Fired Starbucks barista reveals how TikTok is “ruining the industry”

With so much content being created around the world every minute, getting noticed has become more and more difficult. Platforms like TikTok are inspiring people to think outside the box and many are performing crazy stunts in order to go viral. One of the most common is heading out to Starbucks and placing a ridiculous drink order – and baristas have had enough.

One barista has taken to the platform to share that the ridiculous orders from TikTok users is ruining the coffee industry.

Josie Morales is incredibly passionate about coffee. He thrives on creating drinks that bring happiness to those who need a pick-me-up. However, he says that the latest trend has made working at Starbucks incredibly difficult.

READ: Man hilariously orders takeout during job interview

This comes after Josie shared an image onto his Twitter page of an order placed by a man named Edward requesting 13 changes from the standard recipe. These changes include extra caramel drizzle, seven pumps of caramel sauce, extra ice, extra cinnamon dolce topping, and heavy cream.

After posting the till slip online, many other TikTok users have ordered the drink dubbed, 'The Edward'.

Now, other baristas are coming forward saying that TikTok has made them feel like “coffee-making robots” as more and more customers come in and make elaborate drink orders.

"These orders are driving us insane because they’re so long, so specific and it requires you to do much more work than you should be doing for one single drink and they’re not being adequately translated into our labour hours,” one barista said in an interview with The Guardian.

READ: This Starbucks order made one employee want to quit

Starbucks doesn’t limit customers to the number of changes they can make to a drink – which has proven to be incredibly difficult for baristas around the world. "With mobile order or delivery, we can’t always clarify what they want and people will get very mad over sort of little stuff when you’ve made the drink almost perfectly, and it’s frustrating to feel like you can’t say we can’t really make it that way, so people treat us like coffee-making robots,” the barista continues.

Another employee added: "Starbucks definitely took this turn to become just another fast-food drive-thru. They want us to just be these robots that move fast, we’re just little drones to them that just need to pump out as many lattes as we can in a half-hour."

Speaking to The Guardian, a spokesman for Starbucks says: "Our 200,000 partners across the US are the best people in the business, and their experiences are key to helping us make Starbucks a meaningful and inspiring place to work. We offer a world-class benefits program for all part- and full-time partners and continued support for partners during Covid-19 to care for themselves and their families, and we continue to have an industry-leading retention rate.”

After sharing the ridiculous drink order, Josie was fired from the coffee chain for violating the company’s social media policy – but admits he has no regrets. “I feel like it brought some light upon how crazy orders can be,” the barista explains.

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Interestingly, Edward reached out to Josie after his drink order went viral. However, he isn’t taking the situation seriously, explaining that it was just a light-hearted joke. “Once I was made aware that my order had gone viral, I found Josie on Instagram and reached out to make sure he didn’t get into any trouble for posting it,” he said. “I wanted to let him know that he didn’t do anything wrong. It’s definitely an order people could find funny.”

Josie adds that Edward’s drink isn’t even the most elaborate drink he’s ever made. “As far as the ‘wildest drink’ I’ve had to prepare, it was a hot Americano with a sticker the size of my palm full of customizations,” he says. “I didn’t take a picture because we were very busy.”

What’s the most ridiculous drinks order you have ever placed? Tell Darren, Keri, and Sky in the comments section below.

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Image courtesy: Pixabay