When Juana Martinez, a mother of three, received a strange text from her bank, she felt like she already knew who to blame.
According to the message, someone used her debit card and spent over $200 at a local supermarket.
The outraged mother quickly went to the said supermarket, and the staff described the woman who used her debit card. The description sounded a lot like the employee who’d served her at a Los Angeles Starbucks just the day before the bank’s message came.
Martinez had already been suspicious of the barista from the beginning. When she received her coffee, the Starbucks employee took her debit card to the back. She said that she needed to get more receipt paper.
After getting the message from the bank and hearing the description of the supermarket staff, Martinez was determined to confront the 19-year-old barista. Then, she returned to the same drive-thru to teach the employee a lesson, while her husband was holding his cellphone to record the scene.
“You come to Starbucks to get coffee, not to get robbed,” Juana said in frustration.
Starbucks quickly took action and fired the cashier. “We were extremely troubled to learn of this incident, and we have been working directly with the customer to address this situation,” Starbucks said. They also added, “We value our customers’ trust, and this experience was completely unacceptable. We will support local authorities in any investigation.”
Despite what happened, Martinez did not press charges. She said that online shaming is enough punishment for the 19-year-old woman. The confrontation was uploaded online and went viral with over 2 million views.
What are your thoughts on Martinez’ decision and the way the barista made a copy of her debit card? Do you think it is okay not to press charges and simply shame the woman online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!