Pay it Forward in Nashville

A Bank That Pays it Forward in Fargo, North Dakota

You think everyone would have something they dislike about their job - with the notable exception of the people at State Bank and Trust in Fargo, N.D., CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports.

State Bank chief operating officer Michael Solberg said, "That's our mission statement: happy employees, happy customer."

To accomplish the company's mission, Solberg says the bank gives a year-end bonus of about 5 percent of salary. They contribute 15 percent of salary to the 401-K, and do a full 20 pounds on the holiday turkey. But the best perk by far is the company Christmas party.

In '06 they staged a game show with COO Solberg as the bald host of Deal or No Deal.

The $500,000 prize was split equally among the bank's 500 employees. That meant everyone got $1,000.

Again this Christmas, the bank gave everyone another $1,000.

But this time the money came with a clever little catch. No, the didn't have to pay it back. But they did have to pay it forward.

"There were three rules. You can't give it to your family. You can't give it to a co-worker. And you have to document your good deed. Other than that, the sky's the limit," Solberg said.

The tapes are just now starting to roll in, and they run the gamut: from the woman who paid for an abandoned kitten to get a life-saving surgery to the guy who gave the money to a friend whose car got stolen.

Read the entire story and watch video at CBS News.

Pay it Forward at Starbucks

A customer in a South Florida drive-through paid the bill for the customer behind him on Thursday, and the chain continued throughout the day.



Drivers at a Starbucks in Pompano Beach paid for drinks for the people behind all day long.

"Your drink has been paid for by the driver in front of you," a Starbucks barista told a customer.

Read the entire story at NBC 6 South Florida.

Pay It Forward Friday...

Lets make this Friday, "Pay It Forward Friday."

Let's all do at least one thing for someone else and ask them to pay it forward as well. Have fun with it and keep a smile on.

Let me know how your day goes...

"Paid it Forward" Tuesday

We had paid for parking until 6am and since we wouldn't be using it I went over to give it to a guy who was getting ready to buy a parking ticket. When I first said "excuse me sir", he turned with a look that clearly gave away the fact that he was expecting someone to ask for money. Instead I told him that we would not be using the rest of our parking ticket and he could have it for free. He was pleasantly surprised and thanked me as he started to walk back to his truck.

After a few steps he turns and asks me if I am from "out of town" and I told him nope, I'm a Nashvillian. He smiled and said, "yeah, I thought so...you don't get this kind of stuff from anybody else." We both laughed, wished each other a goodnight and went our separate ways.

Past Perfect
122 3rd Ave S
(615) 736-7727