Twitter Alex Beckom said she was harassed by a woman while working as a barista in Starbucks.
Another Starbucks customer has been dubbed a “Karen” for screaming at a Starbucks barista and coming back in to the store to yell “f*** Black Lives Matter” after she was told that she had to wear her mask properly or she would not be served the next time she came in.
The encounter was posted on Twitter and a video of the incident has gone viral and received more than 4 million views as of October 20.
Alex Beckom, the barista who posted the video, tweeted, “Welcome to my day at work #starbucks #karen @Starbucks.”
The Customer Said She Felt Discriminated Against Because She Was a ‘Trump Supporter’
According to Beckom’s caption, the customer had pulled her mask down to speak to the barista and Beckom had asked her to wear the mask properly; the video shows the mask was underneath the customer’s chin during the entire encounter.
“I’m not gonna listen to anything you say to me when you talk to me like that,” the customer says as the video begins. “Ok that’s fine, but next time, when you come in, I’m going to need you to keep your mask on,” Beckom says over the customer as she repeats “when you talk to me like that” multiple times.
The barista interacts with another customer as the woman with the mask around her chin says, “And I know it’s because you’re discriminating against me because I’m a Trump supporter.” Beckom revealed that the woman was wearing a Trump 2020 mask.
“Okay, sure,” Beckom says. “And you’ll have to keep your mask on when you come back again, so I’m sorry.”
“F*** Black Lives Matter,” the customer says. Then she adds, “I need a straw.”
“Here you are,” Beckom says, handing her a straw.
“Thank you,” the customer says. “And I need sugar too, please.”
“What kind?” Beckom asks.
“The raw sugar, like three packets please.”
When Beckom hands them over and reiterates that the woman needs to wear a mask if she wants to return to the coffee shop, the customer explodes.
“No, no, it’s not a law,” the customer shouts. “It’s not a law and I can show you the penal code and everything.”
“Okay,” Beckom says repeatedly as the customer backs toward the door and declares, “It’s a hoax.”
Beckom says, “Okay, next time you come in, I can’t help you.” In response, the customer continues walking, yelling, “I don’t have to wear a mask, I’m not going to wear a mask. This is America and I don’t have to do what you say.”
“Excuse me, you’re going to have to leave,” Beckom says. The woman proclaims, “Trump 2020.”
“You need to leave,” Beckom repeats, adding “Thank you.”
“No, f*** you,” the customer says, storming out the door.
“Have a good one,” Beckom calls out. After a brief moment, the woman returns, opening the door and yelling “F*** Black Lives Matter” into the store.
Store Employees Are Under Pressure to Enforce Mask Mandates
Have you heard of “Starbucks Karen?”
Amber Lynn Gilles walked into a Starbucks without a mask looking to buy a coffee, but was told to leave because she wasn’t wearing one.
She joins us now to share why she had no regrets over the encounter that escalated with anger.
According to CBS News, U.S. Starbucks stores started requiring all customers to wear masks on July 15.
That mandate led to an infamous episode in which a San Diego woman was told she would not be served until she put on a mask. The Starbucks employee, Lenin Gutierrez, received $100,000 in virtual tips from a GoFundMe, which led the maskless customer, Amber Lynn Gilles, to demand that she receive half of the funds.
Beckom created a GoFundMe page for $100 in tips and received the full amount within 30 minutes from an anonymous donor; the amount collected has blown past Beckom’s goal of $250 with donations up to $13,000 at the time of writing. Many on Twitter praised Beckom’s calm demeanor throughout the ordeal, with one person tweeting, “You handled this like you’ve been giving de-escalation trainings for decades. I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Others called on Starbucks to give Beckom a raise and issue a lifetime ban for that Starbucks customer.
Retail stores and restaurants have quickly become ground zeroes in the mask-wearing culture war. Incidents between customers refusing to wear masks and employees attempting to enforce mask mandates have resulted in violent attacks in some cases.
According to a September 1 guideline from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on “Limiting Workplace Violence Associated with COVID-19 Prevention Policies in Retail and Services Businesses,” the incident Beckom experienced would be considered workplace violence in the form of a verbal assault, which is defined as “yelling, swearing, insulting, or bullying another person with the intent of hurting or causing harm … (such as the) negative emotions of the person being assaulted.”
Those guidelines advise employees to report threats and acts of violence and avoid arguing with customers “who appear upset.”
Heavy has reached out to the barista and will update the story with any response.