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by callalex 998 days ago
It’s similar to tipping, once one guy starts doing it all the others look like assholes unless they start doing it too. A similar phenomenon happens sometimes in drive-through coffee shops: someone will pre-pay for the coffee of the person behind them in line, then that person is informed that a stranger paid for their coffee. There is then a social expectation to do the same thing for the next person in line to keep the chain of anonymous “charity” going. Nobody wants to be the asshole that breaks the chain. It’s certainly an odd phenomenon, but many people love it.
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