It’s no secret that the economy is in a rough place, and getting and keeping a job is only getting tougher for many folks. From white-collar to hospitality jobs, it’s no smooth sailing.
Waiters, bartenders, baristas, and servers have their own difficulties to handle, on top of general job pressures. These difficulties often take the form of managing belligerent customers, but sometimes it’s as simple as navigating company rules.
One barista is currently going viral because of her experience parting ways with the Starbucks corporation.
What Happened To This Starbucks worker?
In a video first posted on Mar. 30 that has since accumulated over 1.8 million views, Mia Cavalla (@leathersofa) shared her story about getting fired from Starbucks after working there for four years, three of which she worked as a shift lead. Cavalla had been working at a Chicago location, which was unionized. However, then moved to Arizona, where she started working at a non-union location.
“To preface, I’ve never had a [expletive] written warning,” Cavalla says in her video. “I’ve never had a documented coaching…I’ve actually been the most perfect angel of a [expletive] worker for this company, slaving my [expletive] away more than 40 hours a week for the past four years of my life.”
She says she had been working at the store that fired her for two weeks, adding that “everything was going fine.”
Indeed, two weeks into Cavalla’s tenure at the Arizona location, things got weird during one of her shifts. It all started when her district manager came to the Starbucks, ordered, and hung out for a couple of hours. She was apparently acting quite friendly to Cavalla, as if everything was fine. Then, she pulled Cavalla aside.
“She’s like, ‘There’s someone on the phone for you,’” Cavalla says. “‘I’m gonna listen with my headphones plugged in over here and watch you talk to this lady.'”
Cavalla says she hopped on the phone, and the person introduced themselves to her as “loss prevention.”
“‘Do you know what loss prevention is?’” she recalls the person saying. “I’m like, ‘[Expletive], they know about the bag of matcha I stole.’”
But that wasn’t what the call was about.
Why Did She Get Fired?
Cavalla assumed she would be written up for a minor offense, but it turned out Starbucks corporate had been sitting on video footage of her giving free drinks to fellow employees while they were off the clock. Corporate estimated she’d given out about forty free drinks in her four years working at Starbucks. At roughly $8 per drink, they estimated she owed the company around $400.
Crucially, the Starbucks higher-up did not reveal this to Cavalla until after she’d confirmed that she fully understood company protocols and standards—essentially hammering in the last nail of her own corporate coffin.
“She’s like, ‘I’m just wondering why, instead of clicking the partner discount button, you clicked ‘partner free beverage,’” Cavalla recounts. “‘Because you told me that … you understood the cash handling procedures, so why did you click it?’”
Overwhelmed, Cavalla started apologizing profusely and trying to explain that at her previous location, giving out free beverages was just “the culture out there.” The higher-up then had Cavalla write a signed testimony about what she’d done. Cavalla complied fully, admitting to everything on paper.
Cavalla’s superiors then fired her.
Her video ended with a warning to other Starbucks employees who think they’re engaging in unobserved, innocuous behavior.
“This is me telling you that they [expletive] know and they’re watching you,” Cavalla finishes. “And they will [expletive] fire you over it. So just be mindful.”
Commenters Are Torn
While Cavalla clearly has no issue being open about her experiences online, and several of her viewers were extremely sympathetic, some took issue with her story. A few commenters accused her of not taking accountability for being “a thief.”
“So you stole and you’re mad you got fired?” one viewer commented.
“The admitting the stealing, then giving away free stuff with authorization,” wrote another. “… Then acting like you’re the victim???”
However, several people seemed exasperated by the scale of Starbucks’ response, with one person pointing out simply, “It’s COFFEE lol.”
“So if the average drink cost is $8 … 40 times would be $320,” one viewer pointed out. “And then half of that anyways bc they should’ve included the employee discount, so all this over $160.”
Moreover, many commenters seemed concerned, both by Cavallo’s decision to post the video and also by how freely she gave corporate incriminating answers.
“I cannot clearly recall the situation, so I cannot answer your question with 100% accuracy,” one commenter advised Cavallo to respond in the future if faced with a similar situation.
“Talk. To. A. Lawyer,” another emphasized. “Do NOT answer questions.”
Another viewer worried that by posting her video, Cavallo was actually hurting her future job prospects.
“Queen id delete this,” the viewer commented. “Being caught from stealing from a job makes you an unhireable person for future jobs even if it was Starbucks and something dumb they still care. And stealing is stealing.”
Why Did She Switch Stores?
Many think there were more nefarious reasons at play. Some speculated that Starbucks didn’t want her to “start a [union] in the [Arizona] store.”
In a TikTok direct message to SubPlot News, Cavallo independently brought up that she’d “switched out of a union store in Chicago and into a regular store” in Arizona.
“I think that’s the reason that all of this happened,” Cavallo wrote. “Even though deep in the policy it says not to give out free beverages, it was the culture at Starbucks and even my partners at the store I was working at out here in Arizona were doing the same things.”
Cavallo feels that the entire debacle unfolded because she has a history as a member of a Starbucks union, alluding to the company’s notorious track record of union busting.
“I definitely think the investigation on me was solely to find something that was a fireable offense to get me out of there before I could start unionizing if I wanted to,” Cavallo says. “I was not planning on it at all and never even mentioned it. Starbucks is terrified of the union.”
We also reached out to Starbucks via email with a request for comment.
Can You Get Fired From Starbucks For Making Free Drinks?
Part of Cavalla’s apparent bewilderment was clearly due to her impression that it’s rare for companies or corporations to follow established guidelines to the letter.
It’s common for workplaces to have thick handbooks full of policies that simply aren’t 100% adhered to all the time, such as dress codes, phone bans, snacking policies, etc. Likewise, it’s also common for workplaces to have “unwritten rules” people are implicitly expected to understand.
Bartenders frequently and strategically give out free drinks to key regulars. Baristas have long given out complimentary beverages for one reason or another. As such, it can be difficult to know when a company policy is actually enforced, or just a suggestion or guideline.
Ultimately, it’s important to protect yourself in the workplace, rather than relying on any verbal or even implicit, unspoken assurances that some rules are bendable. If there’s even a slight chance your employers can accuse you of theft, it’s probably best to play it safe.
