One neighbor thought something was amiss when she didn't smell Mr. Zayed's noxious dinners cooking for several nights.

*facepalm*

disgusting :|

This story feels familiar....

I remember hearing a story like this about a suicide, it seems like this might happen fairly often with deaths around halloween time.

Did you know the man personally or is this just out and out racism?

It's racism, but not mine, and not really that of the neighbor. It's a fictional racism based on the stereotypical racism of a white person complaining about a stereotypical foreigner and their stereotypical cooking.

See how jokes lose their impact when you have to explain them?

You can see though, with it just sitting there like that and no context to give it perspective that it might seem a little on the wrong side.

Which is why I asked the question.

Of course, which is why I keep upvoting your comments.

Over thirty years ago, halfway through a ten-week summer camp, a counselor said to me "I have to look at you whenever you say something, because I just don't know when you're serious or joking."

Along those lines I have a curse. I can tell the tallest of tales, the most outright of lies, the most implausible of implausibilities (an example that springs to mind is telling someone that thistle tufts were in fact rabbit tails and that, like lizards they could shed their tails when being chased or in danger) and be believed unquestioningly.

Say something that's patently true like "Yes, as you can see I have two legs, not three." and I pretty much have to get sworn expert testimony to back it up.