We’re across the bridge from DC. Down the highway from Ashburn. But the Facebook grants don’t cover us because we’re not precisely in either. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😭" title="Loudly crying face" aria-label="Emoji: Loudly crying face"> Glad I did tons of free labor for that marketing person at FB who contacted me wanting to use Old Town Books as a case study.

20 email thread with them about our business. Vague promises about amplifying us on their home page. I’m a sucker.

No private grants will save small businesses. When local/state/federal govt says as much, they’re worse than lying. They’re being honest about how little they respect and value independent small biz. Corporate chains + global tech are not community. They’re leeches on it.

Screen shot is from a slide deck the marketing person made to present to their team. I should have known better, instead I wasted time working with them when I could have been focusing on my business. Now they’ll use us as an example of how their platform benefits real community.

Maybe this petty/small of me to complain about but I am so tired. I am tired of being used as a “success story” to benefit someone else’s program/product. It happens a lot. I am grateful for support we’ve gotten from various orgs but feel minimized by being used as good PR.