This Guy Balks After He’s Expected To Pay $46 Starbucks Bill For Car Behind Him To Continue “Pay It Forward” Streak
Interview With AuthorThere are a lot of great challenges and trends that encourage people to do something for a good cause. It’s a fun and efficient way to show and remind people that there are less fortunate or lucky people who need a helping hand. But sometimes people feel the need to do something good for some strangers that they don’t know much about just to brighten their day. One of the examples of such a kind gesture is the “pay it forward” trend. This trend became highly discussed after TikTok user Mac Tray who goes by the username @im_blessed55 decided to share his experience concerning this challenge.
More Info: TikTok
People find some interesting and unique ways to brighten someone’s day
Image credits: im_blessed55
The video that now has almost 4 million views shows how the man went to the Starbucks drive-thru to get his drink, also explaining that others who were in the line were participating in the “pay for the person behind you” trend. The man revealed that he stopped a 23-car streak and briefly explained the situation. But before that, Mac shared that “they tried to set him up,” having in mind the car that was standing behind him.
Turns out, a person or people who were in another car had an order for $46, while the TikTok user spent $6 on his drink. Of course, the man found this situation bizarre, so he decided not to proceed with the streak and end it right there. This situation started a heated discussion online as people had different opinions about what happened and how this situation should’ve been handled.
One of these kind gestures was shown in a Starbucks drive-thru where someone started a trend of paying for the person behind their car
Image credits: im_blessed55
A TikTok user decided to share his experience of becoming a part of that trend that he also stopped
Image credits: im_blessed55
Those who have experience in working at Starbucks or similar places expressed their support by saying that they were glad that Mac stopped this trend as it becomes confusing for baristas to keep up with orders and payments. Usually, these gestures of generosity make their job difficult and more confusing. Some people thought that the streak could’ve been saved if the man agreed to cover only some portion of the whole sum. However, others stated that it would only bring more confusion into the whole situation and wouldn’t really fulfill the purpose.
A 23-car streak ended when a customer refused to pay for another car’s order that was $46
Image credits: im_blessed55
Other TikTok users didn’t seem to see the point in participating in such a streak as they understand that those who come to Starbucks can clearly afford to get themselves a drink. They suggested that if someone wants to do a good deed, they should really think of ways to help those who are actually in need.
Bored Panda contacted the author of the now-viral TikTok video to find out more about the situation. The man shared that he was surprised to see the video gain so much attention and to stir a debate online. “Honestly, reading all the comments and people debating was entertaining and at times funny, but having a viral video did not excite me that much,” concluded Mac.
You can watch the full video down below!
@im_blessed55How y’all feel about this am I wrong? What would y’all have done? ##starbucks ##viral ##fyp ##payitfoward♬ original sound – Mac Tray
This situation started a heated discussion online as people had different opinions on how this all could’ve been handled
A lot of people agreed that it was the right thing to end the streak
The TikToker also shared what he thinks about other people’s reactions. He revealed that people were very active, sending him long messages about the situation and the way they see it, but Mac didn’t allow this to affect his personal life: “It was so many people commenting that eventually I just quit reading the comments because it was distracting my real life. People were also sending me personal messages saying crazy things but all I did was laugh and continue with my day.”
One of the questions is whether the car that made the $46 order knew about the trend and did this on purpose or they didn’t expect anything and maybe didn’t even know about it. Even though there is no answer, people also had their own speculations. Some of them even shared their own experience of paying for an order that was made for the whole office. So it seems that this one-time good deed sometimes turns into a misunderstanding.
We asked Mac what he thinks on the matter. The man guessed that the order was for a few people who ordered some drinks and food, as he could see who was sitting in the car. TikToker continued by explaining the actual reasoning of why he decided not to pay for the order: “I prefer to pay it forward with people who need the help, so since the viral video, I have been giving meals to the homeless. I haven’t posted the videos yet, but I may post them soon while I have this extra attention to help inspire people to pay it forward to the individuals that really need the help.”
What do you think about this situation? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
Some people suggested that the man could’ve covered a part of the sum still keeping with the streak
Later it was revealed that this gesture is not encouraged and usually unappreciated by the staff that actually prepares orders
Some users noticed that when this gesture turns into “a train,” it loses its meaning and becomes forced goodness
Some TikTokers believe that if someone wants to make a kind gesture, they should tip baristas
624Kviews
Share on FacebookIf you want to do a nice thing, than pay for a meal for a homeless person. People waiting in line do have enough money to pay for their order, they don't need your charity.
Yeah man, this is just more of privileged people keeping each other privileged.
Load More Replies...At some point it just becomes silly. All you're really doing is making it way more difficult for the staff to track orders and payments. If people have enough money to go to Starbucks in the first place, they are not hurting for money. Better off making a small donation to your local food bank or shelter.
I admit, if someone in front of me pays for my drink, I way and mouth thank you and take my drink. I never understood the pay it forward train. In the end, 1 person is getting a free drink, you are just changing who gets it.
It doesn't work at fast food chains... some end up paying a lot for next person, others less than their own would have cost. The scam comes when a person turns around gets back in line and orders something big, and then ends the chain with their free stuff.
Load More Replies...I once went to Dunkin and the car ahead of me paid my order. I had just lost my job, went through a break up, and got out of the hospital that week. It made me smile and I cried happy tears.
These are stupid ways to feel "good" but not do anything but mildly inconvenience everyone involved.
I'm not a big spender and usually just order the least expensive value meal. I've had this happen where I carefully chose my low-priced meal and then ended up in the "train" where the person in front paid,l for my order, but I always end it. I'm not going to pay for someone's more expensive order. It still makes me feel guilty or cheap when I just take my free meal and don't reciprocate.
Nope. Your mom birthing you was the most pointless event EVER
Load More Replies...The OP didn't end the streak, the car ordering $46 worth of Starbucks ended the streak. I agree, it's a nice thing in theory, but if you feel a generous impulse, there are more helpful ways to assuage it... buy an extra cup and a food item for the homeless guy on the corner, for example.
I don't understand how this actually works 🤔 sorry if I'm being dumb but I don't go through drive throughs. How can you pay for the person behind you? How do you know what they're ordering and how much it is?
You order at one window and pay at another. By the time you get to the pay window, the car behind you has already ordered so you just have to say you want to pay for their order too.
Load More Replies...I agree. I and my parents are on fixed incomes. We budget everything even Starbucks trips. To people who don’t live on budgets it probably looks like we have a bunch of money, we don’t. We simply have every penny accounted for and know where it’s going. If we splurge on an item or items then something else isn’t getting paid or we’re going without a few things (it’s a decision that’s made by reviewing our respective budgets and making adjustments, it’s a decision with consequences) that doesn’t entitle some Joe Blow in the next car to free coffee because someone else decided to start a “pay it forward” trend.
I don't get it... why even pay for someone else's drink when they can obviously afford it?
In the beginning, it was a way of being generous, but this is obviously a "corruption" of the original idea. In my city, you can pay for an extra cup of coffee or sandwich in a some bars, and later they give the food/drink to a homeless person. So, basically you pay for a person who needs it. I usually pay for somebody else, because I know I'm helping a person who can't afford a hot drink. I wouldn't do it for people who can afford their own orders, and even less at Starbucks.
Load More Replies...I'm a pay it forward line ruiner. Ive encountered them twice now, and both times I give what I wouldn't paid for my coffee to the barista as a tip.
This is the first time I've ever heard of a pay it forward train and now I hope I never come across one.
Stop doing this. These people can pay for their Starbucks. Put that money in tips for the staff busting ass.
First time I saw a story of a huge drive thru pay it forward line, I thought: "this line would end with me", lol. If one person does it for someone, that's nice. It doesn't mean everyone else then has to. Idk why people think this. Accept the kind gesture and go. Be more creative in your pay it forward than copying the person who did it to you.
Stupid. Who came up with this stupid idea! I would be mad about such thing...
If you want to make a difference, give the money to the employees. If someone is in line for a Starbucks coffee, they have spare money.
First of all, I hate the drive through, so the chances of this happening to me are very slim. That being said, if the unthinkable did happen, and the clerk told me my order was paid for, I would put the cost of my order into their tip jar. Easy peasy. Also, I have a friend who used to work at Starbucks, and she HATED pay trains with a passion, because they were confusing as f**k to keep track of.
I mean, the pay-it-forward thing is complicated for the baristas and therefore I don't like it because I don't want to make their jobs harder... but the way some people talked about it! "I was set up", "make everyone else give under compulsion" - like you can just say no. I've had someone pay for my drink before, and while it felt really nice I couldn't guarantee I could cover those behind me, so I just didn't. I didn't feel guilty (and I had cash for my order so I just put it in the tip jar).
My friend told me that when she worked on drive-thrus, whenever someone said 'Oh, I can pay for the person behind me' or something like that, she would just respond with 'we don't do that here'. She and her friends who also did it eventually got the manager to officially end it, even though by that point there were maybe two or three people who didn't do it, everyone else just stuck with 'we don't do that here'
I stopped for coffee at Starbucks after a very long day at the hospital for my husband's heart bypass surgery. The car in front of me paid for my drink. I had held out together all day until that moment and cried like a baby at that small kindness.
This is just some self stroking nonsense that complicates everything for everyone else. Be as charitable as you like, but don't preobligate others to take part in helping you pretend to change the world. Not everyone has the time or ability to turn kind gestures into a self serving circle jerk based on a flawed premise from an awful movie.
As a former barista.... PLEASE STOP DOING THIS S**T! It backs up the lines, it can mess up orders, it forces customers to "pay it forward" and sometimes paying for things they can't afford when all they got was a tall coffee which is like $3 tops and the order they're covering is $15... it also starts trouble with people who also hate the train and refuse to pay it forward but take it out on the baristas about how much they hate the trend... it's just a mess. Stop doing this. Pay for you s**t and leave. Tip your baristas or buy the person behind you a danish or something if you really feel the need. But your money would be better spent if you just donated it or tipped your servers.
The people who are buying Starbucks don't need the help! Lol. But your local friendly homeless man might appreciate it.
Load More Replies...NTA. This was happening at a Mcdonald and my husband had ordered two double cheeseburgers, total of like 5 bucks, but the cashier said it was over $30 because of the "pay it forward". Husband said NO, he pays for himself and the cashier gave him a stunned look. All he had was the 5 bucks in his possession and he paid. No one should be forced into this!
What is this? How do I know what the person behind me has to pay? Why am I expected to pay for someone else? What if they have a larger order? Or a smaller one, that's weird too, right? Then I'd get my stuff for less. It makes no sense.
This whole idea is WTF. Anyone who can afford to drive their car to a Starbucks window and pay Starbucks prices does not need a donation. Give your money to someone who needs it, ffs.
Most People buying Starbucks can more then afford to get their own drink! Pay it forward with a generous tip! I say most people because going to Starbucks for me is a special treat I get on paydays! Start a Tipping train! Can still make you feel good and then at the end of the day will make all Baristas have a good night!
I've paid for drinks of people behind me before. But chains? That's ridiculous. I'd rather give my money to a person that hasn't eaten all day.
I buy a $3.50 can of coffee and make it at home, several problems solved.
I don't go to coffee shops here in my adopted state---drive-thru access is extremely difficult due to the ceaseless traffic, and the hazards of getting across it all for something I can easily make at home. But in my hometown, where I lived for over 64 years before coming here 6 years ago, I drove through coffee places all the time. None of them ever permitted the "pay it forward" thing, which was fine with me, I wasn't about to do it, anyhow. I did, though, buy someone a cup of coffee and a baked good inside the store (a gas station here that has fabulous baked goods and a small area to sit and eat) when they were clearly hungry and were short of money. But no, no "pay it forward," not ever for drive-thru services.
I’ve never done the “pay it forward” thing. Some people claim it’s good karma, but idc. If the people behind that dude knew that there was a train going, and they purposefully tried to use that to get $46 worth of stuff, that’s literally such garbage. What a trashy thing to do!
I've never understood the point of these 'streaks'. If it's left to go on then everyone's still paying and then what's the point? It's a nice thing for the first or last person in the streak to do but other than that it's pointless. That said, one time I went to Starbucks and was the last person in line and my order had been paid for.
Starbucks barista here. Starbucks doesn't actually use tips to pay us less. We do hate the trains, it does make our jobs more complicated, and amongst ourselves we quietly wish that someone WOULD end the train by putting their extra cash toward tipping us instead. The majority of our customers don't tip and we're not allowed to have signs for our tip jars or any obvious hints like that because we're paid more than minimum wage.
Just pay for the equivalent of your drink on the next person's bill if someone paid for yours... I'm sure Starbucks will LOVE splitting bills, and stop guilting people into this B.S... what a waste of time. This isn't charity or improvement for people in need. (If you annoy them enough with splitting, they will stop allowing this!) You should still tip tho; service industry sucks.
Someone paid for my coffee? Ok, what I would have paid you has now become your tip. End of transaction
No one!!! Except greedy ass Starbucks wanting publicity... that's it. It has to be a nightmare for employees.
Load More Replies...Anyone coming to Starbucks can afford his coffee. If you want to do a good deed buy a coffee or a meal for a homeless person
NFW I'm laying out cabbage for grifters. I'll support the food pantry, thank you.
Altruism and overrated luxury coffee milkshakes are two mutually exclusive things.
This just proves that people who buy coffee at Starbucks don't make good financial decisions.
Sorry I can’t make a Frappuccino at home because I don’t have the right equipment or syrups and only get one like three times a year but durrhurr everyone who buys coffee is stupid blahblahblah
Load More Replies...I've had someone pay for my drink, regardless the # in my party. Our STBKs just holds it one drink. It keeps it going for a long while. I used to do it on toll bridges, too.
"How y'all feel about this am I wrong? What would y'all have done?" Please, people, can we just stop this "y'all" s**t?
Sorry sir, but "y'all" is a valid contraction that's in the Dictionary. Don't you go hate on different dialects
Load More Replies...And if you spend time making ludicrous statements on Bored Panda, you are wasting everyone's time including your own.
Load More Replies...If you want to do a nice thing, than pay for a meal for a homeless person. People waiting in line do have enough money to pay for their order, they don't need your charity.
Yeah man, this is just more of privileged people keeping each other privileged.
Load More Replies...At some point it just becomes silly. All you're really doing is making it way more difficult for the staff to track orders and payments. If people have enough money to go to Starbucks in the first place, they are not hurting for money. Better off making a small donation to your local food bank or shelter.
I admit, if someone in front of me pays for my drink, I way and mouth thank you and take my drink. I never understood the pay it forward train. In the end, 1 person is getting a free drink, you are just changing who gets it.
It doesn't work at fast food chains... some end up paying a lot for next person, others less than their own would have cost. The scam comes when a person turns around gets back in line and orders something big, and then ends the chain with their free stuff.
Load More Replies...I once went to Dunkin and the car ahead of me paid my order. I had just lost my job, went through a break up, and got out of the hospital that week. It made me smile and I cried happy tears.
These are stupid ways to feel "good" but not do anything but mildly inconvenience everyone involved.
I'm not a big spender and usually just order the least expensive value meal. I've had this happen where I carefully chose my low-priced meal and then ended up in the "train" where the person in front paid,l for my order, but I always end it. I'm not going to pay for someone's more expensive order. It still makes me feel guilty or cheap when I just take my free meal and don't reciprocate.
Nope. Your mom birthing you was the most pointless event EVER
Load More Replies...The OP didn't end the streak, the car ordering $46 worth of Starbucks ended the streak. I agree, it's a nice thing in theory, but if you feel a generous impulse, there are more helpful ways to assuage it... buy an extra cup and a food item for the homeless guy on the corner, for example.
I don't understand how this actually works 🤔 sorry if I'm being dumb but I don't go through drive throughs. How can you pay for the person behind you? How do you know what they're ordering and how much it is?
You order at one window and pay at another. By the time you get to the pay window, the car behind you has already ordered so you just have to say you want to pay for their order too.
Load More Replies...I agree. I and my parents are on fixed incomes. We budget everything even Starbucks trips. To people who don’t live on budgets it probably looks like we have a bunch of money, we don’t. We simply have every penny accounted for and know where it’s going. If we splurge on an item or items then something else isn’t getting paid or we’re going without a few things (it’s a decision that’s made by reviewing our respective budgets and making adjustments, it’s a decision with consequences) that doesn’t entitle some Joe Blow in the next car to free coffee because someone else decided to start a “pay it forward” trend.
I don't get it... why even pay for someone else's drink when they can obviously afford it?
In the beginning, it was a way of being generous, but this is obviously a "corruption" of the original idea. In my city, you can pay for an extra cup of coffee or sandwich in a some bars, and later they give the food/drink to a homeless person. So, basically you pay for a person who needs it. I usually pay for somebody else, because I know I'm helping a person who can't afford a hot drink. I wouldn't do it for people who can afford their own orders, and even less at Starbucks.
Load More Replies...I'm a pay it forward line ruiner. Ive encountered them twice now, and both times I give what I wouldn't paid for my coffee to the barista as a tip.
This is the first time I've ever heard of a pay it forward train and now I hope I never come across one.
Stop doing this. These people can pay for their Starbucks. Put that money in tips for the staff busting ass.
First time I saw a story of a huge drive thru pay it forward line, I thought: "this line would end with me", lol. If one person does it for someone, that's nice. It doesn't mean everyone else then has to. Idk why people think this. Accept the kind gesture and go. Be more creative in your pay it forward than copying the person who did it to you.
Stupid. Who came up with this stupid idea! I would be mad about such thing...
If you want to make a difference, give the money to the employees. If someone is in line for a Starbucks coffee, they have spare money.
First of all, I hate the drive through, so the chances of this happening to me are very slim. That being said, if the unthinkable did happen, and the clerk told me my order was paid for, I would put the cost of my order into their tip jar. Easy peasy. Also, I have a friend who used to work at Starbucks, and she HATED pay trains with a passion, because they were confusing as f**k to keep track of.
I mean, the pay-it-forward thing is complicated for the baristas and therefore I don't like it because I don't want to make their jobs harder... but the way some people talked about it! "I was set up", "make everyone else give under compulsion" - like you can just say no. I've had someone pay for my drink before, and while it felt really nice I couldn't guarantee I could cover those behind me, so I just didn't. I didn't feel guilty (and I had cash for my order so I just put it in the tip jar).
My friend told me that when she worked on drive-thrus, whenever someone said 'Oh, I can pay for the person behind me' or something like that, she would just respond with 'we don't do that here'. She and her friends who also did it eventually got the manager to officially end it, even though by that point there were maybe two or three people who didn't do it, everyone else just stuck with 'we don't do that here'
I stopped for coffee at Starbucks after a very long day at the hospital for my husband's heart bypass surgery. The car in front of me paid for my drink. I had held out together all day until that moment and cried like a baby at that small kindness.
This is just some self stroking nonsense that complicates everything for everyone else. Be as charitable as you like, but don't preobligate others to take part in helping you pretend to change the world. Not everyone has the time or ability to turn kind gestures into a self serving circle jerk based on a flawed premise from an awful movie.
As a former barista.... PLEASE STOP DOING THIS S**T! It backs up the lines, it can mess up orders, it forces customers to "pay it forward" and sometimes paying for things they can't afford when all they got was a tall coffee which is like $3 tops and the order they're covering is $15... it also starts trouble with people who also hate the train and refuse to pay it forward but take it out on the baristas about how much they hate the trend... it's just a mess. Stop doing this. Pay for you s**t and leave. Tip your baristas or buy the person behind you a danish or something if you really feel the need. But your money would be better spent if you just donated it or tipped your servers.
The people who are buying Starbucks don't need the help! Lol. But your local friendly homeless man might appreciate it.
Load More Replies...NTA. This was happening at a Mcdonald and my husband had ordered two double cheeseburgers, total of like 5 bucks, but the cashier said it was over $30 because of the "pay it forward". Husband said NO, he pays for himself and the cashier gave him a stunned look. All he had was the 5 bucks in his possession and he paid. No one should be forced into this!
What is this? How do I know what the person behind me has to pay? Why am I expected to pay for someone else? What if they have a larger order? Or a smaller one, that's weird too, right? Then I'd get my stuff for less. It makes no sense.
This whole idea is WTF. Anyone who can afford to drive their car to a Starbucks window and pay Starbucks prices does not need a donation. Give your money to someone who needs it, ffs.
Most People buying Starbucks can more then afford to get their own drink! Pay it forward with a generous tip! I say most people because going to Starbucks for me is a special treat I get on paydays! Start a Tipping train! Can still make you feel good and then at the end of the day will make all Baristas have a good night!
I've paid for drinks of people behind me before. But chains? That's ridiculous. I'd rather give my money to a person that hasn't eaten all day.
I buy a $3.50 can of coffee and make it at home, several problems solved.
I don't go to coffee shops here in my adopted state---drive-thru access is extremely difficult due to the ceaseless traffic, and the hazards of getting across it all for something I can easily make at home. But in my hometown, where I lived for over 64 years before coming here 6 years ago, I drove through coffee places all the time. None of them ever permitted the "pay it forward" thing, which was fine with me, I wasn't about to do it, anyhow. I did, though, buy someone a cup of coffee and a baked good inside the store (a gas station here that has fabulous baked goods and a small area to sit and eat) when they were clearly hungry and were short of money. But no, no "pay it forward," not ever for drive-thru services.
I’ve never done the “pay it forward” thing. Some people claim it’s good karma, but idc. If the people behind that dude knew that there was a train going, and they purposefully tried to use that to get $46 worth of stuff, that’s literally such garbage. What a trashy thing to do!
I've never understood the point of these 'streaks'. If it's left to go on then everyone's still paying and then what's the point? It's a nice thing for the first or last person in the streak to do but other than that it's pointless. That said, one time I went to Starbucks and was the last person in line and my order had been paid for.
Starbucks barista here. Starbucks doesn't actually use tips to pay us less. We do hate the trains, it does make our jobs more complicated, and amongst ourselves we quietly wish that someone WOULD end the train by putting their extra cash toward tipping us instead. The majority of our customers don't tip and we're not allowed to have signs for our tip jars or any obvious hints like that because we're paid more than minimum wage.
Just pay for the equivalent of your drink on the next person's bill if someone paid for yours... I'm sure Starbucks will LOVE splitting bills, and stop guilting people into this B.S... what a waste of time. This isn't charity or improvement for people in need. (If you annoy them enough with splitting, they will stop allowing this!) You should still tip tho; service industry sucks.
Someone paid for my coffee? Ok, what I would have paid you has now become your tip. End of transaction
No one!!! Except greedy ass Starbucks wanting publicity... that's it. It has to be a nightmare for employees.
Load More Replies...Anyone coming to Starbucks can afford his coffee. If you want to do a good deed buy a coffee or a meal for a homeless person
NFW I'm laying out cabbage for grifters. I'll support the food pantry, thank you.
Altruism and overrated luxury coffee milkshakes are two mutually exclusive things.
This just proves that people who buy coffee at Starbucks don't make good financial decisions.
Sorry I can’t make a Frappuccino at home because I don’t have the right equipment or syrups and only get one like three times a year but durrhurr everyone who buys coffee is stupid blahblahblah
Load More Replies...I've had someone pay for my drink, regardless the # in my party. Our STBKs just holds it one drink. It keeps it going for a long while. I used to do it on toll bridges, too.
"How y'all feel about this am I wrong? What would y'all have done?" Please, people, can we just stop this "y'all" s**t?
Sorry sir, but "y'all" is a valid contraction that's in the Dictionary. Don't you go hate on different dialects
Load More Replies...And if you spend time making ludicrous statements on Bored Panda, you are wasting everyone's time including your own.
Load More Replies...
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