Starbucks apologizes to man who received ‘diabetes here I come’ message on cup
A 16-ounce white chocolate mocha has 470 calories and 59 grams of sugar when made with 2% milk and topped with whipped cream, according to Starbucks. But it isn’t supposed to come sprinkled with snark.
The Seattle-based coffee chain has apologized to a Florida man who says he ordered a white chocolate mocha and received an unwelcome message printed on the cup’s label: “DIABETES HERE I COME.”
Action News Jacksonville reports that the incident occurred at Starbucks’ Palencia Village location in St. Augustine on Friday morning.
A @Starbucks customer tells me he's hurt by the message he received on his coffee cup. Details on @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/hNMeC6ysRJ
— Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynANjax) April 8, 2016
“I was taken aback,” the customer, who did not wish to be identified on camera, told the network. “That first word just automatically brought the picture of both sisters in my head, and I was taken aback.”
The man said his two sisters suffer from type 1 diabetes and that the snarky message brought back memories of “the struggles they went through and all the doctor appointments they had.”
“This is something we definitely don’t condone,” Kent Miller, the store’s manager, told the CBS and Fox affiliate.
“We strive to provide an inclusive and positive experience for our customers, and we’re disappointed to learn of this incident,” the Seattle-based company said in a statement. “We are working directly with the customer to apologize for his experience, and with our partners to ensure this does not happen again.”
The customer said he wasn’t looking for an apology — he just wanted to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.
“Seeing and knowing the struggle my sisters went through by third, fourth grade, it definitely struck a nerve,” he said. “And I didn’t just want to let it go.”
He scrawled his own message for the offending barista: “[Two] of my sisters are diabetic, so … not funny.”
This @Starbucks customer tells me he wants the #Starbucks employee to know his sisters suffer from Type 1 diabetes. pic.twitter.com/lzmeAwLLdm
— Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynANjax) April 8, 2016
It’s the second time in a week a Florida Starbucks has made national news.
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott was in line at the coffee chain’s downtown Gainesville location when a female customer working on her laptop noticed the governor — and promptly went off on him.
“You cut Medicaid, so I couldn’t get Obamacare,” the woman yelled. “You’re an a**hole.”
The unpopular Republican governor, whose approval rating stands at just 38 percent in the Sunshine State, tried to explain that he didn’t actually cut Medicaid — he refused to expand it.
But that explanation didn’t satisfy her.
“You don’t care about working people,” she said. “You should be ashamed to show your face around here.”
