This Barista Is Being Doxxed By A 15K-Follower Influencer For Denying Their Free Coffee Demand

Posted 4 minutes ago

A young barista over on the "Am I the asshole" subreddit is debating their decision to refuse an influencer's free coffee demand, after the influencer doxxed them and their employer as payback.

Here's the full story: "I (22, female) work as a barista at a small local coffee shop. We have this regular, Megan (late 20s), who has like 15k Instagram followers. She comes in almost every day, orders this super complicated latte, then asks for extra syrup, oat milk, and whipped cream for free because she promotes the shop on her stories."

"My boss has no formal deal with her, so technically it's against policy. I've let it slide a few times when it was slow, but last Saturday we were slammed, line out the door, two callouts, I was solo on bar."

"Megan orders, I ring her up normally ($6.75), and she goes, 'Just add the oat milk and vanilla for free, like usual. I told her I couldn't today because my manager was watching the cameras (true) and I'd already been warned about giving freebies."

"She got really snotty, said, 'Fine, I'll just take my business elsewhere,' then pulled out her phone and took a photo of me mid-reach for a cup. Before I could even say anything, she posted on her story: '[Shop Name] has the worst service, barista named [my name] was so rude for no reason. Don't go here.'"

"Within a few hours, her followers left three 1-star Yelp reviews specifically naming me, and two people came into the shop demanding discounts because, according to them, they saw what I did."

"My boss reviewed the security footage, laughed, and told me I did nothing wrong. But now a couple of my coworkers say I should have just given her the $1.50 upgrade to avoid the drama and the bad press. The owner is staying out of it, but Megan keeps commenting on our Instagram posts with 'Remember when your staff harassed me?'"

"I feel like I was just doing my job and enforcing a policy she knew about. But the shop lost a few regulars who saw her story, so maybe I should've just let it go. Am I the asshole?"

So far, in the comments, people agree that refusing the free coffee demand was the right decision.

"Not the asshole. You did nothing wrong. Don't ever do anything to avoid the drama or to keep the peace. You don't give these things away to everybody, so you shouldn't do it for her. She's treading on legal waters, with harassing you and defamation by libel about the business."
—Vandreeson 

Another person suggested the barista confront the influencer online.

"I'd reply to her comment with I didn't harass you. I refused to give you a free upgrade because you do it every time you order. If you want whatever drink she wants, then that's what you should order."
—princessmem

This person called out the barista's boss for not doing more to defend her.

"Your boss needs to get a backbone and post the security footage on the company's page to defend his employee and his business. Not the asshole."
—Public-Ad-9827

Opposingly, this person placed the blame on the barista for giving out free coffee from the beginning without permission.

"You never should've been doing that without permission from your boss in the first place. Also, this whole situation would've been avoided if you had not taken it upon yourself to decide it was ever ok in the first place."
—IslandBusy1165

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Post has been edited for clarity. 

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