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.
“Representation” you mean protesting things that have nothing to do with flight attendants using our dues instead of negotiating our contract? AFA-CWA is trash
Chilling way for this interview from last weekend to start with the news today of Kyle Busch passing away.
You truly never know when it will be your last.
We are saddened and heartbroken to share the news of the passing of Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion and one of our sport's greatest and fiercest drivers. He was 41 years old.
We extend our deepest condolences to the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and the entire motorsports community.
@drew_jaylen@DJZeeti@yoboyy_jayy Also, reread my post. Most of the flight attendants *I HAVE* are black. Don’t tell me I’m inaccurate if you lack basic reading comprehension to understand that I was talking about my experience. Are you me? Do you know what i go through? Byeeeee
@drew_jaylen@DJZeeti@yoboyy_jayy Every single DL flight I fly on has predominantly black flight attendants. Every time I’m in the KCM line I am with black delta flight attendants, every time I commute my entire crew is black, and I’ve already flown over 200 flights this year so I’m in ATL a LOT.
@esjesjesj JetBlue already announced they’re doing some routes out of FLL that spirit had, and frontier, who has the same pricing structure as spirit, is doing fine and still growing so
@EliasKeaneBooks@DreamAmerica_ Rule by majority means the minority will always suffer. Idk as a minority by ethnicity who can’t even vote in federal elections I don’t like that.
@ETGEACOLLEGE@DrAubie Because AI is dumb, dangerous, and is making game consoles more expensive with the demand for RAM. so is the tool really free if a console that was released in 2020 is raising its prices due to AI usage?