I’ve always heard of people partaking in this act of kindness and I have even had it done to me one time in a drive-thru, but I have never completed the action for someone else myself. I must admit, I was extremely nervous to do this, for I didn’t know what to expect. Would the person be mad at me? Would they be thankful and nice? Or would they even have a reaction?

I honestly had no idea what to do for this act of kindness because as a college student, I am typically dead broke, therefore, I was scared to do something in a drive-thru because I was too worried the folks behind me would order too much for me to be able to afford and I also would not be able to see their reaction. Thus, I decided to go into Bojangles one morning and stand away from the line a little bit and listen in to what folks might order.

After a few people had passed through, a little elderly lady waked up to the register by herself and order a simple biscuit and coffee. I then quickly jumped to the counter and said, “her order is on me.” At first, she seemed as though she did not know what was happening. She just looked up at me. “Your order is on me,” I said to the lady. She then said, “Well, you don’t have to do that!” “Well I am going to,” I replied. All of a sudden she got the biggest smile on her face and gave me a hug while telling me “thank you, young man.”

She asked my name, told me hers was Kim, then she noticed I was wearing a Hillary Clinton t-shirt. She then says, “Honey, I am a big Hillary fan.” I went on to explain to her that I am the Carson-Newman Democrats president and she informed me that she is a huge Democrat and has been her entire life. I then told her about our big democrat rally we were hosting at Carson-Newman with a state representative and I gave her my card.

I left Bojangles and went on to class thinking I would never see the lady again. Saturday arrived and it was time for our club’s rally and here came Kim walking through the door. I couldn’t believe she came! She walked up to me and hugged me and said she wouldn’t miss it for the world and she then handed me an envelope which ended up being a thank you card and five dollars to pay me back for the meal I bought. Who knew that I would make this great old friend!? You never know what will happen when paying it forward, but it is worth taking the chance.