Some jobs come with really annoying, difficult-to-complete tasks that are reviled by employees, like working at McDonald’s and having to deal with the “no salt on fries” crowd or cleaning the fryers at KFC.
While there are several things that can go wrong while working at Starbucks, like having to go on a milk run in the middle of a rush, there’s one aspect of the job that a number of baristas seem to have a lot of difficulty with: putting on dome lids.
A TikToker named Anthony (@goofyychiwah), a Los Angeles-based actor working as a Starbucks barista while he’s “just trynna get rich,” uploaded a viral TikTok that’s amassed over 221,000 views as of Friday. The clip seems to have resonated with other Starbucks employees.
@goofyychiwah We all go thru this fight 😭😭 #fyp #foryou #foryourpage #viral #comedy #funny #goofychiwah #antwanthebarista #sbux #barista #starbucks #starbucksbarista #xzybca #fypシ #disney #disneyland #pumpkinspiceseason ♬ original sound – Anthony
In the video, Anthony records himself struggling to affix a dome lid to a plastic Starbucks cup while he’s on shift, looking like the “before” person in a late-night infomercial before the revolutionary new product is introduced.
Except in this TikTok, that relief never comes. Anthony merely attempts to try and put a second domed lid on the top of the cup, only to be left with nothing but disappointment and frustration as he carries the drink off to another counter.
And it appears that he’s not the only barista for the popular coffee chain who abhors domed lids. One Redditor did not mince words while airing their disdain for the drink topper in a viral post they uploaded to the r/starbucks sub, calling the offering their “worst enemy.”
From the way they described the process of securing a domed lid to a cup, it would seem that they’ve endured the same anger-inducing situation displayed in Anthony’s video, sharing, “I could make a perfect spiral of whipped cream on top with a pretty drizzle over it, then have it be completely ruined by the upcoming battle I have with getting the dome lid to close onto the cup.”
They added that they were “in shambles” over their inability to keep their customers’ drinks looking pretty and that they’ve even had to resort to asking coworkers to help them push the domed lids down onto customers’ cups.
Judging from the comments to the Reddit post, others also had this issue.
“Have the same problem. Could be the lid, not you. Or the sides of the cup are flexing too much. I will throw away a lid that will not snap on, often a new lid will work. Or if you double-cup it to support the sides. If a Frappuccino does not get drizzle, I will lid it and add the whip through the lid,” someone said.
As for Anthony’s videos, this hatred of dome lids was a cross-barista-social-media phenomenon—several TikTokers also waxed on at length about all of the grief domed lids brought into their lives.
“The amount of times the cup folds on me while trying to put a dome lid on is crazy, especially in front of customers,” one person wrote.
Someone else penned, “For real, the dome lids are the bane of my existence!!! barista life hack, double cup it and try with a new lid, works like a charm.”
One TikToker’s comment seemed to suggest that there may be errors in the way some of the dome lids are manufactured, as they are constantly throwing away lids that don’t fit properly.
“I get frustrated and just throw them away and use a new one each time until I get one that fits!” they said.
But is there any relief for folks’ dome lid woes? One user said that there’s an easy solution—double-cup it. “The trick is to double cup it and it works when you try to put the lid on.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Starbucks via email and Anthony via TikTok comment.