‘Work at Starbucks, you’ll understand why they acted like that’: Viewers defend Starbucks worker who aggressively threw straws after customer orders extravagant drink

Viewers came to the defense of a Starbucks employee who gave customers “a side of attitude” when handing them their drinks and straws in a viral video posted to TikTok. 

In the clip, which has been viewed 122,800 times since it was first posted on May 13, user Maddie (@maddiedahlmann) shows a picture of the custom Starbucks drinks they ordered, known online as “Sanrio” or “Hello Kitty” drinks.

@maddiedahlmann Tell us you dont like your job without telling us you dont like your job #sanrio #sanriostarbucks #custumdrinks #starbucksdrinks #starbucks #fypage #sanriocustumdrink #fyp ♬ Bombastic Side Eye (Criminal Offensive) - Casa Di & Steve Terrell & Imfaomal

“What we paid extra for (and tipped),” the video’s text overlay read. The drink is typically made by ordering a grande vanilla bean Frappuccino and adding strawberry puree, as well as dragon fruit pieces and strawberry inclusions on top of whipped cream, which are then arranged in the shape of Hello Kitty’s face. 

In the next clip, an employee carelessly tosses two straws on the counter beside the drinks Maddie ordered.

“Tell us you don’t like your job without telling us you don’t like your job,” her video’s caption read.

Maddie then shows a close-up of the drinks she ordered, which did not resemble the picture shown before.

However, viewers were critical of Maddie's expectations for her beverages.

“Not defending the straw throwing but you can’t expect them to take time and make it look ‘aesthetically’ pleasing lol,” one commenter wrote. 

Alleged Starbucks workers explained why the employee was likely in a rush and did not make the drinks like the ones Maddie pictured at the start of her video.

“Bae tbh there’s like no way for them to actually decorate it the way you want them to without touching everything, which we can’t,” one user shared.

“I would literally cry and quit if I had to make that during rush,” another said.

“As a former Starbucks barista, we aren’t allowed to take our time on drinks,” a third revealed. “Also they’d probably get in huge trouble for touching the toppings.” 

As Today reported in November 2022, many Starbucks baristas are not fans of the implication of "secret menu" drinks or "menu-hacking" trends, as they make their jobs more complicated when they are frequently working under already stressful conditions due to understaffing and customer rushes.

Others did not excuse the barista’s actions but criticized Maddie for not simply ordering a drink off of the menu or in the Starbucks mobile app.

“I mean they ain’t gotta be that way but something tells me something happened between paying and handoff,” one user speculated.

“The throwing of the straws was very rude but asking for a drink like this even if you paid extra is still an impractical ask unless you know the barista,” another wrote.

The Daily Dot reached out to Maddie via TikTok comment.

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