Arizona woman takes home 4 expired cake pops. Then Starbucks fires her: ‘Even though I agreed to pay the $20’

Curbing food waste is a position most people can rally behind. Especially at mega-giants where this is most prevalent, every item rescued from the landfill is celebrated. One former Starbucks worker shared that preventing four expired cake pops from this demise not only cost her her job, but also her scholarship, leading viewers to react differently.

Why Did Starbucks Allegedly Fire Her?

“I’m literally so sad right now, guys, ’cause I got fired from Starbucks over four cake pops that were expired,” former Starbucks shift supervisor Clara Pasos (@claraajanet) says. “I literally was a shift supervisor for a little bit over a year.”

Because of this, she snatched the treats from the pastry case and subsequently lost her job and had to reimburse them for it.

“I got fired over that even though I agreed to pay the $20,” she says. 

However, the content creator had taken more pastries than just the cake pops during her Starbucks career.

“They called me from loss prevention, and they asked me to pay the amount, which came out to a total of $50,” Pasos recounts. “Because I also took a cheese danish once. They have everything recorded. The bagel and the turmeric shot once came out to $50, and they told me to pay the partial amount of $20.”

Despite paying them back, this didn’t guarantee her job was safe.

As a result, Pasos has a bone to pick with the company.

“What [expletive] me off is that these big corporations like Starbucks literally will cry over four cake pops because this is a tax deduction for them,” she remarks. “All of this food gets ‘donated’ but actually gets thrown away.”

Because of her termination, her plans to step down and focus on school went down the drain. Her moral of the story?

“You can get fired from a big company like this for simple things that don’t make sense,” the content creator says. “So, the best thing you can do is focus on yourself because these big businesses don’t have your best interests.”

What Did Starbucks Say?

A Starbucks spokesperson responded to our request for comment via email:

“We never take the decision to separate a partner lightly. This one came after a careful review of the facts and circumstances involved.”

Viewers Are Not Sympathetic

As a rule of thumb, viewers tend to side with employees over big companies that terminate them for what they feel is a wrong reason. For instance, Wingstop let go of one woman allegedly over a family emergency. Another example is Walmart firing another woman for allegedly defending a mentally challenged child from bullies. However, the majority in Pasos’ comments section believed she was at fault.

“Girl the way that you keep on mentioning more and more items that you took,” one viewer commented.

“It’s not about the cake pops. You lost their trust. Trust is everything,” a second noted.

“It starts with a ginger shot, then a danish, then 4 cake pops. Who knows what next. They see a pattern,” a third explained.

“Girl!!!! Expired or not, that’s still theft!! You should [have] asked before taking what’s technically not yours!!” a fourth criticized.

Meanwhile, a few and far between, came to her defense, criticizing Starbucks.

“Starbucks makes millions and millions of dollars. They rather throw the food away than give it to an employee. Starbucks do better,” one commenter remarked.

“Everyone’s getting onto you like you don’t have a point…starbucks shouldn’t be pinching pennies over expired food they can’t sell anyways,” a second stated.

What Does Starbucks Do With Unsold Food?

To reduce food waste, the coffee chain launched its FoodShare program in 2016, donating it to communities in need. Each company-operated store has a third-party delivery driver who collects the day’s remaining food and drops it off at a distribution center, which then disperses it to food banks and food pantries. Starbucks earns a tax benefit for every pound of donated food reinvested back into its mission. 

So, how do non-corporate-owned locations tackle the issue? Some may dump the food straight into the garbage. On the other hand, an employee argued in a r/starbucksbaristas subreddit that this “comes down to [the] particular store and [store manager],” explaining some may perceive it as “theft and a punishable offense, but many do it all the time.”

Even if workers like Pasos want to be a good Samaritan and save this food from the impending doom, it is against company policy. A manager in particular recited from the company handbook, “Partners are prohibited from consuming or taking expired food from the store,” accompanied by a photo of it.

@claraajanet #starbucks #starbucksbarista ♬ original sound – ? ?? ?suiren

The Mary Sue reached out to Pasos via TikTok comment and direct message.

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