Drive-through customers pay it forward – 167 times

A Father’s Day act of kindness in southern Indiana sparked a chain reaction at a McDonald’s drive-through.

Cashier Hunter Hostetler told WDRB-TV that a regular customer paid for the meals of a harried father with four children in a van behind her in line Sunday, asking the clerk to tell the man “Happy Father’s Day.”

When his turn at the window came, the father paid for two cars behind him. And so it went, right up until the Scottsburg, Ind., eatery closed for the night 2  1/2 hours later. By that time, 167 customer’s had paid for each other’s meals.

“I thought it was pretty amazing,” said Abby Smith, who told the TV station she was in car 161. “You don’t see a lot of pay-it-forwards anymore.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2017 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Drive-through customers pay it forward – 167 times."