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Former Starbucks Employee Claims He Used To Give Decaffeinated Drinks To Customers

June 02, 2021

Many people enjoy going to Starbucks for a variety of reasons, whether it be to catch up with friends with a relaxing tea or get some work done with an energizing coffee. However, not many people consider if the drink they ordered is the one they are actually getting, as it did seem to be a general consensus that employees will give customers what they wish within reason. This week, a debate surrounding the decaffeination of drinks ordered with caffeine has emerged on TikTok after a user posted about laughing when she serves a customer a decaf drink when they ordered something with caffeine because they were rude to her. TikTok user @dolltin responded to the original video, which has since been removed, claiming that it was “1oo% true.”

i can’t have caffeine unless it’s absolutely positively necessary because of health issues and one time I heard this starbucks barista on tiktok say that when people ask for decaf they don’t give them decaf if they don’t feel like it and my life hasn’t known peace since

— gaviotita ♡ (@bisthexual) March 5, 2021

However, though the original video discusses only decaffeinating drinks when a customer is rude to the Starbucks employee, this user went further to admit that he would also decaffeinate drinks when he “felt like it.” As an example, he discusses that he would decaffeinate drinks if they pronounced “croissant” in a particular way. This has brought the discussion of when it is okay or appropriate, if it at any time, to purposely give a customer something different than what they wished.

https://www.tiktok.com/@dolltin/video/6968528393742716166?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

The Response From TikTok

TikTok user @dolltin’s video has since received over four hundred thousand likes with almost eight thousand comments. The comments, however, seem to be quite divided. One person comments that this makes them worry that the things they wish to order are not the things they are actually receiving, while another jokes that many people in the comment section could use a decaf coffee. Many worry about health issues, as giving someone what they did not order can affect them in ways the worker would not have known. It also introduces concerns about ethics, and if it is ever truly okay to give someone what they did not order because of the way the customer has treated the employee. In one video replying to a comment that tells him to simply do his job, he says that he does not work there anymore and it has been five years, and that he would have also decaffeinated this commenter as well. Some wonder if this is a joke, just as there are old jokes of those in the service industry spitting in other people’s food. The consensus of the debate brought on by TikTok seems to be quite divided.