The holiday spirit seems to be going strong in Des Moines, Iowa.  According to a report from ABC News, literally dozens of customers at a local Starbucks decided to “Pay it Forward” by picking up the tab of the person behind them in line in the drive through.

The Start of a Good Thing

No one can be certain what sparked the first customer to feel so generous, but a male customer at the Starbucks decided to pick up his tab as well as the tab of the person behind him.  When the lucky customer pulled up to pay for his cup of brew, he decided to continue the generosity by paying for the coffee of the person behind him.

According to employees at the Starbucks, this isn’t the first time someone has decided to pay it forward at the local Starbucks.  What made this time so unusual and so special, however, was the fact that the generosity continued right through until the end of the morning rush.

“I’ve never seen it go on for as long as it did today,” the store manager, Megan Rezek, told ABC news.

Rezek, who was working the window at the time, said the generosity has never extended beyond just two or three customers. This time, however, things were much different.

The Giving that Keeps on Growing

Whether it is the holiday season or the sluggish economy that inspired customers to try to spread a little joy, no one can be certain.  What is certain, is that the number of generous customers kept on growing as the morning went on. Rezek played her roll in keeping the generosity flowing when she told customers just how many people before them had picked up someone else’s tab.

“They were so excited and I’d tell people, ‘You’re number 48 or number 49.’ It was so neat and they were so excited and so included,” continued Rezek.

Rezek wasn’t the only one who took notice and was amazed by the open giving and sharing of the Starbucks customers. 

“It was a really neat thing that it happened and so, of course, I paid it back too by paying for the next person behind me too,” customer Kate Gamble reported to ABC News.  “[It's] just really nice to see the Christmas spirit of it and still having people doing this kind of thing even with the economical crisis we’ve all been through this year.”

Gamble was the 50th customer to extend her generosity.  In addition, Rezek stated that one customer gave her a $20 bill and told her to keep it going as long as possible.  In all, a total of 53 customers participated and Rezek believes it would have continued for longer if it had not been for the fact that there was no one behind the 53rd customer.  In addition, when the afternoon came around, more customers decided to continuing paying it forward, though the streak was not quite as long.

Rezek summed it up best when she told ABC News, “It’s such a simple thing.  A cup of coffee is such a simple thing, but it means such a great deal to so many people that I don’t know.  It’s so heartwarming.  I just love it when it happens.”

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