A few days ago, a mother walked into a Fort Gratiot Tim Horton's.

That woman - Dianne Hoffmeyer - was with her 22-month-old, attempting to get donut holes to please the teething child. And, maybe, a coffee for her sleep-deprived self.

At her nearby home today, she told us the tale that has now gone viral.

Two middle-aged women, standing in line behind her, unprovoked, lobbed hushed insults her way.  

"'Oh look at her hair, its nasty looking and the roots are coming through'," she recalled the women saying.

"'Oh she's a whale, oh the whale needs to eat'," they continued.

For Hoffmeyer the insults stung. She recently lost 177 pounds. The women, complete strangers, were unaware of her previous weight.

"I instantly started to cry, because it hurts. I don't know the women. I don't know why they would choose to say something like that."

But what she did next is what is surprising.

"I told the cashier, I'll pay for their coffee."

She then turned around, walked out and went to her car, where she cried.

She says she wanted to set a better example for her children by paying it forward rather than the impulse of lashing out at the duo.

She posted her encounter on Facebook. It has since exploded worldwide.

Should she encounter the women again, or should they read this, she says, "I'd like to buy them another cup of coffee, and talk to them. And explain to them how it made me feel."