A viral video that showed a woman arguing with a Starbucks barista who dropped her change has divided online commenters.
The video was posted to TikTok on Monday by Sikeitsme7, who wrote: "Sweet little 8lb baby Jesus was with me." The post has since racked up over 1.6 million views and more than 63,000 likes.
"Almost had to do prison time this day," the video's text overlay read.
The interaction between the barista and Sikeitsme7 took place in the coffee shop's drive-through. According to comments made in the video, it appears as though the TikToker pulled out her phone and began recording after the barista dropped her change onto the ground.
"Excuse me," said Sikeitsme7 to the barista.
Upon noticing that the TikToker is recording the conversation, the barista responds: "I'm not gonna be recorded and be harassed."
As the barista begins to close the drive-thru window, the TikToker said: "I'm asking you for my change."
The barista opens the window, points to the ground and said, "it's down there—it dropped."
She closes the window again, and viewers can see her walk away from the drive-thru.
Many restaurant workers have quit their jobs within the past year, according to Insider. While pay has been a driving factor behind this mass exodus, Insider reported that rude customers also played a role in employees' decision to quit.
"The idea that the 'customer is always right,' which dates back more than 100 years, has given rise to entitled consumers and more aggression toward retail workers," said the publication.
"Some customers have unloaded their frustrations on the cashier checking out their groceries, or the fast-food worker at the drive-thru window," Insider continued.
In a conversation with NPR, a former drive-thru worker Marcus Brotherns said: "I never want to do something like this again. They're just yelling the entire time."
Perhaps with all of this at the top of mind, some viewers felt that Sikeitsme7 was wrong to record the barista, and criticized her for not opening her car door to grab the fallen change.
"Bruh open your door and grab your d**n change," wrote jennifer_emmett. "Accidents happen. You want her to walk out and grab it for you? They don't need attitude."
"She accidentally dropped it man, what you want her to do, jump out the window?? Come on," commented C Bjorn.
Justusndogs responded: "I agree with her she's at work she doesn't need cameras or attitude."
Falcon.Says stated that they were "#TeamWorker," adding that "the customer is not always right."
Still, many other commenters sided with the TikToker.
"It's funny to me [that] people think you're in the wrong," said Quinn. "If my change was thrown on the ground in front of me I'd have something to say, too."
Esme wrote: "It's not about the coins people. [The barista] could've easily said my bad and issue fixed. But she wanted to shut the window and ignore the customer."
When Sikeitsme7 thanked Esme for their comment, Esme replied: "some people suck sorry you had to deal with someone like her."
"If you make a mistake you correct it, not catch an attitude," said TikTok user brat in response to another of one Sikeitsme7's critics.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Sara Santora is a Newsweek reporter based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on viral social media posts and trends. ... Read more
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