In the spirit of festive cheer, one woman has set off a chain reaction of giving and goodwill by paying for the meal of the car behind her at a McDonald's drive-thru in Florida, according to ABC News.
Torie Keene, from Lakeland, Fla., decided to pay for the meal of the car behind her in the queue on Wednesday morning, but she couldn't have known how many would follow in her footsteps.
Marisabel Figueroa, the cashier on duty at the time, said that Keene specifically asked her to say "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holidays" and told her that she wanted to pay for the people ordering after her, according to Fox News.
Those customers were so touched by Keene's generosity that they decided to take the pay-it-forward approach and do the same thing for the people after them, according to The Business Insider. The pattern continued for car after car until it had been going on for almost the entirety of Figueroa's six-hour shift.
"It kept going and going. After the 15th car I started tally marking the number of people that were participating on a piece of paper," Figueroa told ABC News. "I just kept giving everyone the same message, and they were all so stunned and so happy... One lady even paid for the meals of the next three cars behind her."
While 250 people took part in the gesture between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Figueroa reported the 251st person as somewhat confused by the movement, telling ABC News that it ended at that point.
Figueroa, who has been working for McDonald's for 12 years, told ABC that she was thankful for Keene initiating the chain.
"It's the spirit of giving - she felt like she could start something," said Figueroa. "And she did."
