Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
I hope your weekend is off to a good start! Our top stories today are about: A woman going viral for sharing a harrowing experience while taking a Lyft, Trump fans pushing back online after the former president praised Gov. Ron DeSantis, a customer going viral for complaining about how Chipotle has declined over the past few years, and a restaurant server being brought to tears after a party of 40 asked for separate checks.
After that, we’ve got another edition of “Meme History” for you.
P.S. — If you didn’t take our weekly news quiz yesterday, there’s still time! Just open yesterday’s newsletter and answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt!
See ya next week!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in internet culture
😱 WTF
‘I’ve never been this scared in my entire life’: Woman says Lyft driver took her to the airport after a night of drinking. It’s nowhere near her house
In a video with more than 5 million views, a woman detailed her harrowing experience while riding in a Lyft.
🗳️ VIRAL POLITICS
‘Now he’s your buddy?’ Trump’s sudden praise for DeSantis receives pushback from supporters on Truth Social
Trump fans on Truth Social were quick to point out how the former president slammed DeSantis during the primaries.
🌯 EVERYTHING IS BAD
‘Chipotle’s fall off needs to be studied’: Customer says Chipotle’s portion sizes, quality, and freshness have gotten worse over the years
A lot of people in the comments agreed.
🍽️ LABOR NIGHTMARE
Restaurant server pushed to tears after party of 40 requested separate checks
Separate checks have their pros and cons, but I think we can all agree that 40 separate checks for one meal is a step too far.
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🤓 Meme History
By Kyle Calise
Video Producer
Meme History: Bad Luck Brian
Meme History is a weekly column that dives deep into internet lore to uncover the history of famous memes. It runs on Saturdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
🍔 Every week, there’s a new complaint about McDonald’s. From rising menu prices to shrinking food, eating at the chain just doesn’t feel worth it anymore for many people.
💸 One woman says she can’t pay her rent, and it’s because a delivery driver decided to take it upon themselves to charge a tip to her account even though she didn’t authorize it.
🚘 Tesla’s Cybertruck put a man’s life at risk, he alleges. Now, Tesla truck deliveries are being put on pause to address the issue.
🖐️ This Walmart shopper is convinced that her hand tattoos prevented her from being kidnapped, as body art is generally considered an identifier that can help police recover missing persons.
💼 A work-from-home worker encountering a new American boss—and the unrelenting work effort that comes with that—is complaining about being made to lead an 8am meeting. The issue? He works 9am to 5pm, taking a class in the 8am hour that keeps him from being available at that time.
🌐 From the Daily Dot archive: Is there a First Amendment right to assemble in the metaverse?
👋 Before you go
A woman went viral on TikTok after sharing the hilarious chain of events that occurred after her Uber driver ran out of gas.
Summer Jones (@901sumo), from Memphis, Tennessee, said that her Uber driver ran out of gas on the highway while she was in the car. Her nearly 2-minute video documenting what happened afterward has since garnered over 978,100 views.
“UBER DRIVER RAN OUT OF GAS WITH ME IN THE CAR,” Jones wrote in the text overlay.
