ATHENS, Texas — A random act of kindness in East Texas has gone viral on social media -- it involves a hard working employee and a stranger who wanted to do something good.
John McLendon is a carhop at Sonic in Athens and he keeps customers coming back for more than those Route 44 Cherry Limeades.
"He shows up, he smiles, he's joyful, he's pleasant, he's kind," Athens resident Cassie Woods said. "He's just a nice guy."
McLendon's hustle and infections positive attitude are hard to miss.
Not to mention an infectious attitude.
"I love working here," Mclendon said. "The team everything its' amazing. The customers too, they're really friendly because you'll go on to other places and it's like, people here in Athens are just really nice."
McLendon's work ethic was captured and posted to social media and that's where Woods comes in.
"There were lots and lots of comments and lots of shares of everybody just talking about how he was a great person," Woods said. "I was like, oh, it'd be cool to do something big for him."
She asked commenters to help her reward McLendon's hard work with an act of kindness -- tipping him $320.
"It's crazy," Mclendon said. "And then they're telling me everybody was sharing it and like people wanted to send me money because I made their day. Just bringing happiness to the world at the Sonic here in Athens."
Mclendon says he’s going to use the money to pay it forward and will never forget this moment.
"He's just genuinely a good guy," Woods said. "I mean, and if you can get that, and just like when we told him, he was like, well, it makes me happy to know that I can make somebody else happy. And I genuinely believe that."