Incredibly Unique Experience in Clarksdale

The following is a transcript from the above RADIOLAND VIDEO with Chilly Billy.

Hey, man, I’m pissed. Where do you start?

I just was patronizing an establishment in Clarksdale and had an incredibly unique experience. The person that was serving me just mentioned how ugly some people over there were treating her and how they just want something for nothing and they complain every time they are in there…

And then I walk to the counter to pay and the owner just starts telling me this whole story. And not somebody normally that would make themselves that vulnerable and I don’t even know them. I’ve seen them before because this person and his wife are so felicitous, they are always solicitous, they are always customer service oriented, they are moving 90 miles an hour, you can tell they love people, love God and love others, family oriented. Even all their literature in there is.

And he just starts telling me that his heart is broken. He said, “Will you pray for me?” I mean, dude, that came out of nowhere. There’s no way he can know I’m a Christian, all but a compromised one, but there’s no way that I think he could have known that.

But I think his frustration and his sadness and his struggling with hope is based on the way he said they are being treated. And he was just in there smiling at these folks in the room that were causing all this trouble and, you know, tried to turn it into a positive and then he just kind of broke down.

He said, “You know, my family, we moved here.” He said, “I was born in 1980.” He said, “I’m not racist. I don’t know anything about racism. We come here. We work hard. We try to serve others. We try to do it in Jesus’s name because we love Him and we love others.”

And I’m telling you, they do!

And he said, “Daily, all day long we deal with people that’ll leave without paying for the food.” He said, “We don’t charge up front because we want people to feel good about themselves and to feel that they are trusted.” But, he said, “People will run out without paying. They’ll come back in twice in the same day and eat two hours later. They complain about the food consistently so they can get it free.”

And he said, “They say we are millionaires because we have a lot of people in here.” And he said, “We are not millionaires. All we do is work and go home and deal with this frustration and try to love others and try to pay the bank and try to honor what we are here to do.” And he said, “We just get treated badly all day long.”

This shit has to stop! I’m tired of this shit! That’s a black mark on Clarksdale. It’s a black mark on a way of living now that has been validated through a bunch of governmental abuse. People putting their faith in government to fix problems instead of God and family and church or whatever community you are involved in and just treatin’ people like shit! And I’m tired of it! It needs to end.

And you know, I’m a firm believer…the customer is not always right. The customer is a son-of-a-bitch often. And they don’t need to be told it’s ok to be a son-of-a-bitch.

Now, at the same time, I was reminded recently by somebody in college that said I used to always say, “If you can’t afford to tip 15% then you can’t afford to eat out.” That’s true. Now I’d say, 20% minimum. But, that’s a preference thing.

But what I am saying is, you show value by the way you treat people that serve you. And somebody in a restaurant, they may be serving you for a $7 breakfast, you may sling them .50 damn cents or something. And they clean a lot of dishes, they put up with a lot of shit, a lot of flirting, a lot of just pain-in-the-ass stuff, and they do it day in and day out. So to the unknown waiter and waitress, to the small business man, small business woman, small business family, the big business man….anybody working their ass off, trying to serve others and trying to make a living at the same time…here’s to you! God bless you. And God protect y’all.

We got to find a way to stop all these silly, stupid son-of-a-bitches that use race…they use economic disparities to justify awful behavior. It cannot be justified in any form or fashion!

If you don’t like what somebody charges then don’t go in there and buy something. If you don’t like the way they look then don’t patronize their business; stay your punk-ass home! This shit’s got to end.

Quit treatin’ people like shit! Show value by tipping somebody. And quit actin’ a damn fool! If you think that it shows you have class by you treating people like servants then you are a dumb son-of-a-bitch!

And if you go to church 4, 5, 6 hours a day, every Wednesday, every day, and you are always using the Bible to justify stuff, make damn sure your spirit is right. And, somebody would say, “Well, Billy, it doesn’t sound like your spirit is right!” You damn, right, it isn’t, but I’m fixin’ to get it right!

Y’all have a good day, and, remember, treat others the way you want to be treated. Be nice to others. And realize that just ‘cause you got money doesn’t mean you can buy their time in whatever fashion you want. You love others by showing them value. Have a good day.

—Chilly Billy

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