The Kindness of Coffee

Paying it backward

photograph by Nathan Dumlao

For years, whenever I’ve gone through a Starbucks drive-thru, I’ve picked up the tab of the car behind me. It’s a practice in random acts of kindness, a phrase I thought was cheesy until I started doing it.

My rules are simple:

One: I pay the check no matter the amount. This hasn’t gotten me into trouble so far — the biggest bill I’ve ever…