Wow 378 people bought each others drinks in a pay it forward chain where a stranger in front of you pays for you and nobody did what I would have done, which is to say "THANKS" accept the gift and go about my day grateful for the drink. According to a friends daughter this is because I am know as what these millennials call a "jerk". These wacky kids with their slang.
I don't care. If somebody buys you a drink, say thanks and smile, but if you owe somebody something it is not a gift it is a weird cult ritual. I suppose the meaning of this ritual is to pat one and others backs and congratulate yourself for being a good person. Like buying absolution in medieval times, you can by goodness for the person behind you. Never mind that they can probably afford it or they would not be there and that your $5 might be better spent here or here or even here .We all want to be good people, and if buying a coffee for somebody remarkably like you is not good what is?
At one point in my life I could measure my goodness by the drinks given me at Starbucks and the other (real/independent) Cafes I frequented. As a window cleaner it was easy for a barista to say thanks and give me a free Frappachino or mocha. When I was young I would tip from my supply of indie movie house passes, which was second only to guest list spots for a concert. I had a shirt from radio 1190, the college station which had just boosted its signal to reach Denver. I passed for hip! Later, as hipsters renounced hipness because they were way to authentic for that, I had become a utilitarian family man who never went to shows. The free mochas stopped.
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