DAE think 'pay it forward' chains at drive thrus are actually kinda pointless

I was behind a lady at the Dunkin in Concord last Tuesday, she paid for my coffee and it made me feel obligated to pay for the car behind me. Ended up in a chain of like 8 cars, and the whole thing took extra 12 minutes. The person at the end just got a free drink and left, nobody really helped anybody who needed it. Wouldn't it be better to just tip the cashier or give that $4 to someone who actually needs a meal? Has anyone else felt weird about these chains or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_henry28d ago

Didn't that actually help 8 people feel a little good about their day even if it was small? Tipping the cashier is nice but it's missing the whole point of passing kindness forward to strangers.

michael_craig28d ago

8 people? That's it? Some of those viral feel good videos rack up millions of views and the best they could do is 8? I'm picturing the one guy just chugging through his whole day with a forced smile handing out twenties to cashiers and telling them to pay it forward and two of them probably just pocketed it and went back to scrolling their phones. That's like calling a cupcake a full wedding cake.