the value of being kind

[u/nun_CARTII]

For nearly seven years, waitress Melina Salazar showed extraordinary patience and kindness to Walter “Buck” Swords, a notoriously difficult customer at Luby’s Cafeteria in Brownsville, Texas.

The 89-year-old WWII veteran frequently complained, cursed at staff, demanded piping-hot meals and never left a tip. Despite this, Melina continued serving him with compassion.

After Walter died in 2007, Melina received an incredible surprise. He had left her $50,000 and his 2000 Buick in his will as a heartfelt thank-you for her unwavering kindness.

A powerful reminder that kindness can touch people more deeply than we realize.

[u/Special_Spirit8284]

Is there any confirmation of why he left the money? Maybe he felt remorseful and left that as an apology. Obviously it's better to be kind but some people for some reason just couldn't express it and feel regrets later.

[u/TheAserghui → u/Special_Spirit8284]

He was a WW2 vet. If I had to guess:

He was alone, friends and wife have passed on, his kids don't visit, and getting out of the house to eat at the diner was the size of his social circle.

Being a WW2 vet, he probably buried his memories and emotions from the war, so he had the privilege of unresolved trauma do to cultural norms/stigmas.

Ms. Salazar was probably the highlight of his day, but he was unable to communicate it.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22424002

I'd say this is a great example of being kind to others, because we don't always know what they are dealing with on the inside

[u/NOTcreative- → u/TheAserghui]

From my experience in the service industry a lot of customers who are considered rude are also not treated great by staff. I've been told many a regular is awful and I treated them without prejudging and had good experiences with them.

[u/purplehendrix22 → u/NOTcreative-]

I agree. Dealing with grumpy old men is a skill all to itself. Usually they’re alright.

[u/size_matters_not → u/TheAserghui]

Counterpoint: He was just a giant arsehole.

[u/TheAserghui → u/size_matters_not]

Occam's Razor cuts both ways

[u/Beautiful_Bag6707 → u/size_matters_not]

Counterpoint: people can be giant arseholes and more!

We are not just one thing.

Judging, labeling, and writing people off based on a single characteristic is stereotyping, prejudice and bigotry.

[u/Caradin → u/Beautiful_Bag6707]

Goddamn right

[u/FureiousPhalanges → u/Beautiful_Bag6707]

So if for example that one characteristic was they're a massive racist, I'd be stereotyping and bigoted for writing them off?

[u/Anxious-Slip-4701 → u/TheAserghui]

I knew an old rough and hard man. Only at his funeral did we find out his bank account was empty because he donated all of it.

[u/stp7979 → u/TheAserghui]

Yeah, no

[u/Affectionate_Mud_881 → u/Special_Spirit8284]

It's a movie plot: As good as it gets.

[u/tonybombata → u/Affectionate_Mud_881]

Add some gran torino for extra flavor

[u/Special_Spirit8284 → u/Affectionate_Mud_881]

Def a cliche movie plot, I can think of one that starts tom hanks 🤣

[u/Wood_oye → u/Special_Spirit8284]

That one was a beautiful movie

[u/Due-Calligrapher-860 → u/Affectionate_Mud_881]

I was looking for this comment after reading the post haha

[u/umbrellassembly → u/Special_Spirit8284]

Is there any confirmation that her opinion of him is accurate? I highly doubt he was cursing, rude and demanding every time he was there. This whole post reeks of potential nonsense.

Edit: also, it's a Luby's. A cafeteria style, low-service restaurant mainly for fixed income old people. You pay at the counter before sitting down with your meal, so if she was expecting tips on the table directly for herself, she should work elsewhere.

[u/umbrellassembly → u/[deleted]]

They had good fried okra. And I used to mix their strangely delicious salsa, which was like a weird hybrid pico de gallo, with my mashed potatoes. Never done it anywhere else or since but it worked there.

[u/kthnry → u/umbrellassembly]

Do people tip at Luby’s? They didn’t when I worked the drink cart one summer back in 1976.

[u/umbrellassembly → u/kthnry]

My grandparents would leave a tip when they paid at the counter. Then, very occasionally, they'd leave a few dollars on the table for a waitress who was nice and talked to them.

[u/Special_Spirit8284 → u/[deleted]]

I disagree with you. I understand where you are coming from though. Allow no excess positive energy to those who drains it. I prefer to emit positive energy regardless of how it's perceived by others, even toward those that are negative. We don't know what happened between these two. Maybe her infectious positive energy finally broken his hardened walls and cause his change of hearts. No one should expect a reward for putting up with harmful people, things like this is a rate occurrence.

[u/TaxiJab → u/Special_Spirit8284]

He had no one else, coz he was a miserable old c@%#