humanitarians

Texas’s Newest Hero Is a Mystery Man Who Spent All Night Buying Ice Cream for Strangers

Here’s how to become a bona fide Texas legend in just a single night. You’ll need some cash, and ice cream. CBS 11 reports that a man identified simply as “Mr. Gary” entered a Fort Worth ice-cream shop this past weekend, bought himself a bottled water, and then remained at the counter for the next three hours, so he could pick up everybody’s tab.

Sweet Sammies’s owner Kory Close says they printed a seven-foot-long receipt at the end of the night, which has, naturally, already become the stuff of Instagram lore.

Mr. Gary technically came in for free parking — it’s $20 to park on the street, Close explains, unless a store validates the driver’s ticket. Mr. Gary apparently felt impressed that Sweet Sammies agreed to do that for him, so he started buying one ice cream after another, in sort of a Pay It Forward–meets–Groundhog Day scenario. “He said, ‘You know what, I’m going to pay for everybody’s food that’s in here,’” Close tells the station. “He stood here all night and bought everyone’s ice cream until we closed.”

Employees even recall him saying he was going to stop several times — first, after they’d hit $100; then after $500; then after $1,000 — but by the end of the night, his bill was for more than $1,300. He gave each employee a $100 tip, hugged a lot of people, and then no doubt vanished into the night. Close claims he’s going to frame the receipt and hang it prominently on the wall.

Kind Texan Spends Evening Buying Ice Cream for Strangers