Starbucks Barista Gets $65,000 in Donations After Customer’s Mask Complaint

A Starbucks barista in San Diego has more than $65,000 to fuel his dream of teaching dance after an online fund-raiser was created in response to a customer who was not wearing a mask complained on Facebook about the company’s policies and her interaction with him.

The barista, Lenin Gutierrez, said in a Facebook video he posted on Wednesday that it had all started when he was working at the front register and asked the customer, Amber Lynn Gilles, if she had a face mask.

“No, I don’t need one,” Ms. Gilles told him, according to the video. She replied before he could show her a paper explaining the company’s mask policy during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said she started “cursing up a storm” and called people “sheep” before walking out. A few minutes later, she came back, he said, and asked for his name, took a photo of him and said she would call the corporate offices.