August 24, 2014

"I’m really not trying to be a Grinch. I just don’t want to be forced into doing something."

"This is turning into a social phenomenon and I had to put an end to it."

48 comments:

Diogenes of Sinope said...

A free coffee! I'm in..

Anonymous said...

This is also applicable to Conga lines and orgies.

Ann Althouse said...

Remember chain letters.

And chain email.

That's never done anymore.

pm317 said...

I agree with him. Spontaneity is key and is lost. And it is a ploy on the part of Starbucks to get paid for a product that it has not sold yet.

steve uhr said...

Good deal for Starbucks since everyone more likely to buy a higher priced drink. Free rider problem.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Why the charity tag? I doubt anyone buying coffee at Starbucks is really struggling to be able to afford a cup. If the are they need to be buying coffee at QT or Circle K.

Original Mike said...

"More than one pointed out that each customer was getting a free drink so paying for someone else just made them even."

The only one who ended up with a free drink was Schorsch.

paul a'barge said...

Click to view the mutt

Why is it always the fat ones?

paul a'barge said...

Clearly, it's not a chain letter nor is it a chain email.

It's a simple act of kindness in a sea of sarcasm devoid of common sense.

paul a'barge said...

I just don't want to be forced into anything

Go read the supporting articles.

This mutt heard about the Starbucks Pay it forward, got in his car and drove to the Starbucks in order to break this.

He went out of his way to be the fat mutt that he is.

steve uhr said...

Paul -- One could argue that preaching discrimination against fat people is not very kind.

Ann Althouse said...

"Why is it always the fat ones?"

I don't know, but it was the other people who were choosing multiple Frappucinos.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's a simple act of kindness in a sea of sarcasm devoid of common sense."

Why do people rushing to the drive-in to get Frappucinos deserve kindness? I salute this man for taking responsibility for breaking the chain. Buy your own food, people. Or prove you're poor enough for public assistance.

lemondog said...

..each person bought the person behind them a coffee..

Isn't that pay backwards?

pm317 said...

In a toll line, once a car well ahead of us paid for us which we learned as we pulled up to the window.. we didn't need it but appreciated the gesture and would have liked if we could say thank you to the person.. all in all it was a dissatisfying experience.

DKWalser said...

Had I already been in line, I might have broken the chain. Not because I'm against random acts of kindness, I just don't react well to being pushed to do something. So, I understand the guy's inclination. I don't understand his going out of his way to put a stop the the chain. I don't empathize with that impulse.

Ann Althouse said...

"I don't understand his going out of his way to put a stop the the chain. I don't empathize with that impulse."

He saw that it was wrong and that normal people, just getting coffee, lacked the oomph to break the chain. He was the savior of them all, willing to be denigrated as the "Grinch."

m stone said...

Even though local baristas kept the tally and helped it along by making customers aware of it...

Clearly not really spontaneous.

It's a nice gesture, but as someone pointed out, too much like a conga line.

Gahrie said...

“I’m really not trying to be a Grinch. I just don’t want to be forced into doing something. This is turning into a social phenomenon and I had to put an end to it,”

This guy is a dick, trying to force his opinions on everyone else, while at the same time making the world a less pleasant place to live in. In other words, a typical Lefty.

Ann Althouse said...

Or he wanted to say: You people are pathetic sheep of a corporate overlord. You are participating in a big viral ad campaign and you don't even know it. You're so bound by the need to be seen as a good person and dependent on that self-image that you don't even know that there is no good being done here and you're being used. Awake!

Ann Althouse said...

"This guy is a dick…"

In some situations, a dick is the right tool for the job.

Gahrie said...

He saw that it was wrong and that normal people, just getting coffee, lacked the oomph to break the chain. He was the savior of them all, willing to be denigrated as the "Grinch."

Again, a dick and a typical Lefty.

Marx and Engels were going to "save" us.

Lenin and Mao were going to save us.

Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler were going to save us.

Sanger, Wilson, FDR and LBJ were going to save us.

Obama has decided that we're not worth his efforts and doesn't give a shit anymore...but he tried to dsave us with Obamacare....

Gahrie said...

You're so bound by the need to be seen as a good person

And what the fuck is wrong with that? We kind of depend on that to make society and civilization function. I personally would much rather live in a time when a person's reputation and honor mattered.

Gahrie said...

In some situations, a dick is the right tool for the job.

Only when someone is trying to get pregnant.

m stone said...

I have Meade pegged as one at odds with Ann's take on this, but I doubt he will publicly stand a position.

Prove me wrong.

CWJ said...

I agree with DKWalser @ 12:02. Althouse's selective quote and reply are simply bizarre.

Ann Althouse said...

"And what the fuck is wrong with that? We kind of depend on that to make society and civilization function. I personally would much rather live in a time when a person's reputation and honor mattered."

You need a brain in there, thinking about what actually IS good. Otherwise, you can get a whole dynamic of people trying to seem good, contributing to a wave of evil.

pm317 said...

"..a typical lefty"

Hah?! Here I was thinking 'good for him, he put a stop to lefty (incl. Starbucks) nonsense!'

Anonymous said...

STDs are paid forward at brothels.

Anonymous said...

I was going to defend the guy. I'll buy someone a soda or coffee if they ask but I'm not in the habit of buying random strangers with cars nicer than mine their morning drink. And I sure as hell don't want some stranger paying for me. That being said this douche went out of his way to derail this 'happening'. He heard about it on the radio and decided to go there and break the thing up. The fat obnoxious bastard deserves a snuggie for being a fat obnoxious bastard.

fivewheels said...

This seems to be one of the billion or so issues that we shouldn't force left or right templates upon, but if I were going to do so, I would associate it with typical feel-good but actually do-nothing leftist b.s.

You're not really doing a good deed, you're just getting a drink and giving the establishment money, like usual. All you're accomplishing is stupidly untethering the price of your drink from the money you give so that some people give too much or too little. Why? For the feels.

If that's not goo-goo neu hippie mindlessness, I don't know what is. Let's all put on green riboons in honor of the chain.

Anonymous said...

AA: You need a brain in there, thinking about what actually IS good. Otherwise, you can get a whole dynamic of people trying to seem good, contributing to a wave of evil.

No kidding. Paying for a stranger's drink - because he forgot his wallet, was embarrassed to find himself short, etc.: good. Cutesy feel-good pseudo-charity gestures that could easily end up embarrassing or wrong-footing a roped-in participant? Thoughtless.

Gahrie: I personally would much rather live in a time when a person's reputation and honor mattered.

So now it's dishonorable to frown on the bad manners of putting unsuspecting customers on the spot for meaningless public acts of pseudo-charity?

I personally am appalled that I live in a time when the idea of a person's "reputation and honor" has been so debased.

Gahrie said...

So now it's dishonorable to frown on the bad manners of putting unsuspecting customers on the spot for meaningless public acts of pseudo-charity?

No..it is dishonorable to get off your ass and deliberately insert yourself into an event in order to disrupt that event. If the dick in question had just happened to be in line, and declined...ok. I would still disagree with him, but I wouldn't be pissed.

Frankly, the world needs a little more pay it forward today.

Mary Beth said...

The article I read about it said he tipped the barista $100. (http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-man-deliberately-scuttles-pay-forward-starbucks-line/story?id=25084619) If the barista really wanted to keep it going, s/he could have just paid for the next car with part of the tip.

The pay if forward chain seems like a way for a bunch of people to feel good about themselves, as if they were doing good deeds, but without actually accomplishing anything.

Gahrie said...

personally am appalled that I live in a time when the idea of a person's "reputation and honor" has been so debased.

You think I am debasing them? Hell at least I still believe in them.

Judging from our political and cultural leaders however I am in a distinct minority.

Gahrie said...

The pay if forward chain seems like a way for a bunch of people to feel good about themselves, as if they were doing good deeds, but without actually accomplishing anything.

Except making other people feel good, and giving them the opportunity to help others feel good. It is a way of cennecting, of building a community in a time when people don't even know their neighbors. (The last three families to move into my neighborhood were shocked when I welcomed them, and told me no one else ever did so)

At a time when thugs dominate the culture, shouldn't we be reinforcing random acts of kindness and incidents of pay it forward?

jr565 said...

Althouse wrote:
I salute this man for taking responsibility for breaking the chain."


If you don't love me now
you will never love me again
I can still here you say you will never break the chain (never break the chain)

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...Otherwise, you can get a whole dynamic of people trying to seem good, contributing to a wave of evil.

...must...not...make...comment...regarding...vote...for...President...

jr565 said...

Was it only a free small coffee? Or could I have bought a grandissimo chai latte? What if I didn't want coffee? it's not really kindness giving me something I don't want. What if I spilled it in my car and on my legs like that old lady at McDonald's? I'm suing the bastarad that gave me the free coffee! But for your kindness I wouldn't have 3rd degree burns!

Would it be wrong to order the most expensive thing on the menu but then pay forward the cheapest thing for the guy behind me?

mccullough said...

There are no winners here. This "part time blogger" hijacked Starbucks publicity stunt with his own publicity stunt.

Rusty said...

St Petersberg is fulla fools

tim maguire said...

Everybody paid for a coffee, everybody got a coffee, it's mere accounting sleight of hand that made perfectly normal business transactions appear to be some form of altruism.

The best reason to break the chain: it was a stupid exercise in self-delisuion for the purpose of self-congratulation.

Michael said...

The pay it forward coffee gambit is bullshit. If you want to act kindly toward a stranger try paying for the dinner of young soldiers in an airport. Anonymously. Or give a waitress a huge tip if you can do so and get out without her seeing you. Or give a bum a twenty instead of a fuck you.

Freeman Hunt said...

Middle, upper middle, and upper class people buying each other expensive drinks at the behest of the for-profit business supplying the drinks. How sad that this meaningless back patting was put to an end!

Gahrie said...

The pay it forward coffee gambit is bullshit.

Yeah!

Fuck them for doing something nice for someone.

I'm a much better person for giving them shit for trying to do something nice, and the person who deliberately fucked it up for everyone is a hero!

Rusty said...

"Gahrie said...
The pay it forward coffee gambit is bullshit.

Yeah!

Fuck them for doing something nice for someone.

I'm a much better person for giving them shit for trying to do something nice, and the person who deliberately fucked it up for everyone is a hero!"

It is a sacrifice without being a sacrifice. It became a competition.
Michael has the right idea.
Want to be nice to someone? Try going through a whole day without being a self righteous asshole.

The Godfather said...

"Breaking the chain" is irrelevant. The next customer after Grinch could pay for his own coffee and a coffee for the person behind him, and the chain starts up again. If that didn't happen, then it's probably true that the whole thing had become a gimmick.

Nice gimmick, though. Thinking about other people (the one ahead, the one behind) isn't a bad thing.

Achilles said...

So a bunch of baby boomers at Starbucks get their jollies by paying for the next baby boomers drink. It would have been more in character if they had taken a drink and asked the next person to pay for it. Particularly if the next person was younger than them. Bonus points if they ordered the biggest most expensive drink on the list.

Maybe they were trying to balance their karma.