Wow

When I leave here around 6:30 or so in the mornings to head off to do my first school bus run of the day, I might either go do the circle check on the bus first then head to the local coffee shop to grab my coffee, or the other way around. Depends on how cold it is outside and needing to give the bus a chance to warm up.

This coffee shop down the road in the little town I live in, that has a drive through window, which I tend to go through instead of parking my van and going in. But that depends on how busy the drive through lane is too. If everybody had the same idea at the same time and it's really busy, then I will go in, providing the other half of the country isn't inside the store lol. People will verge to that drive thru lane from two different entrances, so it takes a bit of courtesy and co-operation for all to get through without a hitch.

A little while ago, I had pulled into the coffee shop, made my way around the building with intentions of possibly going through the drive-thru window. A few cars there, but not so bad, but busy enough that a couple cars were on the street trying to make a left into the driveway.

One thing that I don't like seeing is people that ignore who is already sitting there, being intent on getting their coffee and heading down the road to their destination as soon as they can. And that is what was happening that morning. I saw a couple cars come north to make the right into the driveway, leaving the poor car and it's driver still trying to make the left.

I sat and watched a bit. Curiosity was winning and I wanted to see how long it would take for this person to make their way into the drive thru lane or would he/she give up and head off without their coffee.

The driver finally got into the driveway and moved along behind the others in front.

Then it came to whether he/she should go ahead of me or I go ahead of him/her.

Having watched the difficulty this driver was experiencing before, I motioned for him/her to go ahead of me and I slipped in behind. (turns out it was a him)

The guy places his order and moves up, and I place my coffee and muffin order next.

He moves up when he could and pays for his order.

I hit the window and the lady inside gave me the amount of what I owed. I must have put a puzzled look on my face as the lady said "the gentleman in front of you bought your coffee".

Wow. I didn't know who he was or anything, so I asked the lady to thank him very much for me the next time she saw him.

I thought, what a great thing he did when he didn't have to.

A few days later, I was in a bit of a rush, not having enough sense to get out the door a little sooner that day, when I hit the drive thru lane. Busy, but not overly busy but inside the shop was even worse, so I stayed outside.

The courtesy and co-operation thing was going along smoothly enough, so no big worries.

A lady in vehicle (suv maybe?) coming from the other entrance motioned for me to go ahead of her, which I was grateful for, being a bit rushed that morning. So remembering the generosity of the man from the other day, I paid it forward and bought that lady her the two coffees she had ordered.

Now to today. A couple weeks have gone by. Nobody had bought me a coffee, and the way things worked, I didn't buy anybody theirs.

I get back from doing my first run of the day, when I decide to take coffee home with me. I pulled in behind the the last vehicle in line. Get to the speaker box and ordered two coffees and a hot chocolate for my son. Work my way up to the window and had a five dollar bill in my hand ready to pay for my order.

The lady working the drive-thru window then says "The lady in front of you just bought your coffees"

Again, I must have had that puzzled look on my face. I was thinking "why?"

The lady says (I see her all the time and forgot her name) "Did you let her in or something?"

I said "No. I just pulled in behind her."

So then the speculation came about that maybe I knew her and was told her name. The name didn't ring any bells with me at all. But then I thought, maybe she is one of my kids' mom and she recognized me, even with me not sitting in the big yellow monster. I don't know. I don't recall seeing that last name on any of the mailboxes at all.

So I asked the lady working the window if she would please thank her very much the next she sees her. (unless I figure out who she is exactly, then I will definitely thank her myself)

When the first genteman did this for me, I thought "wow, chivalry and courtesy is not dead yet." But I sure wasn't expecting what happened this morning at all. To me, there was no reason for her to do that. Except out of the kindness of her heart. And even if it does turn out I do know her somehow, sort of, she still didn't have to do that.

But I do thank her, very much.

Will I pay it forward? Of course.