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.
Undertone is a fantastic example of how low budget horror can be so effective. Not the scariest movie of all time but pretty good and must see in Dolby
It's a *great* new movie weekend but if this is playing near you, I cannot recommend it enough. Total ingenuity and joy. We'll talk about it on the pod later this month.
BONKERS. MAYHEM. GONZO. ELECTRIC. A GENERATIONAL BANGER MADE BY A MADMAN.
Directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry and Juno Temple.
GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON'T DIE only in theaters February 13th.
@dhookstead Worst Tucker Carlson impression I’ve ever seen also shut up dumbass your uncle didn’t beat the packers for a playoff win in one of the biggest games of the last 20 years