Pay-It-Forward Chain Reaction at a Restaurant

--by mbeal10, posted Feb 14, 2010

My four grown children were all home visiting this weekend so we decided to go out for brunch. The centre of attention was my toddler granddaughter. She had never had pancakes before so we were excited about her trying them.

We always try to make our family meals special so this time we decided to order every kind of pancake they had and asked that they be served on one big family-style platter!

We each took turns digging in and also feeding it to the baby, who loved them. There was a lovely environment at the table and lots of smiles. As I was looking around the table, enjoying this wonderful scene, a gentleman at a nearby table caught my eye.

He was eating his breakfast alone quietly, in the corner. He frequently looked over and smiled as my granddaughter continued to entertain us all. Suddenly, I had a great idea.

I dug out a smile card from the reserve that I always carry with me and snuck up to the waitress. I explained to her that I wanted to pay that man’s bill anonymously and that instead of the bill could she please give him the smile card.

Our leisurely breakfast was still going on after the gentleman had left. The waitress came over and told us that he had passed the smile card on and paid for another table before he left. How great!

Not only that though, the waitress then came back later and told us that the second table had now paid for someone else and passed the smile card on too!

I couldn’t believe it when the waitress came back and told us that the third table had done the same thing.

What was really amazing though, was that by the time we left, half the room had ended up paying for a different table! Isn’t that great?

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Posted by mbeal10
Feb 14, 2010
Comments (55)

Readers Comments

Bluebell wrote: That's what I call magic. God Bless you for starting that magnific chain of events. Love and Light, Bluebell

FairyBubbles wrote: That is an amazing story - wow! Thank you so much for sharing it.

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: What a great story, beyond just some yummy pancakes. Another example that we can change the world in our own small ways. Thanks for sharing!

Jacinda wrote: Wow! What a fantastic story! Thank you so very much for sharing. Its so amazing how helping others can create an amazing snowball effect! Have a lovely day, Jacinda :D

JuneBug wrote: That's a YUMMY story !!! And one with a happy ending !! :)

Aurelia wrote: Fun times and many smiles shared. I am so happy you had a smile card to get it all going. Thanks for sharing a great story with us.
~Aurelia

Rose wrote: Wow :) what a beautiful cycle you created in that moment.

Charlie Brockett wrote: Wow,that was a beautiful pay it forward experience
Far out man

luis wrote: Great =)

mandino wrote: Fantastic! I loved the story and tears come into my eyes about the greatness that still is in us - the people. Thank you.

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