I'm shocked to learn 1) it's still an issue and 2) other people have experienced it.

For 1-2 years in the mid-2010s, my audio balance on my work MBP would routinely drift every month or so, and none of my coworkers or Mac-using friends, nor anyone on the tech forums I frequented had experienced such a thing. Just a few random posts on Google with no solution.

Then, it simply stopped happening. Haven't thought about it in years until I read this tweet. Fascinating!