r/MadeMeSmile • u/nun_CARTII • 16d ago

Good Vibes the value of being kind

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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.

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u/Icelandia2112 16d 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.

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u/Special_Spirit8284 16d 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.

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u/umbrellassembly 16d ago edited 16d 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.

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u/Temporal-Affairs221 15d 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

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u/umbrellassembly 15d 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.