One mail carrier’s experience at Starbucks is drawing massive attention online after she posted that she was denied a free cup of iced water after delivering a package to the coffeehouse and while working under extreme heat.
The postal worker who goes by @melaninglowesthetics on TikTok posted a short video of herself inside a USPS truck and overlaid the clip with text, “Imagine working out of a tin can in 100 [degree] heat, trying to stay alive and walking into Starbucks for a cup of ice water, and they tell you NO!”
Earlier this year, Starbucks reversed its open-door policy and now requires all customers to purchase an item to use the bathroom or receive a complimentary cup of water.
The postal worker’s video went viral and has since been deleted, but she has continued to post updates about the experience. In a follow-up video, she stated that it was really hot outside and she was delivering a package to Starbucks and asked the barista for a small cup of iced water.
Adhering to the new company policy, the barista tells the mail carrier she must buy something before she can get some water. The postal worker decided to buy some bottled water.
“I am human. I show up everyday in extreme heat in my uniform in a truck with no A/C. I love my job, I love my customers, and I love my route. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have bad days,” she said in the video.
Thousands of comments flooded her TikTok page, many from people who expressed shock at the decision to withhold a cup of water from a frontline worker who weathers extreme temperatures to complete her daily duties.
“I think Starbucks can afford a cup of water!!!” one TikTok user posted.
“A couple of years ago, we were all calling ‘essential workers’ heroes. Now we can’t give out a cup of water?” another comment read.
“A carrier died from the heat we need to show each other more compassion,” someone else wrote. “A postal worker being denied water speaks so much to how low we have gone in humanity. I used to give mine Christmas gifts,” another person wrote.
News reports often surface in the summertime months every year about postal workers who die from heat-related incidents.
Last month, a mail carrier who was a 28-year employee with the U.S. Postal Service died after collapsing on his mail route in Dallas, Texas, while working in brutal 90-degree temperatures.
In June 2024, 51-year-old Wednesday Johnson was found unresponsive at a post office in North Carolina, right after making mail deliveries in a USPS truck with no air conditioning while enduring intense summer heat. Her family members believe she died of a possible heat stroke.
Starbucks also recently faced backlash after a barista in Richmond, Virginia, told a woman to “get in line” after she requested a cup of iced water to help her husband who was suffering a medical emergency. The couple rushed to a different cafe across the street, where they were promptly given some iced water.
Atlanta Black Star has reached out to Starbucks for comment.
Starbucks representative Jaci Anderson reiterated company protocol, stating that “All customers who make a purchase while visiting our stores can enjoy complimentary water during their visit.”
However, she added that the company trains its employees to “operate with empathy and kindness,” and empowers its partners to service visitors appropriately “in the event the circumstance calls for it – either due to extreme weather, medical emergency or other extenuating factors.”
Great Job Yasmeen F. & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
