WSJ reporter James Hagerty talks with his 85-year-old mom after her Olive Garden review “went viral“:
Soon news hounds from Minneapolis, New York and even Fargo were calling Mom and demanding interviews. Basically, they wanted to know whether she was for real and how she felt about being mocked all over the Internet.
She felt fine about it. But she didn’t care to scroll through the thousands of Twitter and Facebook comments on her writing style. “I’m working on my Sunday column and I’m going to play bridge this afternoon,” she explained, “so I don’t have time to read all this crap.” She didn’t apologize for writing about a restaurant where many people like to eat. Her poise under fire endeared her to people who do read all that. Strangers started sending me emails about how much they loved my mom.
Her phone line was tied up, so I emailed her: “You’ve gone viral!”
She replied: “Could you tell me what viral means?”
