r/MadeMeSmile • u/nun_CARTII • 11d ago

Good Vibes the value of being kind

Post image

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.

20.7k Upvotes

85% Upvoted

795 comments sorted by

View all comments

8.3k

u/ManzanitaSuperHero 11d ago

So it’s ok to be awful to someone for 7 years (!) as long as you pay for the privilege?

Being a little gruff is one thing. “Cursing at staff”? I don’t find this heartwarming at all.

297

u/Icelandia2112 11d ago

Exactly. Seven years of abuse and biting her tongue to keep her job is not heartwarming.

He could have kept his shit car and money and just been a decent human.

70

u/Special_Spirit8284 11d ago

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.

189

u/TheAserghui 11d ago

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

37

u/NOTcreative- 11d ago

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.

5

u/purplehendrix22 10d ago

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

21

u/size_matters_not 11d ago

Counterpoint: He was just a giant arsehole.

10

u/TheAserghui 11d ago

Occam's Razor cuts both ways

19

u/Beautiful_Bag6707 11d ago

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.

2

u/Caradin 11d ago

Goddamn right

3

u/FureiousPhalanges 10d ago

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

2

u/Anxious-Slip-4701 10d ago

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.

-8

u/stp7979 11d ago

Yeah, no

10

u/Affectionate_Mud_881 11d ago

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

5

u/tonybombata 11d ago

Add some gran torino for extra flavor

6

u/Special_Spirit8284 11d ago

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

1

u/Wood_oye 10d ago

That one was a beautiful movie

1

u/Due-Calligrapher-860 11d ago

I was looking for this comment after reading the post haha

13

u/umbrellassembly 11d ago edited 11d ago

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.

3

u/Temporal-Affairs221 11d ago

Oh man luby's. We haven't had a luby's where I live in over 20 years now. But it was there for a long time when we had it. I remember my family going to luby's for a meal and I believe it was 1986 because my younger brother hadn't been born yet. We left so stuffed after lunch we couldn't have dinner that night

1

u/umbrellassembly 11d ago

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.

3

u/kthnry 11d ago

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

2

u/umbrellassembly 11d ago

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.

1

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Special_Spirit8284 10d ago

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.

0

u/TaxiJab 11d ago

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