A California resident finds herself in hot waters after she posted a photo of a Starbucks Barista on her social media page. Her Facebook post aimed to shame Lenen Gutierrez for denying her coffee under the “No Mask, No Transaction” Policy implemented in all restaurants. In the caption, she wrote, “Meet Lenen from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I’m not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption.”
When her post went viral, Lenen responded with a video explaining what his side of the story is. The barista said that when the woman entered the store without a mask, he followed the protocol and asked if she had one. She then responded that she did not need one. Gutierrez then stated that he did intend to show her the order that states Starbucks is required to ask customers if they had face masks, and in the instance that they don’t, the staff can still help. Before he could utter a word, however, she then swore at Lenen. She also called people “sheep” and stormed out of the store. She also threatened to call the corporate and the cops. That wasn’t the last time he saw her as she came back and snapped a photo of him.
She responded to many of the people on her social post, mostly thanking people that she would not be famous without them. However, in her interview with NBC, she claimed that she was receiving threats. She reportedly suggests that she does not deserve the bad responses she continues to receive.
Matt Cowan created a fundraiser for Gutierrez on GoFundMe. On his page, he wrote, “Raising money for Lenin for his honorable effort standing his ground when faced with a Karen in the wild.” In his interview with ABC San Diego, Cowan was amazed at how the fundraiser became viral. His $1000 goal became $60,000. He said, “Everybody is rallying around somebody for doing what they’re supposed to do and trying to protect everyone else. It just goes to show you there are a lot of good people out there, and that outweighs the bad.”
Gutierrez responded, thankful for the donations and that he’d use the money to pursue a career as a dancer or a dance instructor. The woman who snapped the photo of him and placed it on social media now wants a portion of the GoFundMe donations. She may sue Cowan for “defamation and slander.”