A customer called out Starbucks baristas who are rude after she was reprimanded for joining an empty drive-thru line too early to pick up a mobile order she just placed.
In the video, which has been viewed over 244,000 times since being posted April 4, Leslie (@leswestla) said she pulled into the parking lot to ask her mother if she wanted anything from the store before placing her mobile order. She added her own items as she waited for a response, she said.
“I finally got her response and then I added it as well,” Leslie said. “Four items. I place the mobile order, and then I hop into the drive-thru line. Empty.”
@leswestla yall starting to get rude af outta nowhere #fyp #viral #starbucks #barista #baristalife #mean #rude #customerservice ♬ original sound – Leslie J
After giving her name for the order, Leslie said a male barista told her to wait a little bit next time before getting in the drive-thru line.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Where in the Starbucks handbook do I have to wait after placing a mobile order?” Leslie said in the video.
Leslie said the barista then told her the rule exists to keep the line from getting backed up.
“If y’all don’t want your drive-thru time to go up, then just say that. … I do whatever the fuck I want to do. But don’t be rude,” Leslie said, ending her video.
She said that, as someone who works in customer service, she understands the barista’s point of view, realizing that many are trained to build good customer relations with guests who are waiting at windows for long periods of time.
“I understand baristas deal with a high volume of people at once, but that doesn’t warrant unnecessary passive aggressiveness to a customer who didn’t have any ill intent,” Leslie told the Daily Dot in an interview.
Users defended the barista in the comments, saying that Leslie should have followed the estimated wait time instructions in the app after placing her mobile order, even if the drive-thru line was empty.
“Just because you’re the only person in the drive thru doesn’t mean there aren’t people in cafe or other mobile orders,” user Adri (@chickiinbiscuit) wrote.
“It’s just kinda common sense to not place a mobile order then hop in line,” another user said. “At that point order at the box.”
“The point of a mobile order is to place the order AHEAD,” user Aly (@alyssa.haro) commented. “Not to place it as you’re in the line or parking lot of Starbucks.”
In 2020, Starbucks released a how-to guide on digital ordering. While it says nothing about how long one should wait before entering the drive-thru, it does note the app will let users know the estimated wait time, and it’s understandable why Starbucks wouldn’t want its lines backed up. It’s simply bad for business. In 2022, Starbucks revealed the top reason why a customer would be deterred from ordering: long lines.
In a second video posted April 6, Leslie said she returned to the store because the barista “was so focused on being rude” that he gave her the wrong sandwich, allowing her to receive a free one.
“And the girl today was a sweetheart,” she captioned the video.
The Daily Dot reached out to Leslie via TikTok comment and Instagram direct message.
