USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
@DumbDog7 3rd best player in the whole draft went in the 5th round. Ryan Miller. Henrik Zetterberg and Radim Vrbata in the 6th. 7 allstars in the whole thing. Definitely a 🗑 draft.
Disappointing night all around. Sabres dominated. Bruins just couldnt get anything going. I must say….Sabres fans travel very well. Garden was filled with em tonight. Not sure ive ever seen opposing fan base with this many fans for a playoff game at the Garden. Gotta be better Sunday.
. @ChipotleTweets I ordered these burritos 15 minutes apart from the same store today. The one on the left I ordered in person and it’s twice the size as the one on the right (online order). My online order is always significantly smaller. Every time. Stop ripping us off.
I text the Gr8 congratulations and he responds by telling me I'm part of his history. I'm like haha, you scored on me once. He says, no, you assisted on 5 of my goals. How does he know that? I didn't know that. Says all you need to know about the greatest goal scorer NHL history.
How many targets did the better WRs get when you covered them, how many INTs/PBUs did you get @Revis24? u did your thing.
But when that 7th-rounder lined it up against u, my targets were equal to—or more than—theirs combined.
*In a non pass happy era.*
Dont fuckin play with me.