I had heard in the news recently about some ridiculously long line of cars in a drive thru who were paying the bill of the car behind them as some sort of stupid "nice" gesture until they reach the ONE who just goes "cool", drives off with a free meal, and doesn't pay-it-forward. Well, day before yesterday, I'm driving thru a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru and I pull up for my combo meal. I saw the car in front of me appear to pay and then seemingly paid again. At first, I thought she was changing a bill and then paying. So, I pull up and get the "your meal has been paid for by the car in front of you". My reaction..."why? wth? crikey. geez.". Then, I notice the workers in there kind of looking interested to see my reaction or what I would do. I was actually kind of pissed thinking like "I pay for my own damn meal...do I look like a bum? Nobody paying for my meal...dammit...for no good reason!". So, I did the exact same thing to the car behind me. I'm not sure if it was a test or what...like I was going to be that bad guy who didn't have the decency to pay-it-forward or whatever? But, first I asked how much the bill was to ensure it was reasonable as I'm not buying 4 persons' meal or something. It turned out it was a single combo meal a little more expensive than what I would have paid. My thought process then was "I'll make the car behind me feel like an idiot now...just like I felt...now knowing why this happened.". I drove away thinking how dumb it seemed. I had several feelings of stupidity, morality, humor, grief, anger as I drove away. LOL! My motto still remains "don't drive thru if you can't pay and don't expect it to be paid for!". I broke the rule, though. I was taken aback by it all. Reflecting on it further, I think what happened is the car in front of me was the first one to pay-it-forward. I'm left wondering if the car in back of me paid-it-forward? So dumb it all felt. Anyone ever get caught in this scam?
I am ALL FOR doing nice things for random strangers. I try to do it as often as I can. But this whole "pay for the car behind you" phenomenon just seems silly to me.
if you do it only because someone else did it to you it seems artificial. It should be random acts of kindness, not cyclical socially enforced acts of kindness. That's like a line of cars patting themselves on the back, when really only one meal was free. Not that you did. You get it, man. You're ok.
The idea behind it should be that a small act like that can be a big encouragement to someone. Perhaps they will do something bigger for someone else. Kindness begets kindness. It's not really about paying for yours and you pay for someone else. That's just dumb. In the end buying someone fast food that was already in line to pay for it themselves doesn't really accomplish anything. But, what if you pay for someone who was having a horrible day and they in turn are encouraged. They leave the store and see a homeless person in the rain and pull over to give him some money, clothes, food, etc? Or what if that encouraged person overhears someone having financial trouble and slips them money anonymously? Or leaves a big tip for a struggling waitress? The point of pay it forward is not "This dude just bought by $5 value meal I'll buy a $5 value meal for someone behind me."
COOL. I would have paid it forward and hoped that the kindness stuck through the entire day... but it sort of kind of only works with LONG lines of cars at a place where food is good (Chick-Fil-A). YUMMY. **** yeah, OP, you suck. Then don't do it, mister sensitive! How is it "silly", man? Please explain, mister big time... hahaha...
That's... paying it backwards. Now a truly good person would pay it FORWARD, meaning, he would say 'And yeah, I will pay for the car in FRONT of mine'.. And then when you get up to the window, 'Yeah, mine is being paid by the car behind me..' hehehehe THAT is paying it forward
SMFH. You feel bad because you were part of something that was good, fun, different and, to say the least, interesting? Dude, this is a GOOD thing. It's not a bad thing at all. I'll never understand some of you guys.
I would, but then I'd feel guilty about contributing to a person's heart attack and I'd probably end up killing myself. Thanks for the free food though.
How does one pay for the meal behind them if they don't know what the person behind them ordered? I am assuming they ask the cashier and the cashier tells the driver what the bill is for the person behind them. That feels like some sort of breach of cashier/customer confidentiality. If I drove up to the cashier and she said 'the person in front paid for your meal', my response would be 'why did you tell that person what I ordered?'
You don't really need to know that... do you? All you need is the total. What does it matter if someone knows what you ate? Paranoid?
They just need the total. Also, it's a drive-thru fast food joint. Not a drive-thru dildo shop. No one is going to give a **** about your possible unhealthy meal lol.
chill, bruh. maybe some guy had just received a killer blow job and ended up in a really good mood. no one was trying to play a "game" or force you to do anything.
