Pay It Forward — She just won the lottery!

She just won the lottery!

I've done this Pay It Forward before, but I do believe it is rapidly becoming my favorite way to Pay It Forward.

It's not exactly easy, but it is fun, especially when I see the wild eyes of excitement on the recipient and the feeling in my heart.

Here is what I do about once a month:

First, throughout the month I buy bottles and cans of drinks, such as Crystal Geyser, Diet Coke, Sprite, Black Velvet, tequila, and margarita. California charges us a nickel for each small bottle or can that we buy, and a dime for the big bottles, but we can get that money back if we'll save the bottles and cans and recycle them, and that's what I do. After I drink what's in those bottles and cans!

The place where I recycle gives a cash receipt for Ralphs grocery store. That's the only place where I can spend the money. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the recycling company is located in the front corner of the Ralphs parking lot.

There's always a line at the recycling center, and there are a lot of homeless people who use the center, so what I do is put all my bottles and cans through the machines, get my receipt, and....

...turn around and give it to the worst-looking person I can find. This simple act always gets an exclamatory Thank you! that is often followed by Are you sure?

For me it's a lot of fun because I do enjoy recycling and I do enjoy helping others. Since I had already "lost" the money when I originally bought the drinks, I really haven't missed it, so not getting it back by giving it to someone else causes no pain.

Another reason why I like this is because the cash receipt can only be spent at Ralphs and it can't be used for tobacco or alcohol.

When I did this a couple of days ago, the total came to $19.45, and the gal that I gave it to, well, I don't think she's had anyone do anything really nice for her in many a day because I think she was the happiest person on Earth. As soon as she finished thanking me, she rushed into Ralphs and that's the last I saw of her.

To me, it's only $19.45. To her, well, she probably thinks she just won the lottery!

 

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