Reportedly restaurants throughout the world suffered a huge loss after the social networking site Instagram went down for a few hours last week.
"It was baffling really," admitted cafe owner Michael Grogan, "we would usually be full to the brim with snap-happy teens typing away on their iPhones, uploading photos of their chai lattes. But that evening we were practically empty. When I heard Instagram went down, it all made sense."
The disaster has struck fear in the hearts of many business owners and employees. "I actually fear for my job" reported 31 year old waitress, Katie. "Instagram already went down twice last month and once this month, who knows what will happen next? If people can't Instagram their meal they won't bother coming."
"Well, like, I just wouldn't see the point" answers 18 year old Savannah when questioned if she would go out for a meal if the app wasn't working. "If no one knows you were there, or like if you can't show people that your boyfriend just brought you on a date while you're wearing your new outfit and you just got your nails done, then what's the point in the whole thing? Like the effort in all of that. Like I just can't even."
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Lucy, a restaurant owner in Dublin, even admits to tailoring her menu to fit the latest trends on Instagram. ""What the people hashtag, the people shall get" is my motto. For instance we noticed #paleo and #eatclean are popular at the minute. So it was out with the burgers and in with the salad leaves. Advertise it, give them free wifi and watch the customers roll in. It's a good business strategy, but if we lost instagram, we would be back to square one."
A chilling tale indeed, and just the latest obstacle to hit business owners in an already tough economic climate. "All that we can do is hope and pray that it never happens again. For the teenagers sake and our own." Lucy concludes.
"Like if Instagram shut down completely, I would be all like "what is life?"" Savannah confesses.
For further coverage, search twitter with the hashtag #whatislife and #firstworldproblems.
