The exception

Smooth is easy to design. Care is not.

Care pauses. Care notices when someone hesitates. Care asks the question that wasn’t required.

That’s why it doesn’t scale.

Anything that feels generous but costs no time, no attention, no inconvenience usually isn’t generosity at all.

Think of the places you remember.

The table you were told to take, even though the system said no.

The dish that wasn’t on the menu, but showed up anyway.

The awkward pause at the register while someone fixed what would’ve been easier to ignore.

Those moments stayed with you because someone chose you over the process.

Something bent.

And that bend — that small, human detour — is the whole point.

If everything runs perfectly, nothing personal happened.