As the holiday season settles in, mankind seems to band together to show their gratitude and humanity towards one another.

Today I experienced this first hand.

I currently work at In-N-Out.

And on this particular day I operated the pay window. The process is simple, A car pulls up, I repeat their order and they pay. The usual, until a blue Sedan pulled up to my window, a middle-aged woman was in the driver’s seat. She had a simple yet elegant appearance completed with a gentle voice. After I repeated her order and she paid, I returned her credit card, and expected her to continue on but was surprised when she handed her card back to me saying, she wanted to pay for the car behind her.

And so it started.

We were up to 9 cars that had consecutively paid for the car behind them when a lady in her 50s pulled up. She didn’t drive the nicest car and her gum line showed tobacco or drug use. Her order was simple, a cheeseburger with onions and a cup of water. The total was $2.64. When I told her that the car in front of her had paid for her food she looked at me in grateful amazement. A stranger had paid less than three dollars and she was overcome with gratitude. She asked how much the total of the car behind her was, it was $17.22. This clearly took her by surprise and she sharply replied, “Oh, I have a budget.”

I thought, “Well, that’s the end of that”.

But moments later she replied with a change of heart “It’s the holiday season, time to pay it forward”. So she did. This continued on for at least 12 more cars. I was grinning from ear to ear. Another car pulled up to my window and a middle-aged woman briefly glanced at me and held out her card. She was on the phone, clearly preoccupied.  I waited a moment to get her attention and explained that the car in front of her had paid for her food. She barely reacted and mumbled something like, that’s nice and pulled forward. 

Now to say that this moment made me lose faith in humanity would be extremely over dramatic…this moment made me lose faith in humanity.

And if you ever see a car driving in Utah with the license plate B35 C6B tell her karma sent you.

Now in all seriousness that wasn’t the actual license plate number. But I found this to be a cold-hearted end to this festive spirit of giving. I was upset. Although, the women who ended the trend had no obligation to continue the trend the seeming disregard for the kindness shown to her serves as an important lesson.

Show gratitude, you are NEVER too occupied to say thank you to those who positively impacting your life. Disregarding others, especially those who have shown kindness to you is insulting. I encourage you to be someone who shows kindness to others. Maybe that’s paying three dollars for someone’s meal or complimenting a person on their outfit. Being kind makes a positive difference.

Today show appreciation, especially where it is deserved.