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On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt...

Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

I have done things like this for other people, but it has rarely been done for me. I have had a few servers give me discounts or comps--in places I used to be a regular customer. Back when I worked retail, I came to get my regular lunch, only to discover that I'd left my wallet in the car. The manager gave me a free lunch, since he knew I ate there at least two or three times a week. I thought that was extremely kind, and that made me a very loyal patron.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

I remember having a particularly bad day, and going down to the canteen for a coffee. I work in a gov't building with an armed forces office, and I got the urge to pay for a soldier's sandwich, as she had ordered was waiting for it to be prepared. I told her, Thank you for your service, and went on my way. I had a better attitude for the rest of the day.

I've had my tolls paid (the fixed amount ones), and I recall a lady giving me cash register coupons for diapers and formula as she was leaving the grocery store and I was coming in with my baby (she apparently didn't use them anymore, but still got them when she used her shopper's loyalty card). From time to time I still get baby-related coupons (my youngest is six!) and I pass them on to shopping moms when I can.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

^ I shall have to hide my prawnography collection then. Save it for salmon-chanted evening.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

SVD said:
Yesterday: As I am getting ready to pay for my breakfast ($8, some ¢) at my usual diner, a stranger has the waitress take my bill from under my nose and proceeds to pay both his and my bills.
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Did he wink at you and suggest you could pay him back in kind? :D



Seriously, I've been comp'ed meals/drinks occasionally at places where the staff know me, and been given stuff by sales reps and other businesses, but that's different to a total stranger buying me something. I guess the closest that's happened to me would be being given things like pay & display car park tickets with time still to run.

Nothing really big though. But I'm waiting, and if any of you want to offer....! :lol:

As to whether you should worry about accepting the offer of someone buying you your meal, I wouldn't be concerned. You just proved there is such a thing as a free lunch! If it becomes a regular thing, from the same guy, I'd be more concerned. But a one-off from a generous stranger? Smile, and say thank you. No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

Well, it's appropriate that the waitress was a native Bostonian, since what people now call "paying it forward" was once known as "Franklin's Loan." :rommie:

I've never had anyone pay for my meal specifically, but I've certainly been helped out by strangers-- given a ride when my car broke down on the road and so on. Since I've spent most of my life helping out others in some way, I think I've paid those loans with interest; and I like to think the people I helped are paying it forward, making the world a better place bit by bit.

There used to be a commercial on TV-- I think it was for an insurance company-- that depicted a circular sequence of random acts of kindness. One person would witness someone helping someone else and be inspired to do the same; eventually it came back to the first person. Very nice little film.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

Santa's Camel said:
Not meaning to sound like a jaded cynic, but honestly, how often does this sort of thing happen? Has a random stranger ever offered to pay for your meal out of sheer kindness? What about you, or you, or you? Anybody? Hello?

(chirp . . . chirp . . . chirp . . . )
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I can't say that it's ever happened to me. Friends have treated me to lunch and dinner once in a while, but never strangers.

On the other hand, anything is possible, so maybe it'll happen someday.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

thestrangequark said:
It was a shitty movie, but the idea of paying it forward is a nice one, and it certainly happens.
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So, I guess we know not to pay you forward with a copy of the movie. At least the kid finally got to hang out with all the dead people he'd been seeing, or is that a different movie? ;)

I'm a sucker for really bad movies where kids start implausible movements that change the world. I used to love Amazing Grace and Chuck, which is just an awful, awful movie with some great actors where a kid tries to end the Cold War by boycotting Little League and not speaking. Though it was a wasted effort since Rocky had already beaten him to the punch (ba dum cha!) and ended the Cold War two years earlier by boxing and not speaking properly.

Being a giant sasquatch-height man with intimidating facial hair I've not been the payee in this pay it forward business very often, but I have been the payer several times (not counting charity/volunteering and stuff done for family and friends and vice versa). Once I called a cab and gave the driver $40 bucks to drive this poor old lady with dementia back to her nursing home two cities away because the bastards wouldn't come pick her up (and she should never have been riding the bus down to the beach alone in the first place - I reported them). I also gave a young girl who was crying $55 dollars to pay for a tow because her car broke down and her parents were out of town and unreachable. Lots of other stuff like that, though usually less money. So, in answer to the question earlier, yeah, it does happen.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

HoHoHocutus of Bored said:
I also gave a young girl who was crying $55 dollars to pay for a tow because her car broke down and her parents were out of town and unreachable.
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If you've got AAA, you can use your card to do that; they don't care if it's your car or somebody else's.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

I didn't at the time. I tried to get my coworker to use his AAA but he refused because he was (and probably still is) a dingleberry.
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

HoHoHocutus of Bored said:
Being a giant sasquatch-height man with intimidating facial hair I've not been the payee in this pay it forward business very often...
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There's this family, the Hendersons, that you need to meet...
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

SVD: I say there was probably some ulterior motive. This has never happened to me, so perhaps you're so attractive this guy was coming on to you. Your grandpa may be on to something!
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

HoHoHocutus of Bored said:
thestrangequark said:
It was a shitty movie, but the idea of paying it forward is a nice one, and it certainly happens.
Click to expand...

So, I guess we know not to pay you forward with a copy of the movie. At least the kid finally got to hang out with all the dead people he'd been seeing, or is that a different movie? ;)
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You are consistently awesome and terrible. :lol:
 
Re: On strangers paying for your meal out of the blue at a restauraunt

Had this happen to me randomly on the first day of a vacation a couple months back. Totally made my day and got my trip off on the right foot.

A few weeks back I randomly did this at a pub and felt pretty damn good about myself.
 
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