Paige Crow thought the first time a stranger bought her drink in a Starbucks drive-thru was a fluke.
Then it happened again two months later. And once more last week.
Now she believes the “pay it forward” attitude is alive in the city.
“I thought the first time was because I let the woman in the car go ahead of me and she ended up buying my drinks, but it happened again from another guy for no reason,” Crow said.
“It really made my day. It made everything else that happened that morning go away and just put a smile on my face.
“And just yesterday I bought a stranger a Slurpee.”
So why do they do it? Metro asked several “coffee-buyers” who wished to remain anonymous — most say they just believe in “what goes around comes around.”
“I tend to do it if I am just in a really great mood, or if I notice in my rear view mirror the person behind me maybe looks frazzled with life that day,” one woman said.
Another Calgary man said that he loved the expressions on the faces of the people he bought drinks for when he noticed they were short on cash.
“Does what goes around come around? I’m still a skeptic but that doesn’t mean I can’t be kind, right?”
One local, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he makes a habit of buying a coffee for others.
Said the man: “I’ve paid for lots of people’s coffee. If I’m in the drive-thru at Tim Hortons, I usually grab coffee for the car behind me. I do it because it’s completely anonymous and I know I’m making their day a little better.
It’s not just coffee. Some Calgarians said they’ve had sandwiches, snacks and even restaurant lunches bought by strangers.
