Although McDonalds’s employee cashier Hunter Hostetler had been working at one of the branches of the fast food chain in Scottsburg, Indiana for almost a year, he could’ve never expected what would happen during one of his shifts.
The 19-year old was just working in the drive-through section of the restaurant when a woman wanted to pick up her order that totaled approximately $6.
The mystery woman and grandmother said to the cashier that she would pay her bill, but would also take care of the food order of the car behind her.
The woman had noticed that there were a man and four children in the car behind her, and since it was Father’s Day, she decided to pay his $36 bill as an act of kindness.
“She paid it in full and told me to tell the dad Happy Father’s Day,” Hunter recalled.
As it turns out, this single act of kindness by this caring grandmother had sparked a massive amount of ‘pay it forward’ orders in the drive through. The man offered to Hunter that he would pay for the two cars behind him, to repay the favor.
“It just snowballed from there up until we closed,” the cashier said to ABC News.
At the end of the night, a whopping 167 people paid for each other, creating an impressive pay it forward chain.
“It was very heartwarming,” Hunter said. “The last customer who came through even asked if there was another car and I said, ‘Ma’am I’m sorry you’re our last customer for the night. We’re closing.’”
The 22-year-old Abby Smith was one of the participants of the pay it forward chain and was surprised to be surrounded by this incredible event.
“I was just shocked because of the large number,” Smith said. “I didn’t even think about it I just said, ‘Go ahead, take what the previous person put down. Go ahead and take that from us too.’”
“This made me feel like it was just a big family congregation. It was such a great feeling.”
According to Hunter, some customers paid very little attention to the amount that they were paying for the people behind them. Even though their bills were far greater than the price for their own meals, people were willing to pay it forward in a big way.
“There’s so much negativity in the world,” Hunter said. “Something like this just doesn’t happen every day.”
The owner of the McDonald’s restaurant Frank Ward called it an “act of kindness”.
“McDonald’s believes in supporting the local communities in which we operate,” Ward said to ABC News. “I was proud to experience the Scottsburg community come together in this act of kindness under the Golden Arches.”
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
