LogFAQs > #970700058

I ran into this once or twice as a passenger a couple years ago. My wife told me about it and that it was trending. It happened at Starbucks. Something in my mind tells me one of the times it was organized/planned, or maybe it seemed that way because it was trending and she was telling me about it and then it happened. She paid for the car behind us and it was around the same price as our order.

I remember trying to understand the concept of it and asked, "but what if the car behind you is way more expensive? You just have to pay for it?". Which you don't.

And thinking about it more now, how does it turn into a chain of pay it forward anyway? It doesn't make sense. In my mind:

1) The cashier would tell the next car, hey they paid for you. The end. No chain.

2) The car pays for the next car and tells the cashier to keep it going and cashier obliges

3) The cashier says hey they paid for you and starts the chain themselves by asking if this car wants to continue it

4) The first paid for car for whatever reason chooses to say hey I'll pay for the next car too

Hmm...2-4 sound stupid to me