Ruby Tuesday’s Jack Daniels Awesomely Awesome dips or the iHOP all you can plate of candy. If it is food on TV, it is probably bad for you.
Second, if you can advertise on television, you don’t need my money. You’re a big national chain and my $25 won’t make an iota of difference to you. As a small, local business, it makes a huge difference. Owners of the local restaurants that I go to know my name, they know what I like, and they appreciate my business.
The next time you’re thinking about going out to dinner, don’t go to the big chain restaurant. Do yourself a favor, check out a local place instead. Ask to meet the owner, ask what they recommend, buy the chef a beer. You’ll get a much more enjoyable, memorable and healthy experience.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1bfb966c-8df0-4fd6-8189-3a3a1a3eb7ca)
