The worlds last network engineer poet. Bourbon&beer aficionado who enjoys being a dad, husband, as well as skiing and golf. Day job - Sales at Arista Networks.
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 β I must report this calmly β 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 β 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.
Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Womenβs Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement. What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401Kβs, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected. Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT
@thejohnhenry@money_cruncher I had the same hack for years. I bought a 3 year old Audi etron and itβs lost half its value again in 3 years. The old math doesnβt work with EVs. They depreciate like technology, not like an automobile.
@MrNQDC@money_cruncher This is the whole point, you nailed it. I donβt get why this is so hard. If tax bracket is higher now than in retirement, pre-tax IRA. If otherwise, post-tax.