Former Starbucks Employee Served Decaf Coffee to Rude Customers
A former Starbucks barista spilled all the tea on the coffee giant's biggest secrets.
Ex-Starbucks employee Shabaz Ali made a number of wild claims about his days behind the counter at Starbucks.
In a viral clip via TikTok, Ali alleged baristas misspell the names of customers on purpose in hopes they would point it out.
"I was going through training and the manager told me about purposely writing names on the cups wrong for free publicity," the ex-employee explained in an interview with Jam Press, according to the Mirror.
He claimed he was also told to be on the "look out for influencers or younger people who seem the type to make a scene about it on social media, as they’ll definitely post about it. I was shocked, as this was probably the reason my name would be spelled wrong in the past."
Among other things, he claimed baristas use coffee syrup instead of real coffee in Frappuccinos.
"Frappuccinos don’t have espresso coffee; they have a fake flavor version — so if you want real coffee, you have to ask for an espresso shot," he alleged.
One of the more surprising admissions was that employees will give decaf coffee to customers if they were rude.
Watch the TikTok video here:
He also revealed a few tips to customers wanting to score some free goodies. "You get a free drink on your birthday if you tell the barista," he said, adding: "At the end of the night, the bakery items need to be thrown out — so if you ask a barista, they might give these away to you."
"Drip/filter coffee can be refilled for free if you sit in," he continued, before advising if you're unhappy with the drink just "ask for another one" and the barista "will always change it for you."
"If you ask for a medium drink, but want it in a large cup, chances are the barista will fill the cup for you because they always make a bit extra – so you get a large drink for free," he added.
TikTok users who commented on his video were surprised by the revelations.
"The decaf bit scared me," one user scoffed, while another person who seemingly also worked at Starbucks wrote: "The decaf one is definitely true at my store."