Restaurant Diners Pay it Forward All Day Long

This is meant to be the season of giving. And at a small Philadelphia diner, one anonymous couple took that sentiment seriously—setting of a chain reaction of kindness that would last all day long.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on December 15 2009

Image: iStockphoto

This is meant to be the season of giving. And at a small Philadelphia diner, one anonymous couple took that sentiment seriously—setting off a chain reaction of kindness that would last all day long.

At the Aramingo Diner, a young couple had just finished their breakfast, and was paying their bill when they surprised the waitress with a special request: they would also pay the bill of a nearby table.

“They asked us not to say anything until they left, but we said ‘Merry Christmas, that person picked up your tab,’” Lynn Willard, a waitress at the restaurant, told NBC Philadelphia.

The other diners were shocked and delighted by the generosity of these total strangers, and decided to pay it forward to another table of diners. The trend continued all day long, with each table of diners footing the bill for another table, without concern for the cost.

“It was magical. I had tears in my eyes because it never happened before. I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Willard.

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