Oregon ex-barista asks customer to stop screaming at staff. He decides to lay into her too—in front of his 9-year-old son

Working in customer service can be equal parts frustrating and rewarding—but sometimes, the former can escalate to hostile situations with customers. While such negative interactions aren't the norm for service workers, they happen all too often.

One service worker is going viral for sharing an interaction she had with a particularly aggressive coffee shop patron. Hers is a tale of enforcing boundaries against customers and, when necessary, banning them from the premises.

How did Brooke manage the coffee shop?

Restaurant server Kelly Brooke (@kellybrooke.m) posted a video recounting a “traumatizing” encounter she'd had with a customer during her barista days. The video has more than 60,000 views.

“When you're a barista, you are quite literally dealing with people when they are withdrawing from their addiction,” Brooke said. “Not only a caffeine addiction, but a sugar addiction and a habit addiction as well. Not only that, you're seeing people at the worst possible time in the day when they are waking up and going to work and already upset that they have to go to work.”

Brooke said while she was managing a coffee shop in Oregon, one especially irritable customer called her a foul word in front of his nine-year-old son. She said she asked him not to scream and curse at her employees.

“One day, I was coming by the shop after doing a product run, and I noticed one of my employees was visibly upset,” Brooke said. “She says that one of our morning regulars just screamed at her … Apparently, this guy had been trying to scan his app … and my company had recently switched rewards program, so there were a lot of issues from the customer's end. Something everyone was aware of, not something anyone could fix.”

Brooke said her employee, who was a trainee, had tried to help the customer, but nothing worked. The customer “was pissed about it.”

What did the customer say to Brooke's employee?

Brooke checked the camera at her shop and listened to the audio of the encounter.

“This man was just cursing out this girl, straight up, absolutely berating her in the middle of a drive through line—mind you, while there are other people and other customers outside,” Brooke said. “How disrespectful. And the entire time on the video, she's so nice … and he continues to scream at her on camera.”

How did Brooke handle the situation?

Armed with over two minutes' worth of video evidence of the customer's behavior, Brooke confronted him the next morning. She had his signature drink, “a large iced, eight-times-extra-sweet white mocha with four extra shots,” already prepared.

“He pulls up to the window and I go, ‘Hey, So-And-So, just want to chat with you about something,'” Brooke said. “Right off the rip, he's like, ‘Oh, is it about your [expletive] employee from yesterday?' Wrong person to say that to.”

Brooke realized that the customer was “clearly gonna scream at [her] and this trainee” if she didn't ask for his side of the story. The customer claimed the employee refused to scan his rewards app. Brooke said he repeatedly called her derogatory names and mentioned “how much money [he spends]” at the shop.

“And I cut him off and I say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's slow down,'” Brooke said. “‘If you continue to scream at me, I will be closing the window. And if you choose not to leave after I close the window, I will be escalating to the police.'”

How did the situation end?

Brooke told the man she understood his frustration, and that if he had been “kind and respectful,” he likely would have received a free drink voucher for his troubles. Instead, due to him berating Brooke and her trainee repeatedly, the man was now going to be banned from the premises. Upon hearing this, Brooke said the man called her multiple expletives.

“And this poor nine year old boy is sitting in the front seat, obviously embarrassed and confused,” Brooke said. “I said, you have a lovely day. You're not welcome back on the property. If you are back on the property, I will have police escort you off.”

Are customers legally allowed to yell at employees?

Most people have heard the age-old adage “the customer is always right.” But in her video, Brooke made it clear that she had no problems laying down some boundaries and promising to get law enforcement involved, should the customer return. But is what he did actually illegal?

There is no specific legislation classifying yelling or cursing at workers as criminal activity. However, depending on U.S. laws, such behavior could be classified as verbal abuse or disorderly conduct. Another legal angle of customers yelling at workers comes in the form of workplace harassment.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) protects American employees from discrimination. Since “harassment is a form of employment discrimination,” the EEOC also upholds laws that protect workers from being harassed by anyone, customers included.

Buzz News reached out to Brooke via email.