By Billie Soden
Walter “Buck” Swords was an 89-year-old grump. He was a curmudgeon, complainer, and malcontent whiner for the 7 years he was a customer at the Brownsville, Texas restaurant at which Melina Salazar worked. Melina was patient with him, but Buck couldn’t have cared less, or so it appeared.
He may have been her most challenging customer.![]()
(Source: Central Tang G. Village/Facebook)
Each time Buck visited Luby’s, the restaurant where Salazar was a waitress, she met every grumpy growl of discontent from the old man with a smile and kind words. That’s who Salazar was, pretty much the exact opposite of how Buck was. He may have been her most challenging customer, but she provided the same superior service and attitude to everyone she waited on. Salazar is just one of those people who could see the good in everyone.
Turns out Buck had a heart after all.![]()
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)
After years of Buck being a daily visitor to Luby’s, Salazar noticed he had stopped showing up. When she found out the news that he had passed away, she was sad, not relieved as some may have felt. Of course, death is never a happy thing, but it would be hard to ignore the reality of Buck’s offensive comments and negativity. But it would soon be revealed that Buck had a heart after all, in a big way.
He looked forward to coming to see her every day.![]()
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)
A lawyer stopped by the restaurant a few days before the Christmas holiday and the day after Salazar had learned of his passing, looking for Melina. The lawyer pulled the good-hearted waitress aside for a brief chat.
He told Salazar how much she had meant to Buck and how he had looked forward to coming to see her every day. He let Salazar know that her positive outlook and persistent positivity had not gone unnoticed by her old friend.
But the lawyer wasn’t there just to share loving and kind sentiments from Buck. There was more.
Buck had left her part of his estate.![]()
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)
The lawyer informed Salazar that Buck had left her part of his estate in the form of a car and $50,000. The tears started to run as she was given the news.
“I still can’t believe it,” Salazar told KGBT-TV in an interview, according to the Associated Press.
Maya Angelou (1928–2014), the American poet and activist, once said, “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot — it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that, I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”
Melina Salazar could have just as easily said that. She certainly exemplifies it.
Walter “Buck” Swords was an 89-year-old grump. He was a curmudgeon, complainer, and malcontent whiner for the 7 years he was a customer at the Brownsville, Texas restaurant at which Melina Salazar worked. Melina was patient with him, but Buck couldn’t have cared less, or so it appeared.
He may have been her most challenging customer.
(Source: Central Tang G. Village/Facebook)Each time Buck visited Luby’s, the restaurant where Salazar was a waitress, she met every grumpy growl of discontent from the old man with a smile and kind words. That’s who Salazar was, pretty much the exact opposite of how Buck was. He may have been her most challenging customer, but she provided the same superior service and attitude to everyone she waited on. Salazar is just one of those people who could see the good in everyone.
Turns out Buck had a heart after all.
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)After years of Buck being a daily visitor to Luby’s, Salazar noticed he had stopped showing up. When she found out the news that he had passed away, she was sad, not relieved as some may have felt. Of course, death is never a happy thing, but it would be hard to ignore the reality of Buck’s offensive comments and negativity. But it would soon be revealed that Buck had a heart after all, in a big way.
He looked forward to coming to see her every day.
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)A lawyer stopped by the restaurant a few days before the Christmas holiday and the day after Salazar had learned of his passing, looking for Melina. The lawyer pulled the good-hearted waitress aside for a brief chat.
He told Salazar how much she had meant to Buck and how he had looked forward to coming to see her every day. He let Salazar know that her positive outlook and persistent positivity had not gone unnoticed by her old friend.
But the lawyer wasn’t there just to share loving and kind sentiments from Buck. There was more.
Buck had left her part of his estate.
(victorcristianonet/YouTube/Screenshot)The lawyer informed Salazar that Buck had left her part of his estate in the form of a car and $50,000. The tears started to run as she was given the news.
“I still can’t believe it,” Salazar told KGBT-TV in an interview, according to the Associated Press.
Maya Angelou (1928–2014), the American poet and activist, once said, “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot — it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that, I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”
Melina Salazar could have just as easily said that. She certainly exemplifies it.