‘Tis the season of kindness and paying it forward. But who had a DQ Blizzard or Arctic Rush on their random acts of kindness Bingo card?
Picture the scene at Dairy Queen restaurant in Brainerd, Minnesota, where for three days, customers drove up and drove out feeling better about themselves and their neighbors.
It all began on December 3 when a man said he’d like to pay for the order of the car behind him. When store manager Tina Jensen passed on the good news to the folks in that other car, the driver said she wanted to do the same.
“If you like I can pay it forward and you can pay for the order behind you and we can keep this going,” Jensen recalled in an interview with KARE-TV. “She’s like ‘Really, why would he do that?’”
And so began a three-day binge featuring a caravan “chain of human kindness.”
The pay it forward thing became exponential after Jensen posted about what happened on Facebook. People then started driving up to the restaurant just for the chance to participate.
By the time it was all over, more than 900 cars had rung up $10,000 in sales – all from customers who paid for the car behind them in line.
“One lady, she was so excited, she threw us a $20 bill almost in tears. ‘Are you serious. This is really going on?’” Jensen said. “I said, ‘Yep, you are about 125 cars into it.’ She said, ‘For real, can you believe this?’”
“No matter what hard times anybody is going through,” she added, “just take care of each other.”
Amen.
‘Tis the season.
