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‘Work smarter not harder’: Call center worker records herself ‘working-from-home’ in Starbucks drive-thru, sparking debate

‘Aye, I’m still helping the customers!’

Photo of Braden Bjella

Braden Bjella

woman driving while working with headset on caption 'on the job and on the road ilove2giggle2 what's your fav' (l) Starbucks drive thru with sign (c) woman driving while working with headset on caption 'on the job and on the road ilove2giggle2 what's your fav' (r)

While some employers may be pushing to get workers back in the office, many workers have fully transitioned to working from home. Pew Research observed earlier this year that, “roughly six-in-ten U.S. workers who say their jobs can mainly be done from home (59%) are working from home all or most of the time.”

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However, working from home takes different forms for different people. While many at-home workers have grown comfortable conducting meetings in pajamas or firing off a few emails on the commode, others have taken work-from-home to its limits—even outside of the home.

One example of bending work-from-home rules went viral this week after TikTok user Sherry (@ilove2giggle2) posted a video of her fielding customer service calls while in the drive-thru line at Starbucks. 

Her video currently has over 323,000 views.

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@ilove2giggle2 What’s your fav drink from Starbucks? #fyp #viral #workfromhome #callcenterlife #customerservice #virtualassistant ♬ original sound – SherryH

In the video, one can see and hear Sherry taking a call. At one point, she puts the customer on hold to “check and see about that situation” for them. In reality, she’s just pulled up to the window at Starbucks, where she orders a drink. 

While Sherry seems to imply in comments that the video is a joke (“im just joking!” she wrote in response to a comment asking how it was possible to work from her phone), the video still generated discussion and debate on the platform.

Many users said that, regardless of whether this video was a joke, there would only truly be an issue if Sherry wasn’t getting her work done.

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“Im here to support ‘work smarter not harder,’” one user wrote.

“My mom drives around with her work lap top and goes about her life,” added another.

As Sherry said in comments, “Aye I’m still helping the customers!”

Some users joked about the situation.

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“It’s called working through lunch,” one viewer laughed.

“Hotspot: ON,” stated a second.

We’ve reached out to Sherry via TikTok comment.


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