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  • Posted by khalling 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    logically, the people who you would want to pay it forward to would be those who could `do the most "good." But in reality, in this crazy drive through scheme, it isn't meaningful, because if it ends up helping someone(who couldn't really affor their coffee) the chain is broken. It's not really even the point of the book. Yet these kinds of things get publicity. I'm usually not a cynic, but what if the manager of the starbucks started a rumor. Hey that guy paid for your coffee, want to pay for the next guys? hoping word of mouth would create a long line of cars.
    Really, the best Pay it Forward is successful commerce and strong property rights
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  • Posted by Oakhollow8 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I Agree with you Circuit Guy, It is His money to do with as he sees fit. It has a simple logic to it.
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  • Posted by bassboat 10 years, 8 months ago
    Typical tree hugging lefty Starbuckeans who love to feel something, anything. Why use paper cups when it destroys the forest in their logic? Why not use Styrofoam that keeps that expensive cup hotter, longer? It's nothing more than a yuppie joint that advocates for the poor but excludes them by charging high prices for their coffee. Many ambiguities in their outlook if questioned but liberals never will face facts, only their feelings. Having said all that I buy their coffee by the pound because it is excellent coffee.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 10 years, 8 months ago
    I think the guy is just looking for attention... he is a political consultant and likely a looter.
    $100 is better spent on a home espresso machine. Starbucks over-roasts cheap beans and makes mediocre coffee (at best.) Just my opinion, at least we can still choose where we drink coffee.
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  • Posted by DaveM49 10 years, 8 months ago
    As soon as something is regarded as compulsory in in any way, it ceases to be a gesture and becomes a demand.

    This sounds basically like a marketing gimmick. Was there any "gesture of kindness" on the part of Starbuck's? Not as far as I can see. No matter who was paying, they were still pocketing their usual.

    I have never heard of Starbuck's offering nickel coffee to customers as a means of "paying it forward". They are free to do so if they wish, of course. Though, this being America, the result would probably be a riot. Over coffee.
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  • Posted by khalling 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    but his advice was clear that a bunch of people affording 5 buck coffees have better things to do with their dough than play that game because they're guilty. I think one could objectively reason giving the barista a $100 tip was not in his rational interest. that came from an emotional place. see? I'm not a bad guy. maybe I'm wrong. IF I'm going to make a 100 dollar point, it most likely would not be at a drive up window for coffee.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 8 months ago
    For this pay-it-forward system to work, there had to be a constant stream of customers such that there was always someone who placed and order before the previous customer had paid. That coffee shop is doing well.

    The system would make me feel a little weird and lousy about it. It's like socialism but without the zeros behind the dollar figure.

    Someone could have broken the system by ordering something really expensive or getting just a cup of water. The system works b/c you're basically paying for roughly what you ordered.
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  • Posted by Lucky 10 years, 8 months ago
    One of the great evils: emotional blackmail.
    Perhaps the right answer is to say
    "I will pay for my own, only my own, thanks".
    Then hand over the correct amount.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 8 months ago
    "Maybe a campaign of anonymously leaving cookies on the front porch of a neighbor going through a difficult time"

    A PINK cookie...

    At first I thought I was going to be annoyed by the story, but after reading it, I agree with his point. Mandatory generosity enforced by guilt is NOT paying it forward.

    Long, long ago, when the universe was young and the internet had not yet cooled and formed, I belong to a timeshare service called "Compuserve". There, in the message bases and chat rooms, 3 individuals took it upon themselves to teach me to program in C. They did it because it entertained them to do so. When we spoke of recompense, all they told me to do was to teach someone else who needed it. This was before the term "pay it forward" came into being.

    They got their value from the transaction; entertainment. I got mine, education. And for some of us, myself included (that's why I pontificate so much), educating others is entertaining.

    But, this is not that. This is some kind of, pardon my French... circle-jerk.

    I won't patronize Starbucks. I disagree with their politics, their pricing, and their product disagrees with me.
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  • Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I love it when someone demands logic in the midst of oppressive nonsense. It bothers me that after making a point he THEN tips her a 100 bucks to prove he's not a grinch....who gives a flip if the barista thinks he's a grinch??? FAIL.
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  • Posted by $ Mimi 10 years, 8 months ago
    FountainHead24, between this and your marine veteran's response to ISIS the other day, I feel I have gotten my value from this site this month. ;)
    This rocked! Thank-you.
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