Are artists "special"?

I have a visitor (we'll call him or her "Tom") who's in town for an art conference.  This morning he did something quite remarkable. 
He put a couple of spoonfuls of salt into his coffee and drank half the cup.  Only then did he point to a container on the table and ask me, "Is this salt?"
Ha ha ha! 
Okay - I admit, I'm being unfair to poor "Tom" when I laugh at him, because most people put salt in salt shakers and sugar in large containers with spoons (at least on the table).  So, visitors be warned - we are not strong on logic in this house...

Still, it's very remarkable that he drank half the cup! 


P.S. Again, I'm being unfair to the artist. The coffee hadn't been hot enough when he drank it and a lot of the salt was still sitting at the bottom of the cup when I rinsed it out.  It probably wasn't all that salty until he got half-way through.

P.P.S. I apologize to anyone who read this post hoping for a discussion on the nature of artists...