F#@%ing free food

I was visiting New York and the offices of a company I was working with. It was one of those startups that poured down millions in making it comfortable to relocate by having a super nice office that you actually liked hanging in and a bunch of free stuff. Drinks, candy, breakfast, lunch. They even had cold brew on tap. I loved it, cold coffee.

One day during lunch a newly opened restaurant catered sandwiches. And I recall so vividly this guy complaining on the company email about his experience with the sandwich, how he bashed the restaurant and that there was too much mayonnaise and so on.

That’s when I started using the sentence “f*@$ing free food” to somehow visualize the absurdity in complaining about something free. “I know… f&%#ing free food… am I right?”

This is the same feeling that comes up when someone complains about social networks like LinkedIn. People say it has gone worse, that it no longer suits their needs. It’s all sales and cold outreach. Recruiters who don’t read your resume pitch you odd jobs. AI slop everywhere. Productivity bros and gals pumping out content.

We somehow feel entitled to a glorious experience just because we’ve invested a couple of hours on a weekly basis approving some contacts.

We could always leave. Build our own websites. Send actual emails to people we want to talk to. Go to real conferences and shake real hands. But we won’t, because for all the complaints LinkedIn still does the work of keeping us visible and connected without us having to do much of anything.

“I know… f%*&ing free social media… am I right?“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​