'Paying it backwards' at the drive-thru

LOVELAND - Call it a Venti Caffe Latte of love.

At the Starbucks drive-thru in Loveland, more and more people are pulling up to the pick-up window to find they owe nothing. They're then told the person ahead of them paid their bill.

"It kind of almost took my breath away for a minute," said Lindell Green, a Loveland resident. "It was just such a wonderful surprise."

Green then paid for the person behind him.

"This is paying it backwards," he chirped.

Starbucks employee Julia Domascieno says - for reasons she can't explain - this random act of kindness is becoming less and less random.

"I've seen it go through 15 cars," she said.

Of course, this idea of paying it backwards wasn't born at this coffee shop and it's not limited to its drive-thru.

Another coffee joint in Loveland, The Black Cup, is also reporting an uptick in the number of people taking care of the stranger waiting in back of them.

This kind gesture is also being found in checkout lines at various places across Colorado.

On Sunday, Ault's Ann Bradley approached the cashier at the Wal-Mart in Greeley to discover the man in front of her had put $20 toward her bill.

Lindell Green thinks he may have an explanation for the growing generosity.

"With the way our economic world is kind of in the pits right now, I think something like this shows just how many good people are out there," he said.