Few people expect kindness to be the sharpest form of retaliation.

But one woman, calm and composed in the face of a drive-thru bully, found the perfect way to make her point without raising her voice.

And her move made even a big-mouthed jerk speechless.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

Drive thru drama – how to deal with an angry honking man

I was only the barista witness/messenger to this indirect customer interaction, but the memory has stuck with me to this day.

One day, a troublemaking customer came through the drive-thru line.

I worked at a popular coffee chain with a busy drive-thru.

It was a sunny morning, the birds were chirping, and some AH was laying on his horn in my drive-thru.

I never did figure out why he started.

Maybe he thought she cut him off pulling in.

Maybe she was too slow pulling forward.

Maybe she took too long at the menu board.

It didn’t really matter.

The woman being honked at had an unexpected response to the rudeness.

By the time she got to the drive-thru window, she was Done With His Crap in the way a teacher or a mom might be with a misbehaving, loud child.

She was a put-together middle-aged woman with a smooth gray bob.

I told her the total and she gave me her card and said, “I’d also like to pay for the gentleman behind me.”

We shared a smile.

I’m sure you can imagine the looks on our faces.

So when the barista told him what happened, he couldn’t even process it.

I got her on her merry way, and he pulled up, red-faced and huffing.

In my most cheerful customer service voice, I said, “The woman in front of you actually paid for your coffee! You don’t have to give me anything.”

Y’all. His. Brain. Broke.

Naturally, his pointless anger continued.

He started questioning me. “What do you mean? Why can’t I pay for the coffee? Just charge me for my coffee.”

I played along as best I could, cheerful smile plastered across my face.

“This coffee is all paid for, but I’d be happy to make you another one if you’d like to pay for something!”

He left huffing and puffing.

We went in circles like this for a solid minute or two before he, even more ticked off than before, slammed on the gas and screeched his way out of the parking lot.

I’m sure he went on to take out his misery on many more people that day.

Her attitude had a big impact on me, and I carry it with me to this day when dealing with unpleasant people, many years and jobs later.

Now that’s a well-placed act of generosity.

What did Reddit think?

Nothing tastes better than some well-earned petty revenge.

Often baristas are on the front line of bad customer behavior.

Let’s hope this jerk’s attitude turned around after that day.

This woman may have just let this guy off too easily.

To this day, the barista still remembers the look on his face when her kindness ruined his little tantrum.

How satisfying!

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.