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It was a furious online post apparently designed to embarrass a barista for simply following coronavirus regulations, but it seems, in fact, somewhat counterproductive.
Amber Lynn Gilles posted a photo of San Diego Starbucks worker Lenin Gutiérrez on Facebook and told her followers that “he refused to serve me because I am not wearing a mask.”
Face covers, he added for good measure, “are stupid and so are the people who wear them.”
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The result?
Thousands of people point out that California state law now requires almost everyone to wear masks in public spaces, and that a GoFundMe page is being created to tip Gutierrez, 24, as a sign of support.
By Saturday morning, those tips totaled $ 50,000.
Ms. Gilles, meanwhile, had fallen to the ground after saying that she had received thousands of death threats.
In a video recorded after the original post trying to embarrass him went viral on Monday, Gutierrez, an aspiring dancer, said of the incident: “I was going to show him the newspaper showing that we have been requiring facial masks, but we can still help, but before I could say anything, she rejected me and said, ‘No, I don’t need one.’ “
He added: “She started cursing a storm, started calling people sheep and left, and in a few minutes she came back and asked my name.”
And thanking people for the advice, he said, “I want to remind everyone to be kind to each other and to love each other.”
The requirement to wear face masks went into effect statewide on June 18 as part of the continuing response to the Covid-19 crisis. Only children under the age of two and those with specific medical conditions are exempt.
But in an interview with KNSD-TV, Ms. Gilles, a self-declared anti-vaxxer, said: “I was denied and discriminated against. I didn’t harass anyone, I called him. “
She hinted that she had a medical condition that would mean she was exempt from the new regulations, but declined to say what.
A Starbucks spokesperson said the company is adhering to Covid-19 guidelines from both the US Centers for Disease Control and local governments in its stores.
“We want everyone to feel welcome in our stores,” they said. “We respectfully ask customers to follow the safety and social distancing protocols recommended by public health officials, including the use of facial covering when they visit our stores.”
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