My journey to the Local Guides community was never planned. One day you are reviewing places that you had visited, and the next day you see a Local Guide badge beside your name - and you feel so cool, but then you realize that being a Local Guide is not really a solo activity. There are many other Local Guides, just like you, scattered all around your city, all around your country. You are a proper community, brought together by the magical power of the Internet. And that is even cooler.
Being a Local Guide has taught me a lot about how important feedback can be and how lucky we are that we live in an era in which transparency is not an option, but a given. I have lost count of the times in which I needed to get objective information about a certain place or business. Each and every time, the power of the Local Guides Program helped me through.
In its modern way, Google Reviews is the equivalent of the old-school method of asking your friends and family for a recommendation - except faster, more accurate and overall more objective. Many times, my decision between this and that restaurant, this and that beauty salon, this and that store was made after analyzing the ratings and the reviews of the places that I wanted to visit.
Besides, I was always happy when, after writing a review for a certain place, the owner took the time to respond and thank me for my feedback.
How a bunch of reviews from the Local Guides Community led me to the most wonderful Greek tavern in Athens
It was the summer of 2018 - the summer in which I became a Local Guide - when Google Reviews led me to a hidden gem in Athens. I was visiting the city for the first time with my boyfriend. After meandering through the white ruins of Acropolis under a scorching sun, we were both starving. Every restaurant was appealing from the outside, but we wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to waste our money on bland food. So we Googled the following phrase: “best greek restaurants near me”.
A whole list appeared and we made sure to read some reviews before choosing our winner. Eventually, we made our way towards our chosen restaurant and found it. From the outside, it looked cramped and chaotic. If we would have passed by it randomly on the street, we wouldn’t have given it a second glance. We might have not even noticed it. But the reviews led us there and we were way too hungry to start another search. And I am so thankful for that!
The Greek tavern turned out to be the most Greek-moviesque experience we had during our trip. The hosts were oh-so-lovely and incredibly warm, the food was plenty and delightful, the prices were almost unfairly low and - to top it off - before we left, the hosts gave us dessert, freshly-squeezed apricot nectar and traditional ouzo shots on the house. And to think that if it weren’t for the gracious reviews we found on Google, we never would’ve found that gem!
How Google Reviews taught me an important lesson about racism
It might be peculiar or even unexpected, but Google Reviews helped me tackle racism. For the past couple of years, I have been going to the same dental office. I loved everything there: from the professional and always friendly staff to the squeaky cleanliness. One day, I realized that I hadn’t reviewed it on Google Maps yet, so I decided to remedy that mistake.
Before doing that, I decided to read the other reviews that the dental office had. To my surprise, there were many people complaining about the race of the dentists. I was taken aback, thinking: “Why would that even matter?”. Those reviews were filled with blatant hate, stating that the dental office is trash because it hired Arabic doctors.
I felt rage building up inside me. I knew that some of the doctors were Arabic - even my own dentist was. But that never bothered me. In fact, it didn’t even cross my mind that someone would be bothered by that. So I started writing my review. I praised the lovely team that worked there, as I had planned from the beginning, but I also made sure to call out the racist comments. I didn’t think much of it at the time, I just needed to vent.
A few days later, that review had gathered more likes than any other that I had ever written, and even a response from the clinic! A few weeks later, my dentist stumbled upon my review and got really emotional after reading it - and contacted me to thank me for my words. My review brought so much love and positivity back, that I can’t help but feel pure joy each time I remember that I wrote it.
This positivity is what fuels me on this Local Guides journey - the one that I didn’t even think I would embark on back in 2018, but that I enjoy nonetheless.
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