Application to Retain Menu Photo Distrust
The official photo was glossy. The customer photo was accurate. This is the system now.
INCIDENT REPORT Subject: Menu Photo Distrust, February 2021 Standard Delivery Order Date: Saturday, approximately 7 PM
Summary
The subject placed a delivery order. During the item selection phase, the subject spent eleven minutes reviewing customer-uploaded photos before committing to the primary item. The official menu photo was available and clearly visible. The official menu photo was not trusted.
This is standard procedure.
Pre-Incident Context
In November 2020, the subject ordered an item based on the official photo. The item arrived with substantially less of the prominent ingredient shown in the photo. The photograph had implied a ratio. The actual ratio was different. This was noted.
The subject has since cross-referenced every order against customer photos. The customer photos are taken in ordinary lighting with ordinary phones and show the food as it actually arrives. The customer photos are relied upon for all significant ordering decisions.
Incident Timeline
6:51 PM: Subject opens delivery app. Selects preferred restaurant. Views menu.
6:52 PM: Sees primary item. Notes the official photo. Does not trust it.
6:53 PM: Scrolls to customer photo section. Six photos available. One photo is from 2019 and appears to show a different preparation. This photo is discounted.
6:58 PM: Cross-references a second item using the same method. Concludes the second item has better customer photo representation and may be more reliable.
7:02 PM: Returns to original item. A seventh customer photo has been uploaded in the interim. The seventh photo is from the current week and confirms the ratio.
7:03 PM: Order placed.
Finding
A small inconvenience led someone to adopt menu photo distrust for all future attempts. The next attempt worked, so the behavior received more credit than the circumstances. After enough repetitions, the household protects menu photo distrust from evidence that it is no longer useful.
The service is supposed to remove meal work, but choosing and tracking it becomes its own task. The subject maintains an informal knowledge base of which items at which restaurants have reliable official photos. This knowledge base has never been made explicit. It is consulted at every ordering session.
The subject described menu photo distrust to a family member. The family member adopted the practice. The family member now asks which items have good customer photo coverage before placing their own orders.
Status
Order delivered at 7:43 PM. Ratio as shown in the seventh customer photo. Finding confirmed. Incident closed.