Back when I was in college, I was heading through a drive-thru, slightly stressed as always about the idea of spending any amount of money, perpetually broke as I was.

You can imagine my delight and relief when the guy at the window told me, with surprise in his voice, that the car in front of me had paid for my meal.

But here’s the thing – there’s no way I could have done the same.

I hardly had enough for my own food, there’s no way I could have covered a stranger’s, sight unseen.

That’s the situation in this story, so check out how he handled things.

AITA for not “passing it on” at the food cart?

I was standing in a long line at a food cart, waiting to get a popcorn refill and the gentleman ahead of me gave his order, then said, “And whatever he wants!” directing his generous smile my way.

I immediately protested, “Sir, you don’t need to pay for mine.”

But he said he wanted to, and I didn’t want it to be a thing, so I thanked him.

Then he looked me in the eye and (expectantly) said “Pass it on.”

That alone might be fine in a “be nice to somebody eventually” kind of way, but…

He smiled again and looked at the long line behind me before turning to get his order.

I got my refill of popcorn and said thank you again and he looked so disappointed that I left instead of saying “I’ll pay for the guy behind me.”

And he stopped me and seriously said ”Make sure you pass it on someday.”

I repeated the words of someone I once tried to pay back: “Pay it forward- that’s what it’s all about.”

I thanked him again and escaped.

It’s not really generosity if you expect the recipient not to benefit, is it?

But I came for the cheapest thing on the menu – popcorn is like two dollars.

And there was a large family behind me.

And most people were coming in big groups for alcohol.

So I might have gotten free popcorn, and I appreciate the gesture, but I might then have had to shell out fifty bucks for beer for a bunch of randos.

It’s a dangerous game to play if you’re the kind of person who actually has to budget.

And I’ve never liked the “pass it on” thing.

It’s generous of the first person, then the last person gets a freebie, but as is often said here, all the middle people get their prices randomized and it’s a headache for the workers.

So I will pay it forward sometime, and I definitely have in the past, but I didn’t play along in the moment and I could tell the man felt his grand gesture was wasted.

So, AITA?

Let’s see what the commenters had to say.

First of all, and endless stream of this is not exactly a kind gesture to the staff:

Is it pass it on, or pass the buck?

Kindness attached to obligation is not kindness:

And really, couldn’t it all be a ruse anyway?

I mean after all, we’ve seen one very famous instance of this scam before:

I’M DOING SOMETHING HERE!

This is a wild public interaction, if you ask me.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.