16 Starbucks Baristas Detail Harassment at Work
Starbucks baristas often have to deal with complicated orders and impatient regulars, but they should never have to deal with sexual harassment. Cosmopolitan spoke with 16 female baristas* who detailed verbal and physical harassment from customers, with some behaviors bordering on stalking. Some of these customers were banned from stores, while others continued on as regular customers despite complaints to managers about the unacceptable behavior. (A recent poll from the Washington Post and ABC News found that 95 percent of women who experienced unwanted sexual advances at work said their harassers didn’t face consequences.) "Harassment has no place in our stores," a Starbucks rep said in a statement, which is printed in full below. Here's what these baristas experienced.
Emily, 29
I had a semi-regular customer caress my hand and stare into my eyes when I gave him his change. I’ve been raped twice, so being touched in a way I don’t want to be touched really upsets me. The first time he did this, I had to leave the floor and cry a little bit because it was so upsetting. He touched my hand that way the next few times he came in, so my coworker told me I needed to tell my store manager. When I described the man to my manager, she said she knew who he was but nothing was done about. This man was also known to do this to other baristas, in addition to often berating us or calling us stupid when we were making drinks. Despite the fact that he made me and my coworkers uncomfortable and my manager knew about it, nothing ever happened to him.
There was also a drive-thru customer that would regularly make racist and sexual comments toward me and a coworker. I’m half Latina and my coworker was half black, and this customer would ask us to put cream in his coffee so it would match our skin color. One day when he came through, I tried to hide from the window so he couldn’t see me and he asked one of the male baristas if I “pissed” in his coffee. It was so weird, and he said it in an overtly sexual way. The next time he came to order, my shift supervisor happened to be taking his order when he asked about matching the color of his coffee to my skin color. After that, the shift supervisor banned him so we didn’t have to deal with him making these creepy kinds of comments anymore.
Kat, 22
There was a customer who came in every day and said things in a suggestive tone. He would see me cleaning the counter, and would say something like, "Do you want to come to my place and clean up?" It bothered me, but it’s hard to say anything because you’re not sure if it’s technically harassment, and you’re so used to it. One day, that man came in and he actually slapped another barista on the butt because he thought she was me - we have similar hair. He was really embarrassed because he didn’t know her, and neither of us were sure if we should have reported that. We didn’t report it because he downplayed it as just being friendly, and he still comes into the store every day.
Melissa, 24
We had a customer at my location that was a mega creep to everyone. He would follow baristas home, find their phone number without them giving it to him, show up to their jobs at other locations, things like that. I was pregnant, and when I started to show he kept making comments about how he could make a baby with me, or how he wanted to watch her come out of me. I would go to my store manager and ask what we needed to do to get this guy kicked out of the store, based on what he was saying to me and what he was doing to other baristas. The store manager claimed there wasn’t much we could do because he spends a lot of money. I even brought it up to the district manager, and was told there needs to be a paper trail. I’m a shift supervisor and I usually close, and one night when me and my coworker were leaving, we noticed a car sitting outside the front door with his lights on. My coworker and I are both women, so we ended up calling the local police department to have them walk us out. We also got the plate number for the car and when they ran it, it was the customer that had been harassing so many of us. Despite all that, he still comes into the store and just watches us for hours on end. The store manager has seen him staring at us and making comments, but nothing is done. Multiple baristas have started carrying pocket knives and pepper spray, and we started a policy where we walk baristas to their car if we can’t see it from the store, just in case.
RJ, 27
I was working in the drive-thru area and two men in their 20s walked into the store and started whistling at my coworker and I. Neither of us knew them. They ordered their drinks and I thought they left, but a couple of minutes later they pulled through the drive thru. They didn’t order anything, but they told me I was too hot to be working at Starbucks and they thought I should be a “bikini barista” at one of the places nearby. I proceeded to tell them that wasn’t appropriate to say to me at my place of work, and then they started mocking me, repeating back what I said sarcastically before driving away. They’ve come back a few times to cause drama and say things about me and the other women I work with, but they’re no longer welcome in our store. We actually recently started the process to ban them as customers.
Riss, 25
I had a regular customer who worked near our Starbucks, so he came in all the time. We developed a really good professional relationship, and we even added each other on Facebook and Snapchat. It wasn’t anything remotely sexual. I ended up leaving Starbucks for a year, and during that time he started messaging me more and more sexual things. He started off saying he was really attracted to me, and then he started sending me dick pics. He was married and had a kid, so I tried to just ignore him because I’m bad at confrontation. But he kept messaging me, and he would tell me he went into my old Starbucks and it wasn’t the same without me. I would also occasionally get texts from him saying he missed me with a picture of my car in different places. When I returned to work at my original Starbucks, he came in a few times but my coworker and I were talking about how I was in a really serious relationship while he was there. I also bought a cheap ring to wear so it would look like I’m unavailable. It’s been about a month now without any contact with him, but this whole made me really wary about having any customers on social media. If anyone tries to add me, I just block them right away.
Kim, 21
There was one customer who came in pretty regularly, and I would sometimes make small talk with him while making his drink. This man is probably in his 50s, and one day he told me I should go to dinner with him. I told him I wasn’t interested, and then he came back the next day and asked me again. I said no, but later that day I was in the parking lot and I saw his car approach me. He got out and asked me again if I would go to dinner with him, and he kept trying to convince me. I told him it was a policy that we can’t date customers, but I didn’t know how to get out of the situation because he continued asking. Luckily, I saw a police officer going through the drive-thru and I waved him over. When the man left, the officer gave me his phone number and told him to contact him if I had any issues. The next night after work, I was walking to my car and I saw the same man standing in front of my car, with his truck parked right next to my car. I turned around to go back inside and called the police officer. The man followed me back inside and told me he wasn’t taking no for an answer, and that he would bring dinner to Starbucks if he had to. He stayed there until the police officer showed up, at which point the officer told him he had to leave me alone because it was borderline stalking. The man said I should be flattered that he was so persistent. He was told he would be removed from the premises if he didn’t leave me alone, so he left, but I ended up running into him at the grocery store a few days later. He tried to talk to me, but I told him I would get the authorities involved if he didn’t leave me alone. He still comes into the store and I can feel him looking at me, but after I threatened to involve the police he hasn’t tried to talk to me again.
Shelbs, 22
It was the second week I was working a closing shift by myself. I heard stories from other baristas who refused to close certain nights because this same man would come in and made them feel uncomfortable. I needed money, so I decided to work the shift anyways. This man in his 60s or 70s came in and asked for a cup of coffee. Then he made a comment about how I pretty I was. I said thank you, but then he said he wasn’t going to leave the bar area until I gave him my number. I said I couldn’t do that, and then he said he wouldn’t leave until I gave him a hug. I was trying to be nice and I just wanted the situation to be over with, so I leaned over the bar to give him a hug and he reached around and squeezed my butt and didn’t let go. When I pulled away he decided to leave the store. As soon as he left, I was fighting tears, I was so upset by what happened. I went to the manager and they called security, but they weren’t able to find him. Like my coworkers, I never felt comfortable closing by myself after that.
Andrea, 28
We had a regular who would often ask us to make his drink with a fresh gallon of milk. When we went to get the milk, he would ask us to get it from the back of the fridge. As we bent over to get the milk, he would lean over the counter and stare at us. Me and four coworkers told the former manager about, but he said to do what the customer wanted, and that a look shouldn’t ruin our day. He didn’t understand how it felt to be looked at that way. This went on for probably a year until a new manager took over his job, and put a stop to this man’s requests.
Hope, 22
I had a customer come in with his friend and this man spent probably 10 minutes at the register just repeating my name and telling me how beautiful it was. It was kind of funny at first, but then it became embarrassing and people were lining up behind him. His friend kept trying to reign in him, and kept telling me it was all in “good fun.” The guy finally tells me he just wants a hot coffee but wants me to step away from the register and pour his milk in for him. Then he starts talking about the necklace I’m wearing, which was amethyst. He keeps talking about how he’s into “stone stuff,” and then finally ends up leaving. The next time he came in, he brought me a jade beaded bracelet and grabbed my arm so he could put it on me himself. I try to be polite and thank him but he keeps trying to hold my hand and telling me to admire it. For the next two months, whenever he came in he would ask me why I wasn’t wearing the bracelet. And not in a joking way, he seemed actually upset. He would also tell me that his wife would have worn it if he had bought it for her. I usually just try to play nice with customers and go along with it, but this whole thing was very weird. At one point, he just stopped coming in and only the friend he came in with comes in now.
Zoe, 22
I had a customer who was a problem pretty much the entire year and a half I was at this one store. When I was first hired, I was told not to be too nice to a certain customer because he would talk your ear off, and he had all these conspiracy theories. Nonetheless, I was nice to him and he started latching onto me. At first he would just say things like, “Zoe you’re so nice, you’re so pretty, I wish I could find a women my age that treated me so well.” Then at one point he asked if I was still single in a few years if I would marry him. I said no, I was in a committed relationship, but he kept asking me for days if I would marry him. Another time I was on my break and he was talking to me about one of his conspiracy theories and I told him I had to go back to work, and he told me he was going to go masturbate in his car. I talked with my manager about all of these comments because I was so uncomfortable, but I was told there wasn’t a lot they could do because he wasn’t harassing customers. What finally got him banned from the store was because showed graphic and violent pictures to a few girls in the lobby and their mom ended up calling the manager. Even after everything he said to me, the thing that got him banned was bothering customers.
Sam, 25
About a year ago, a regular customer in his 70s came behind the counter as I was taking a sandwich out of the oven and smacked me on the butt. It hurt, and I was in total shock. I handed out the sandwich, then went into the back because I was so upset. My coworker saw it happen, but the shift supervisor was off the floor taking a deposit to the bank so I was told they couldn’t do an incident report because no shift supervisor was on duty. My manager said she would speak with the man though. In the following months, I would avoid any interaction with this man when he came in and would usually hide in the back. One time I couldn’t be in the back when he was there, and he argued with me in front of my coworkers about whether I had changed my hair - he kept insisting that I had. Another time, I was making drinks when he came in. I couldn’t hear very well but it sounded like he asked me if I was behaving, so I nodded my head yes. Then I realized he asked me if I was misbehaving when he repeated what he said with this disgusting grin.
I decided that day I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Supposedly my manager had spoken with him, but the behavior never stopped. I contacted Partner Resources to open up an investigation. The person I spoke with elevated it to Partner Resources and Asset Protection. I had the coworker who witnessed the incident give a statement. That was in October, and anytime there was another incident I reported it to them. In December, my district manager emailed my store manager saying they needed to sit the man down and tell him that his inappropriate behavior is not acceptable, and if it continues he won’t be welcome in the store. After reading this, my store manager told the assistant manager, “I don’t wish to disregard Sam, but I don’t know how much of this is true.” I have a witness, and I would never lie about something this serious. My district manager doesn’t believe my manager has ever spoken with [the customer]. It makes doing my job more difficult and I’m extremely uncomfortable when he’s there, but my partners have been wonderful and warn me when he’s in there so I can switch positions with them.
It’s taking so long to get rid of him because apparently they will not ban him just from my location, but all the locations in [my country]. I’ve resolved if nothing’s been done I’ll have the police warn him about his behavior and if it doesn’t stop I’ll take out an order of protection. My local police have advised that, but I wanted to give my place of work a chance to act first.
Paige, 20
I work at Starbucks full time and I like to get to know our customers not just because it’s important for business, but because it’s good for people to know someone cares. There was this one guy that would come in with a pregnant woman, and he told me he has two kids at home, so I assume the woman he’s with is his girlfriend or fiancée. I know his order by heart and it’s a pretty long order, so they were always super nice to me. He came in alone once and I was talking with him while I made his order and he says out of nowhere that I need to let him take me out sometime. I was so taken aback because I hadn’t expected him to hit on me at all, so I just responded by saying I was always working. He told me he wanted to take me for a drink when I wasn’t working. I just laughed as if he was joking and walked away to get his order, and I could feel him staring at my body. Because I didn’t respond the way he wanted, he’s now extremely rude to me every time he comes into the store, and now he’s hit on almost all of the female baristas I work with.
Tiffany, 21
I had just started my job at Starbucks and we had a regular customer who was always really friendly. Being new and knowing that regulars are really special, I didn’t want to get on his bad side or anything, so I made sure I’m very cordial and polite. [One day] he asks me how my Valentine’s Day was. I told him I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day and then he asks if he can bring me a gift. I said I was really uncomfortable with that, and I thought that would be the end of the conversation. But then every time he would come in, he would be like, "Why don’t you want me to give you the gift, it’s not a big deal just let me do it." I was starting to feel really bad about it because he was making such a big deal about it. I told the others on my shift and they told me to be careful around him because he was a convicted sex offender. So I was even more worried now because I had been a victim of sexual assault when I was younger. He came to give me the gift anyway, and sent someone to the back to get me because I was doing dishes. When I came to the front he kind of interrogated me, like, “Why are you being so rude about this, why won’t you let me give you the gift, it’s right outside in my car.” He told me it was a Kay diamond necklace. I told him I would prefer if he took it back and got his money back.
Apparently this was not the first time he had done something like this. He gave several baristas at our store diamond necklaces and he brings them flowers and stuff like that. He was told several times that he’s not allowed to give gifts to anyone, and we’re not allowed to accept gifts, so we were supposed to watch out for that.
Even after that happened, he would always come in while I was on the closing shift and talk to me, ask me inappropriate questions about my piercings, ask me about my days off, what I was doing during the weekend. It got to the point where I wasn’t allowed to be on the floor when he came in, they would send me to the back and have me wait for him to leave. It really ruined my work experience. I asked multiple times why he was never banned from the store and my managers said it took strenuous paperwork to ban someone, especially since he never did any physical. I no longer work at that store, but one of my old coworkers told me that he came in and tried to give a new barista a gift, and they had to call the police to escort him out because he had been told so many times that he can’t bring gifts for the baristas. I guess that wasn’t enough to get him banned, though, because I think he still comes back into the store.
Claire, 20
We have two guys that come in every morning, and they’re probably in their 50s or 60s. I have really long hair, and one time when they came in I was putting my hair up before my shift started and they noticed how it was. For the next few days, they would make comments about how they wished I could have my hair down while I worked, that it was so pretty when it’s down. They also always use words like sweetie and honey, whenever they come in and talk to us. Right now, we’re not really sure how to approach telling them to stop. I think our manager has decided something needs to be done, but nothing has been done about it yet. It’s kind of just been accepted as something we have to deal with. Now whenever they come in, I just make an excuse to go into the back room until they leave.
Annabelle, 18
I started working at Starbucks when I was 15, and we had a regular customer that was super chatty and friendly. My manager told me to look out for him because he was pressuring her to hang out with him. I was wary, but he seemed super nice. Then he found me on Facebook somehow, even though I had the highest security settings. He messages me on there, and I asked how he found me, because my name tag doesn’t have my last name. He said we had mutual friends – we didn’t – so he must have gone through every Annabelle in the city. He told me he was warming up his truck and he was going to come pick me up for breakfast, and that he knew where I lived because he saw me walking home from work one day. I was so uncomfortable, so I blocked him on Facebook. He still came into the store and I was wearing a sweater and a collared shirt and he said something like, “Do you always dress like a sexy schoolgirl or is that just for me?” This man said all of this to me when I was 15, and he was probably in his late 20s. I told my manager about it, but she was in the middle of transferring stores so nothing got done about it and the new manager didn’t really care. After a while he stopped coming in, but recently he started coming back. He didn’t make the same comments, but he talks crudely about this new girlfriend he has, telling us that she’s the best sex he’s ever had. I’ve only seen him twice in the past 6 months, but if he comes in I try to go hide in the back.
There's also a man in his 50s would come in every day. He was pretty chatty, but as he started getting more comfortable there, he started saying more terrible things. It got to a point where one of my coworkers would just go to the back whenever he came in. One day, out of nowhere, he looks at me and says, “I think you’re a bad girl. Do your parents think you’re bad? I think you need a good spanking. I should spank you right now.” I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable, I didn’t know what to say. I just tried to laugh it off and then I went into the back shaking. He continued to say things like this to us, and my district manager said no matter what he said, there wasn’t anything they could do because he is not physically inciting violence. A little while after he made that comment to me, I went outside for a smoke before my shift and he was standing right by the front door. He licks his finger and wipes my forehead, saying I had syrup on my forehead. I hadn’t even started work yet, so I knew nothing was there. He also touched a new tattoo on my arm, telling me he liked it. Even my male coworkers got uncomfortable around him. He wouldn’t listen to my female coworkers if we told him to stop, but one of my male coworkers recently talked to him and he’s cut back on the sexual comments he makes to us.
Payton, 18
This customer in his 40s usually goes through the drive-thru, and when he comes up to the window he’ll ask for your name and your phone number, but only for the girl workers. I would usually say I’m in a relationship or that I can’t give out my number, but whenever he would come through he would ask if I was sure. He also would try and grab your hand when you hand him his order. When he comes into the café, he’ll sit and stare at the female baristas. Now the baristas put his order down on the counter instead of handing it to him, and my shift lead or the guy baristas will take his order in drive-thru so we don’t have to deal with him. I think people have asked him if he can stop doing it because it makes us feel uncomfortable, but our managers can’t say he can’t come here unless he does something significant.
There’s also a guy who will come in and ask for your number or he’ll write his number down and give it to you. Then the next time he comes in, which is maybe every few weeks, he’ll get really mad and really aggressive about why you haven’t called him or texted him. But then he’ll compliment you. He told me he really liked my shirt and would stare right at my chest, or he would compliment my pants. One time I was in the café with my boyfriend, and the man came in and saw us. The next time he was in the store he told me he saw I was with another guy and asked why I would never hang out with him. I always feel uncomfortable - he’s in his mid-30s and I even told him my age when I was 17, but he didn’t seem to care. He really only does this to the younger girls, the ones who are in high school or college. He’s never been there when our manager is there, he’s not a usual, so nothing has really been done about it.
When reached via phone for comment on these stories, a Starbucks communications representative said: "Harassment has no place in our stores. We want all our partners [employees] and customers to feel welcomed and safe. We encourage all of our partners to alert their local leadership the moment they feel uncomfortable or unsafe at work. In those instances where partners don’t want to speak with their manager or choose to remain anonymous, we have processes in place that allow them to provide details over phone, email, fax or online."
*Some names have been changed at the request of the baristas because they feared repercussions.
Have you or someone close to you experienced sexual harassment or abuse? We would like to hear from you. Email [email protected] with your story, and Cosmopolitan reporters may respond to you for more information.