Mom goes through Starbucks drive-thru with crying toddler. So why are workers saying the barista can get fired for his random act of kindness?

Let’s be honest: Kindness is rare nowadays. In a cold, emotionally detached world, encountering a kind Samaritan is few and far between. When a Starbucks barista gifted this woman something to help soothe her sobbing toddler, it touched her heart to share with strangers online, much to other employees’ fear.

The 10-second clip features one of Florida Starbucks customers, Krystel (@krystelize_), with her twin toddler daughter sitting in her car seat. The daughter’s red face and damp eyes indicate she was wailing. However, not anymore, thanks to the sealed, makeshift rattle made of an empty grande cup with coffee beans gifted by an employee.

Brightening her day, the content creator acknowledges this good deed in the text overlay: “The Starbucks employee at the drive-thru heard her crying in the car and offered me a baby rattle he made for her.”

Starbucks Baristas Scream Caution

Krystel’s clip amassed 1.9 million views and garnered the opposite reaction. Many alleged employees hopped into the comments section, urging her to remove the heartfelt video for the barista’s sake.

“Please do NOT report this to corporate, he can get fired for this!” one viewer remarked.

“So sweet but delete it, he probably gon get fired over this,” another suggested.

“Corporate’s gonna fire him for wasting $0.10 in mass produced materials,” a third echoed.

Instead, others proposed alternatives to how she could’ve expressed her appreciation.

“I think u should maybe just tip them good next time and that’s all,” one commenter advised.

“IF YOU DO WANNA GIVE THEM A GOOD REVIEW, stick with ‘above and beyond customer service,’” a second recommended.

Despite these baristas’ warning, the video crossed the coffee giant’s feed. The Starbucks TikTok account commented, “Love this so much! our partners make us proud every day with their kindness.”

Exaggeration or A Grain of Truth?

This type of discussion landed in a r/starbucks subreddit where one employee addressed whether handing out single-item freebies to cheer a customer up is grounds for termination. An alleged Starbucks employee explained how often and how many can be a huge problem.

“One or two a shift won’t get you in trouble. If you’re giving one person their stuff for free every day, you could get in trouble. If you’re giving them more than a couple items free, you could get in trouble,” they answered, adding, “if their card is declining and I can tell they’re in distress about it, I’ll RNR their drink and give 100% [of the] sandwich.”

Indeed, excessively handing out free items can violate any coffee shop’s policies, falling under theft, Barista Life states. On the other hand, another barista argued this varies by location and managers, stating they make it a point to “give out one or two free things each shift.” However, they “never just give full orders or tons of free stuff out.” Ultimately, each store differs.

@krystelize_

Random act of kindess ❤️?

♬ Classic classical gymnopedie solo piano(1034554) – Lyrebirds music

The Mary Sue reached out to Krystel via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment as well as Starbucks via press email.

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