for me, the most important part of the story is left to the very end:
"“But for some twist of fate in life, they’re the waiter and you’re the one being waited on,” Barnes says."
And there you have it: the reason why one should be humane, polite and respectful to all - not because it goes with the dominant territory, or that others are watching, or because it makes you feel like Jesus himself, but simply because all that you are is a different face of the dice.
Sadly, if you're like some people I know that don't realise this, you don't realise that you could still be happy working as a colleague of the person you just graciously opted not to expectorate on. That means that (again, if you're like these people I have the mixed fortune of knowing), you'll only be happy when the score is rising in the only game you think you want to play (career, wealth and "status", probably with a pretty narrowly-adopted definition of all three). That means there's no way for you to escape the snakes amongst the ladders in such a 2D world. Wisdom is seeing the world in 3D, realising that you can change the board game; but that means challenging your assumptions about who is of value and who is not, and what the pyramid is, and who's above and who's below. Because how else do you expect to get along with the players of other board games if you don't.
And there you have it: the reason why one should be humane, polite and respectful to all - not because it goes with the dominant territory, or that others are watching, or because it makes you feel like Jesus himself, but simply because all that you are is a different face of the dice.
Sadly, if you're like some people I know that don't realise this, you don't realise that you could still be happy working as a colleague of the person you just graciously opted not to expectorate on. That means that (again, if you're like these people I have the mixed fortune of knowing), you'll only be happy when the score is rising in the only game you think you want to play (career, wealth and "status", probably with a pretty narrowly-adopted definition of all three). That means there's no way for you to escape the snakes amongst the ladders in such a 2D world. Wisdom is seeing the world in 3D, realising that you can change the board game; but that means challenging your assumptions about who is of value and who is not, and what the pyramid is, and who's above and who's below. Because how else do you expect to get along with the players of other board games if you don't.