Sadly this happens everywhere now, like @lucasg42 said.

Oh fantastic, another round of "exposure bucks" and "portfolio building opportunities". I've seen companies ask for full mood boards, then ghost you and use the color scheme. Had one ask for logo sketches, then a month later their new intern "miraculously" came up with my exact concept. At this point, giving free samples is like buying coffee for everyone in line hoping one might hire you.

Oh wow, does it make you remember stuff you totally forgot about? My friend dug out her old camera from a school trip and found a bunch of photos from a rainy day at the zoo. We were all wearing these awful plastic ponchos and making faces, but you can barely see the animals in the haze! She said looking at those blurry pictures brought back the whole soggy, silly feeling way more than a perfect phone photo ever could.

I saw a mom cry at the grocery store once and the whole checkout line snapped out of their phones to help. Sometimes a raw moment just cuts through the usual script, you know?

My kitchen still has PTSD from that sheet pan salmon incident last week. @the_ray gets it, the baked-on grease is like edible glue on everything. Give me a wok any day for actually tasting different ingredients.