It’s not uncommon for customers coming through the line to tell the staff they’d like to pay it forward to the family or customer behind them in line, said Samantha Owens, the Dunkin’ store’s general manager. However, an act of kindness on this level hasn’t been seen at the store, ever.
From 3:30 p.m. Friday through about 10 a.m. Saturday, anyone who came through the Dunkin’ Donuts line, drive-through or in-store, was surprised with a totally free order — including the family vans heading to weekend sporting events with tabs of up to $30.
“When it would be a family of more than two people, they’d say, ‘Are you serious? Are you sure?’ And we’d have to be like, ‘Yes! Please drive away,’” Owens said with a laugh. “It definitely got a lot of people in shock.”
The maximum amount of money a Dunkin’ gift card can be loaded with is $100. So the employees loaded 40 gift cards with $100. As soon as customers pulled-up to pay or after ordering inside, they were told the good news that their tab had already been taken care of.
“The employees were very excited about it because it gave them a little more time to be a little more friendly with everybody and to talk” to customers more than normal, Owens said.
Thanks to customers’ bills ringing up at zero dollars, Owens said her employees were able to walk away with higher tips than they would during a typical shift.
The do-gooder wanted to stay anonymous, but according to Owens, the customer told her, “Everyone is so pleasant at the Beavercreek Dunkin’. I just want everyone to enjoy a good time until the money runs out. I just wanted to pay it forward!”
The customer went on to talk to Owens about how bad of year 2020 was for so many, and they just wanted to make some other people’s day better in a small way.
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