LA woman calls Starbucks drink ‘beautiful,’ barista assumes it was a flirty pass. Then things go worse: ‘I should be locked up’

A Los Angeles customer’s involuntary admiration for her fresh Starbucks drink allegedly resulted in an awkward misunderstanding with the barista. But even after realizing the mix-up, her attempt to fix it somehow made the situation worse.

Content creator Erin Cholakian (@erin_cholakian) recounted the exchange in a TikTok video that has surpassed 370,000 views. She opened the video with an apology before explaining how her reaction to receiving her iced beverage spiraled into an embarrassing confusion between herself and store staff.

Cholakian claimed that when the barista put her drink on the table, she involuntarily paused and murmured the word “beautiful” with deep emphasis. “I paused and I said, ‘Beautiful.’ Just like that. Like, reverence in my voice,” she explained. While her sentiment was aimed at the drink, the barista briefly assumed it was a flirty pass directed at her. 

A drink compliment caused confusion with the barista

After hearing Cholakian murmur “beautiful,” the barista reportedly turned around and made direct eye contact with her. However, upon noticing Cholakian’s eyes fixed on the cup, the employee sought immediate clarification. 

“She saw that I was looking at the drink, and she went, ‘Oh, you meant the drink?’” Cholakian explained in the clip. She then confirmed that she was indeed referring to the beverage, prompting the employee to turn back toward the workstation.

The interaction then took a turn when Cholakian began second-guessing how the sudden clarification sounded to the worker. “Then she turned back around, and then I panicked,” Cholakian said. “Because then I was like, well, I don’t want her to think that I don’t think she’s beautiful, but yes, I was talking about the drink.”

In an attempt to smooth over any potential awkwardness, Cholakian claimed that she impulsively shouted across the room to clarify her stance: “AND ALSO YOU!”

The shouted correction carried across the entire Starbucks floor

The loud declaration drew an immediate response from the barista, who turned back toward the counter laughing. Rather than taking offense, the employee dismissed the clumsy correction with a good-humored remark.

“She turned around and she looked at me and she said, ‘You’re so funny!’ Not ‘That’s so nice of you’ or anything like that. She said, and I quote, ‘You’re so funny,’ which is exactly what a mom would say to their kid when they said something dumb.”

Embarrassingly for Cholakian, the exchange did not stay between the two of them for long. As she walked toward the exit, she allegedly overheard the barista moving behind the service barrier to give her coworkers a play-by-play recount of the interaction.

“I heard it the whole walk out of the Starbucks,” Cholakian admitted. She noted that the employee was already reenacting the dialogue as the automatic doors slid shut. This led Cholakian to feel flustered, and hilariously remark in her video caption, “I should be locked up.” 

While casual retail interactions frequently lead to harmless verbal miscues, Cholakian joked that the memorable spectacle ensures she will be skipping that particular location on future coffee runs. “I can’t go to that Starbucks ever again, because I don’t think I’ll be able to one-up that performance,” she laughed. 

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