Middle-aged men eating at Mercadona: lives of quiet tragedy
Fact or fiction? The stories of middle-aged men eating at Spain's Mercadona as a metaphor for financial precarity — and an online hoax.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The tragedy of eating at Mercadona: between saving money and an online hoax
A bald man with dark circles under his eyes, sobbing over a Spanish omelette while cursing Bitcoin and a mortgage that devours his paycheck. The scene, told in the first person by an anonymous user, has all the ingredients of a Spanish middle-class drama: failed crypto investments, a vvife who runs off with the gym guy, and the need to save even on food. But is it real, or a made-up story designed to hook readers?
The original post, published on a consumer forum, quickly raised suspicions. Several readers pointed out the pile-up of clichés: "ruined by crypto, a crushing mortgage, a vvife leaving you… it looks like a template," one noted. The final straw came when another supposed user claimed, in the same thread, that he himself wrote this kind of story on commission for several forums, including Burbuja and ForoCoches. "I make up stories. The usual ones: crypto ruin, a suffocating mortgage, a vvife who leaves you for a gym guy… whatever works that week," he confessed, adding that they used templates and only changed the details.
Supermarket meals as a symbol of decline
Beyond the story's veracity, the thread sparked a debate about the figure of the middle-aged man eating in Mercadona's designated seating area. For some, it's a sign of precarity: "If you can't even spare three minutes to use the microwave at home, things are bad." For others, it's a reasonable option compared to a bar menu: "I'd rather eat sitting on a bench with Mercadona food than at some cheap bar charging unicorn prices," one participant argued. The discussion extended to the quality of the supermarket's ready-made food, with criticism of the "degrading" surroundings and praise for its food safety compared to bars of dubious hygiene.
But the most interesting twist wasn't culinary — it was literary. A user posted a version of the same story generated by ChatGPT, more polished and with pretensions of magical realism. "ChatGPT does it better," he declared, raising the suspicion that many of these tales of ruin circulating online are actually products of artificial intelligence or paid writers.
How much truth is there in online stories of financial ruin?
The episode illustrates a growing phenomenon: the virality of economic tragedy stories on forums and social media. Whether to generate engagement, sell crypto courses, or simply to troll, the figure of the broke man eating alone in a supermarket has become a narrative archetype. The question is whether behind every bald man with dark circles there's a real face or a ghostwriter.
The thread offers no definitive answer, but it does offer a warning: distrust stories that are too perfect. In an environment where anyone could be a bot or a paid writer clicking for clicks, skepticism is the only defense. And meanwhile, the Mercadona omelette is still there, for anyone who wants a taste — with or without tears.
Related forum discussions
A bald man with dark circles under his eyes, sobbing over a Spanish omelette while cursing Bitcoin and a mortgage that devours his paycheck. The scene, told in the first person by an anonymous user, has all the ingredients of a Spanish middle-class drama: failed crypto investments, a vvife who runs off with the gym guy, and the need to save even on food. But is it real, or a made-up story designed to hook readers?
The original post, published on a consumer forum, quickly raised suspicions. Several readers pointed out the pile-up of clichés: "ruined by crypto, a crushing mortgage, a vvife leaving you… it looks like a template," one noted. The final straw came when another supposed user claimed, in the same thread, that he himself wrote this kind of story on commission for several forums, including Burbuja and ForoCoches. "I make up stories. The usual ones: crypto ruin, a suffocating mortgage, a vvife who leaves you for a gym guy… whatever works that week," he confessed, adding that they used templates and only changed the details.
Supermarket meals as a symbol of decline
Beyond the story's veracity, the thread sparked a debate about the figure of the middle-aged man eating in Mercadona's designated seating area. For some, it's a sign of precarity: "If you can't even spare three minutes to use the microwave at home, things are bad." For others, it's a reasonable option compared to a bar menu: "I'd rather eat sitting on a bench with Mercadona food than at some cheap bar charging unicorn prices," one participant argued. The discussion extended to the quality of the supermarket's ready-made food, with criticism of the "degrading" surroundings and praise for its food safety compared to bars of dubious hygiene.
But the most interesting twist wasn't culinary — it was literary. A user posted a version of the same story generated by ChatGPT, more polished and with pretensions of magical realism. "ChatGPT does it better," he declared, raising the suspicion that many of these tales of ruin circulating online are actually products of artificial intelligence or paid writers.
How much truth is there in online stories of financial ruin?
The episode illustrates a growing phenomenon: the virality of economic tragedy stories on forums and social media. Whether to generate engagement, sell crypto courses, or simply to troll, the figure of the broke man eating alone in a supermarket has become a narrative archetype. The question is whether behind every bald man with dark circles there's a real face or a ghostwriter.
The thread offers no definitive answer, but it does offer a warning: distrust stories that are too perfect. In an environment where anyone could be a bot or a paid writer clicking for clicks, skepticism is the only defense. And meanwhile, the Mercadona omelette is still there, for anyone who wants a taste — with or without tears.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (22 replies).
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