A "Karen" Wanted To Publicly Criticize A Starbucks Employee Who Didn’t Want To Serve Her, But Her Plan Backfired And People Tipped Him Over $90,000 Instead

One Starbucks customer tried to shame a barista online, and it ended up turning him into the one getting support. Amber Lynn Gilles from San Diego, California, posted on Facebook about Starbucks employee Lenin Gutierrez after he refused to serve her without a face mask.

What she meant as a public callout quickly flipped into a wave of sympathy for Gutierrez. People flooded the comments with support, and a GoFundMe campaign launched by Matt Cowan started climbing fast as more users chipped in.

By the time the donations piled up, the story had already taken on a life of its own. Amber Lynn Gilles

Amber Lynn Gilles

“All tips will be brought directly to the Starbucks location where Lenin works and given to him directly,” Cowan assured the contributors on GoFundMe.

Matt Cowan started a GoFundMe campaign to show support for the barista

Matt Cowan Lenin Gutierrez Lenin Gutierrez

Lenin shared a video with his side of the story

“It’s been so helpful and so shocking to see something get so big that only happened within a few minutes,” Lenin said, right before he shared his version of events. He was working at the front register when Gilles entered the shop without a face mask.

He asked her if she had one; she replied that she didn’t need it and then started to curse at him and call the other customers “sheep.” Lenin then said that Gilles left but came back after a few seconds, asked him his name, and took a photo while threatening him that she would “call corporate.”

That was enough to turn the whole thing into a public mess.

Lenin Gutierrez Lenin Gutierrez Lenin Gutierrez

Lenin also talked about the donations he’s received. He said that the money would enable him to chase his dream again. He loves dancing and teaching dance to kids, but he had to stop when the coronavirus pandemic started. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. It is just amazing to see that I can actually make these dreams of pursuing dance a reality now. Thank you so much for it.”

This is the same kind of awkward line-drawing as when you’re asked to fund a coworker’s suspicious charity drive.

This event started an intense discussion:

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Want more “don’t ask me for money” drama? See what happened after you refused a dog surgery loan in this friendship fallout.