You have no idea how relieved and happy your post just made me. THANK YOU! Yes — it is NOT considered a rude question in NYC at all. Perhaps it is elsewhere, but just because it is considered rude elsewhere does not mean it is, nor does it mean that the person who asks you where you are from is a terrible racist.

I love chest hair. LOVE IT. Just sayin'.

Oh, I see your point. I do. But I didn't think that I was being rude at all, no. I can see why you think it was and why he did — but it wasn't what he thought it was. I just wanted a helping hand with grading this paper. I was sitting on a train, grading papers, and saw that Jason had written something in…

The funny thing about the school I was discussing is that nearly everyone there is from somewhere else. It was a huge school — four thousand students — so I don't even know if the kind of "fitting in" that happens at smaller schools in smaller communities applied. I do know, however, that a huge number of kids were…

Well, since you asked, I will tell you the reasons why I am interested in where people are from. I am from New York and I am in my 40s. I was raised in a time and place where different ethnicities were celebrated with parades, street fairs, classroom parties — it was not considered offensive, when and where I was…

Why SHOULDN'T we accept fat? Why not? It doesn't bother me. It's weird — the idea of not accepting something common and normal that doesn't hurt anyone — yes — that doesn't hurt anyone. Some fat people have totally normal cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. And I know triathletes who have the "perfect" body who…

Who says they are? Maybe they all are. Some focus on orcas, others on primates, others on pigs — but all these people are trying to do good. They are trying to relieve suffering, to make this world a better place. None of those people is perfect, but they are all trying, in this, to do a good thing. And that…

Thank you! Oh, thank you so much. Why is THIS little fact not mentioned?

Link, please, showing that Tiana Parker's school had an all-black male administration. I never heard that.

Well, what kind are you using? How do YOU define the kind of racist YOU are?

You're welcome. I am glad you liked the story — and you just helped me prove my point to "Dick." Dick, of course, is out of my life, but still. I had a zillion tips of a dollar on our five dollar lunch special — none created an awesome story that brought pleasure to a person's day over twenty years later! But those…

Thank you! I actually had to work on his nights (ANOTHER job) so I couldn't go. But these comped tickets were good for any night. I really do wish I could remember his name, but it was long ago, I can't. I do remember HIM, though. What a great guy. And in the "some people are just dicks department," someone (I…

Many comments were made BEFORE he posted anything about his not knowing. As for the comments posted after, well, nowhere did I see a bit of compassion for waitstaff. In fact, he scolded us by saying, "No need for name calling." Had he said, "Oh, that's terrible. I didn't realize and I was wrong," then I think he…

Actually, your heartlessness, your coldness, your lack of caring for hardworking people who make almost no money, has made people very angry with you. That is why they are calling you names.

Same thing happened to me. I too am not longer friends with those people. People like that are not worth our friendship.

It may be ridiculous, but it's the truth. Waiters get $2.13 an hour. I waitressed for years. What — do you think everyone here is lying?

Waiter do not get paid minimum wage. Did you know that? I believe they earn $2.13 per hour.

Olives take up so much room in such a little glass...but thank you!

Glue factory. No, no, no. You don't understand. The upstate farm had just bought that truck from the glue factory and didn't have time to paint over the label.

Ding, ding, ding! Best post of the day!