A Starbucks employee who was filmed ranting furiously at a customer after the worker allegedly was “misgendered” has been fired, the coffee giant has confirmed.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Starbucks said the transgender employee’s contract had been “terminated” following an investigation into the incident, which went viral on social media.
The customer referred to the barista as “a man,” the employee claimed.
The woman continuously denies being transphobic before the staff member begins clapping in her face and ordering her to leave the shop, while referring to her as “Karen.”
Accusing her of “trespassing,” the Starbucks employee tells the customer she isn’t entitled to a refund before urging her again to leave the store.
The barista then approaches a passerby filming the incident outside before attempting to grab the man’s mobile phone, demanding that he hand it over.
The short clip, believed to have been recorded more than a week ago, surfaced on May 7 on Twitter, where it has been viewed more than 2 million times.
Furious social media users called for Starbucks to sack the employee, with TV personality Oli London writing, “Is this an acceptable way for staff to behave @StarbucksUK ?”
There were also calls for protests at the Southampton cafe by women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker.
Responding to the footage, Keen-Minshull wrote on Twitter: “Which branch is this? We should all go.”
No Tolerance
“The licensee has confirmed that the partner (employee) no longer works at the company. Starbucks has no tolerance for behaviour of this kind and we are very sorry for the experience that this customer had,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times on May 8.As part of its strict diversity policy, Starbucks says it seeks out employees—referred to as “partners”—“who are as diverse as the communities we serve.”
The company’s website also states that employees should “act with a spirit of kinship, tolerance, and humanity toward all customers making our brand welcoming to everyone.”
In 2018, the coffee giant became the first company in the world to cover the cost of gender reassignment surgeries for transgender employees.
The company said it was working with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to come up with a new health care plan for staff members.
He added: “Nobody else is doing this. We would love to see more employers doing this.”
The chain has offered employees insurance that covers procedures since 2012, but the newly drafted plan will cover procedures for U.S. transgender employees that were previously thought to be “cosmetic.”
Employees seeking such procedures would be able to claim breast augmentation or reduction surgery, facial feminization, and hair transplants, Starbucks said at the time.
‘Lifesaving’
Starbucks was the first company in the world to ask WPATH to help translate its recommended standards of care into a medical benefits policy, said Jamison Green, the immediate past president of WPATH, who worked with the company on the benefits package.“Starbucks was not afraid to ask all the right questions and demand that people get the best possible care,” Green said in a Starbucks statement at the time.
“We produced a list of the most crucial benefits and those that are deemed problematic to insurance companies, such as facial feminization and electrolysis.”
Many procedures considered cosmetic aren’t optional for trans people, Green said, but are essential in their quest to be who they are. Something like electrolysis can be “a life-saving procedure for trans women,” he said.
Tate Buhrmester, one of the company’s transgender employees based in the United States, said the company’s actions are “lifesaving.”
“Starbucks is taking a stand and standing up for trans people and saying that our procedures aren’t just cosmetic—they are lifesaving. They’re affirming,” Buhrmester said.
“They’re vitally important to trans people and it’s not something just to be seen as a cosmetic procedure that’s optional, because for a lot of people, it’s not optional for them.”
