{"id":650,"date":"2013-10-21T09:16:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T09:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattralston.net\/?p=650"},"modified":"2013-10-21T09:41:21","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T09:41:21","slug":"candidate-worst-person-ive-ever-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/religion\/candidate-worst-person-ive-ever-met\/","title":{"rendered":"A Candidate for the Worst Person I’ve Ever Met"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple days ago I stopped at Fish Grill<\/em> on Beverly Blvd. This is a kosher taco stand located in a largely Hassidic Jewish neighborhood of Los Angeles – a fact that I would normally barely notice.<\/p>\n

So, I get in line – in front of me is a guy who looks to be about seventeen, and he is taking\u00a0forever<\/em> to order.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0forever<\/em> I mean literally like two minutes, which is really a long time when you consider that there are probably five items on the menu – and he’s just staring at this board like he’s waiting for God to tell him what to eat – and I immediately hate him.<\/p>\n

Aside from being an awkward teenager, wearing what appears to be a glued-on beard, he is sporting traditional Hassidic costuming, the significance of which is lost on me but includes baggy slacks, a weird frilly belt, white shirt, and enormous Abe Lincoln style hat.<\/p>\n

Finally the guy completes his order – and goes to pay.<\/p>\n

Before I finish this story, let me explain that I hate religious zealots of any ilk – especially Christians – so spare me your Nazi accusations or whatever. So:<\/p>\n

He pulls out a wallet which is neon purple\/orange and is emblazened with a Hebrew phrase.<\/p>\n

At this point, since I already hate the guy, I find it annoying that his wallet has a bunch of Hebrew written on it, and I think to myself,<\/p>\n

Hey, WE GET IT.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stereotypes… My good friend Travis Simmons is a black man and claims he doesn’t eat chicken in public out of basic self-awareness. Being an Irish American, I would feel like a huge tool if I walked into a tavern carrying my own beer glass with a picture of a boxing glove tamped onto it.<\/p>\n

Your total is $10.50.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, I only have $9…<\/em><\/p>\n

He glances over his shoulder at me. Not happening.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry about it. Just take your number.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I order and sit down. I put on my headphones and pull up\u00a0The Joe Rogan Experience<\/em>\u00a0on\u00a0Stitcher\u00a0<\/em>and open an\u00a0L.A. Weekly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Someone walks into my field of vision. I see the guy’s mouth moving, so I take out my headphones.<\/p>\n

What?\u00a0<\/em>I ask, annoyed.<\/p>\n

Are you Jewish?\u00a0<\/em>He asks.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I respond quickly. I don’t want to talk to this person.<\/p>\n

I consider this interaction for half a second, and I figure I should ask the guy before it starts to eat away at me…<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0<\/em>I say as he’s leaving to bother someone else.<\/p>\n

And seriously, I want to know – WHY does it matter.<\/p>\n

He looks at me condescendingly and says,\u00a0Oh, don’t worry about it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m not worried about it, you fucking cult member weirdo. I finish eating.<\/p>\n

On the way home I’m still pissed that the guy talked to me in that tone.<\/p>\n

I call a friend of mine who is Jewish and grew up in New York city amongst many Hassidic people.<\/p>\n

She explains to me that these people refuse to work, and spend most of their daytime hours reading the Torah.<\/p>\n

They feel, in their hearts, that they’re doing every fellow human a favor by coming to a complete understanding of this religious text – and they think that everyone owes them something for their troubles, it is explained to me.<\/p>\n

This is why the guy didn’t have enough money to pay for his tacos, it is explained to me – because he felt the restaurant should cut him a discount.<\/p>\n

What would have happened if I told him I was Jewish,\u00a0<\/em>I ask.<\/p>\n

It is explained to me that he would have spewed a bunch of religious bullshit at me and asked for a donation.<\/p>\n

What an entitled cocksucker, giving me an attitude while he’s living the life of a glorified hobo.<\/p>\n

The gall to act perturbed by someone that YOU were bothering is a level of narcissism I could never imagine approaching.<\/p>\n

WHAT A DICK. I hate this guy, and he is one of the worst people I’ve ever met.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple days ago I stopped at Fish Grill on Beverly Blvd. This is a kosher taco stand located in a largely Hassidic Jewish neighborhood of Los Angeles – a fact that I would normally barely notice. So, I get in line – in front of me is a guy who looks to be about …read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattralston.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}