One man's addiction to Heinz
My first job waiting tables was at a diner, when I was 18. I had a regular who would sit at a corner table and order a plate of fries. He would always flag us down in just a manner of minutes, and ask for a second bottle of ketchup, and at first we were shocked to see that he had already emptied the first. Pretty soon we started bringing him two bottles with the plate of fries.
One night, he was the only customer in the place, and I left him with his plate of ketchup and fries while I went to the walk-in to get a tub of some yucky pre-made diner food. When I came around the corner from the back of the house, I caught him drinking the ketchup. That's right, his head was tipped back, and the bottle was emtptying into his mouth. We had a moment: our eyes locked, I think he saw the pure horror and disgust in mine, and I saw the guilt and ketchup-loving despair in his eyes.
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