Mother Allegedly Denied Service and Threatened With 911 Call by Starbucks Staff Over Crying Son: ‘Leave Your Kid Out There’
Her son just wanted cake pops.
A mother just wanted to get a sweet treat for her son, but a mistake in her order later turned a quick coffee shop visit into a confrontation with staff. Imaan Up (@imaan.up) shared the incident on TikTok, where she accused Starbucks staff of denying her service and threatening to report her to the police when her autistic son began crying after they allegedly failed to complete her order.
“Shame on you @Starbucks. STARBUCKS THREATENED TO CALL 911 BECAUSE MY AUTISTIC SON WAS CRYING,” Up said in the caption of the video post. According to the mother, she had placed an online order at Starbucks ahead of time, knowing her son gets overstimulated in public environments.
Up said she waited for the notification that the order was ready before heading to Starbucks to collect it with her son. “I wanted to avoid causing a scene, so I waited until I received a notification that my order was ready,” Up said. However, Up claimed the order was incomplete when they arrived and asked staff for the missing item, only for a confrontation between the mother and Starbucks to ensue.
Starbucks staff allegedly stopped serving other customers too
Up said that she and her son waited patiently while staff corrected their order, but her son allegedly became distressed and started crying when he realized they didn’t have the cake pop they ordered yet. “He was not causing a major scene. It was already my turn, and our order was packed and ready. My son wanted his cake pop,” Up said.
According to Up, her son “became hysterical” when the cashier allegedly refused to continue serving them after he started crying and was “annoying the customers” in the store. “Whether or not my son is autistic, he is still a very young child,” she said. “Why was a grown man behaving with less patience and maturity than a child?”
The commotion supposedly caught the attention of other Starbucks visitors, who allegedly offered to help buy Up’s son a cake pop. However, Up claimed staff announced to everyone that they had a “problem” and wouldn’t be serving any customers until “this lady and her child leave.”
In the video Up shared, the staff can be heard telling the mother that “common decency is [to] leave your kid out there” while she gets her order. The staff also claimed they had a “third-party policy,” which Up repeatedly asked about, although the video cut off before that could be discussed further.
Rather, Starbucks does have a Code of Conduct for its customers that explicitly states “no misuse or disruption of our spaces.” Those who violate this may be asked by staff to leave the store, and in serious cases, law enforcement may be called if they repeatedly refuse to adhere to store policies and escalate the issue.
The incident was resolved after the police arrived
The company also has a “no discrimination or harassment” code of conduct. Still, it remains to be seen whether the incident involved any discriminatory actions by staff in this situation.
Viewers were divided about the issue. Others agreed that the staff’s behavior towards the situation, especially towards her son, was unwarranted. “Did she really say leave your kid out there? She needs to get fired. She has no business working in customer service,” a viewer wrote. “You would think you would serve them and get them on their way out of there faster,” another said.
Some said the staff had the right to deny the mother and son service. A viewer who claimed to be a former staff member said, “When I work at Starbucks, they do mention that we allowed to deny service for disruptive behavior.” While others criticized the mother for her son’s disturbance, saying, “Wow ppl just want to chill in starbucks not hear screaming.”
According to Up, police arrived after staff allegedly threatened to report them to 911. “When the police officer arrived, we stepped outside and waited,” Up said. “The officer later came back, apologized on behalf of the staff, and even brought our order out to us.”
Up said she isn’t using her son’s autism “as an excuse” for the incident, but to raise awareness and understanding instead. “Children and families—especially those with special needs—deserve compassion, not humiliation,” Up concluded.
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