A McDonald’s location in Wisconsin saw its longest “pay it forward” chain last week, as over 23 cars agreed to pay for the next person’s order.
The number is a new record for the restaurant, which previously stood at 15 people in a row, reports the Journal Times.
“McDonald’s is proud to support its local communities. We are honored by this record-breaking act of kindness that took place in our Union Grove drive thru and humbled that so many individuals came together to keep it going,” Rafael Luciano, McDonald’s owner operator, told Newsweek.
The Union Grove McDonald’s serves around 900 customers a day, with just one of those choosing to pay it forward every day. To the surprise of staff on Thursday though, it didn’t stop there.
“Sometimes you have good days and bad days,” manager Tyler Gaethke told Journal Times. “But that was a great day.”
“Pay it forward” sees customers choosing to pay for the car behind them’s order too, as an act of kindness and goodwill. Often, it will start a chain of other customers continuing to pay for the person behind instead of their own. The trend has become more popular in recent years, especially across social media.
Customer Bob Wright took part in the kind gesture chain last week and said that he didn’t mind paying a few extra dollars for the order behind him, as, he felt, it was good to help out.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” he told Journal Times. “Someone buys you lunch—why not?”
McDonald’s employee Sharlene Wincek described the chain as “unreal,” saying: “I feel like it’s the community coming together.” Despite this, she told the outlet that she’s always careful not to pressure any customers into continuing the chain, as some can only afford what they’ve chosen to order.
For that reason, the pay it forward trend has become the source of some debate and controversy. As reported in Newsweek in 2021, one woman sparked such controversy online after sharing that she was shamed for choosing not to carry on a “pay it forward” chain.
In 2014, a Starbucks hosted a chain of almost 400 cars. When a woman, customer 379, in a white Jeep Commander ended the 2014 Starbucks chain, she was met with mass criticism and one headline even referred to her as a “cheap b***ard.”
Reports suggest that “pay it forward” chains actually make things harder for workers, who are forced to remember which car paid for which and who received each order at once. The staff at Union Grove didn’t seem to mind, however.
Shift manager Autumn Russel told the Journal Times that she isn’t bothered about the line moving slower in this case. “People want to help each other out,” she said. “It’s wonderful.”
