My Mother-in-Law Brought 38 Friends to My Restaurant and Ordered $23,289 of Food—She Stopped Smiling When I Put the Folder Beside Her Bill

“Yes.”

“You could’ve asked.”

She looked embarrassed.

“Yes.”

Then:

“We were cruel because cruelty was entertaining when we thought there was no cost to us.”

That sentence stayed with me.

Social groups can normalize ugliness the same way families do.