I went to Starbucks today to do my daily studying. For some reason, I study most efficiently at a coffee shop. It must be the caffeine in the air. Anyway, I always buy a coffee or a tea so that I can justify sitting at a table for three or four hours to study. I recently bought a spill proof travel mug (It’s the official library mug at the college campus at which I study sometimes – the ONLY travel mug that is allowed in the library there. No other brand is allowed. Monopoly anyone?). I figure it saves money and does a small part in helping the environment (which is an issue that comes up a lot more often these days, what with the hurricanes, the tsunamis, the heat waves, the rising sea level, and the general destruction of the planet). When I ordered my coffee to be put in my travel mug, the cashier charged me for a refill instead of the already discounted coffee in a mug price. Instead of paying $1.65 or whatever, I paid 50 cents!
The cashier didn’t charge me less out of error, either. She said “I’ll just charge you for a refill,” knowing full well that it wasn’t a refill. It was really nice of her. In the grand scheme of things, that small act of kindness won’t affect the profit that Starbucks makes. A pot of coffee doesn’t even cost 50 cents, so they still made money on me even though I paid less than a third of what I should have. The cashier probably didn’t think too much about it either. The gesture was really big though. My day was a little bit brighter from the experience, and who knows, maybe I’ll be inspired to pay it forward (I love that movie – Haley Joel Osment rocks). Doing something nice for nice sake is really something of which the world could use a lot more.
I think I hear “We Are The World” in my head now.
