Customers Left 'Embarrassed' By Starbucks Workers Who Hide Cups

Sarah Kester
Starbucks Cup
Shutterstock | 3698180

If you want to be a barista at Starbucks, you need to be one part amazing at making coffee and one part great at being sneaky.

They've already gone viral for sharing that they purposely spell customers' names wrong on cups. We knew it!

Now, it's been revealed that Starbucks workers play games with customers without them knowing it.

You Thought Pumpkin Spice Was a Hot Commodity at Starbucks?

Starbucks worker quoting price
Giphy | Tom Hearn

Try again. It's obviously the Starbucks cups! These retail for around $20 to $30 dollars and sell out very quickly on the Starbucks website.

The demand for the cups has led people to turn to secondary markets, such as eBay, Poshmark, and Facebook marketplace, according to Eater.com.

If a cup is a limited edition, it has the chance to resell for quite a pretty penny. For example, a 2019 clear cup released only in China with pink alpacas decorated on it sold for $1,075.99 online!

So, Yeah, They're a Pretty Big Deal...

Starbucks worker carrying cup
Daily Dot | Daily Dot

Starbucks workers know this, which is why some store locations choose to play games with the customers.

A video of this was shared by a Starbucks worker and TikToker @xenaquintanaaa. In her viral video, she showed viewers a game her store likes to play every once in a while.

“Sometimes we save one good cup and see who snatches it for fun,” the text overlay on the video read.

The video showed a customer ordering something at the counter when an employee goes and places a cup on the shelf.

Without Fail, the Customer Goes Straight for the Cup

Customer snatching cup
Daily Dot | Daily Dot

“Oh to be a Starbucks barista,” @xenaquintanaa captioned the clip, which then showed the barista laughing in the background.

Viewers weren't impressed by the workers' antics. They expressed how the worker should be focused on taking orders in the drive-thru instead of filming another barista playing the cup game.

Others couldn't understand the craze behind the Starbucks cups.

“What seriously is the hype over the Starbucks cups? Been going for years and have never bought a single one,” one user commented.

Some Found the Starbucks Workers' Actions 'Embarrassing'

One wrote that they would be "embarrassed" if the baristas at their local Starbucks played this game as a way to mess with the customers.

After backlash, the barista deleted her video.

Question: How do we know that the Starbucks workers' aren't just saving the good cups for themselves? Clearly, we need an investigation on this #CupGate, stat!