Wednesday, October 11, 2006

World of Good Blogburst, Starbucks Style

Last week I was fortunate enough to go to a conference on managing a corporate brand. It was exceptionally well done. One of the speakers at the conference was a marketing professional from Starbucks. She told a story that I thought was perfect for a very short World of Good (WOG) post.

It seems that a fellow in a pickup truck had pulled up to the window at a drive-through Starbucks. The barrista had gotten his order wrong, so they gave him his coffee for free. He had already paid and instead of asking for his money back he told the barrista to use that money to buy the coffee for the person behind him and then drove off.

The person behind him was delighted. Not to be outdone, she paid for the coffee of the person behind her. The third person did the same. It went on like this for eight cars until it came to a college student who had forgotten her wallet and sheepishly accepted the gift, unable to continue the chain.

I love the story. An act of kindness that echoes through a chain of strangers. A snowball of positive karma, if you will. I'll bet there'll be an opportunity for you to play a link in one just like it today.

For more World of Good stories, visit WOG Central.

For more good things, please visit this week's Catholic Carnival.

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