It’s been a rough couple of weeks. With all of the tragedies going on in our country and around the world, it’s nice to hear an uplifting story — even if all it entails is something as simple as someone paying for a stranger’s coffee. Actually, make that three hundred and seventy-eight people paying for a stranger’s coffee.
Vu Nguyen, a barista at a St. Petersburg, Florida, Starbucks was working Wednesday morning when a woman pulled through and ordered a drink, and then said that she would like to pay for the drink of the person behind her. That person paid for the drink of the person behind them, and it went on for nearly 12 hours before someone broke the chain.
The Tampa Bay Times writes:
Then at 6 p.m., customer No. 379 — a woman in a white Jeep Commander — pulled into the drive-through and ordered a regular coffee.
Nguyen leaned out the window. He told her about the chain that had begun that morning. Would she like to participate? The woman declined, saying she just wanted to pay for her $2.25 drink and not someone else’s.
Nguyen said it appeared the woman didn’t understand the concept of paying it forward.
While it’s unfortunate one woman had to go and ruin the fun, here’s hoping she doesn’t get tracked down by 4Chan or Anonymous or any of those people, which would totally offset the fact that almost 400 people made the conscious decision to brighten the day of a complete stranger with a kind gesture.
There just might be hope for you after all, America.