Starbucks Employees Are Being Harassed For Buying All The Bearista Cups Themselves
It's natural for fans to be upset, but calling out the baristas online isn't safe.
Sorbis | Shutterstock Starbucks is far more than just a popular coffee chain. It’s really become its own brand with its own subculture. When they release a special drink or product, fans have to get their hands on it because it’s from Starbucks. The chain’s annual holiday-themed drinks are no different, but this year, they did something special.
A month ago, Starbucks announced that its holiday menu would be dropping today, November 6, with some special additions. The coffee shops are selling multiple holiday-themed cups, mugs, and tumblers to lure customers in and get them to spend even more money. Some of the options are admittedly pretty cute, but none captured fans’ hearts quite like the glass “Bearista” cold cup.
Starbucks customers were excited to get their hands on the Bearista cups, but it seems like employees got in their way.
The glass cup is molded in the shape of a teddy bear holding a Starbucks drink and retails for $29.95. It’s unclear why the Bearista cup is the one product that customers have fixated on, but they were serious about acquiring it. X user @melonic_der shared that she “waited outside all night just to get the Bearista Starbucks cup. It’s that serious.” According to a report from USA Today, she wasn’t the only one to line up outside the store overnight amidst “high demand.”
Unfortunately, for many fans who hoped to score one of the cups, it looks like employees were grabbing the cups for themselves. One TikToker, @chingonamama, alleged that Starbucks employees were purchasing their individual store’s limited supply of Bearista cups and reselling them online. She said she called all the Starbucks near her at 5:00 a.m. and they were all sold out, but “most of them are already online selling for $300.”
She wasn’t the only customer to accuse Starbucks employees of unfairly buying Bearista cups before fans had access to them. Another video from a TikToker named Lauren seemed to jokingly suggest that baristas were prepared to “duel” for the one Bearista cup their store received. @youngshing1 said that he got in line at 2:30 a.m. just for the barista to grab all the cups for her friends.
Customers took out their frustrations on the Starbucks employees themselves.
Someone from Trident Media Group went to the Starbucks in Houston off of Huffmeister. “As soon as the baristas unlock the doors, the baristas snatch them off the shelves and keep them for themselves,” they said.
The owner of Dulce Cookies Co. filmed a Starbucks employee who she claimed was allowed to bypass the line that had formed and grab Bearista cups herself. @disneydiva_4u, who made a video showing off all of the new holiday products at Starbucks, confirmed, “Starbucks employees were purchasing items before the store even opened.”
It’s understandable that these Starbucks fans who waited hours for this cup would be upset, but calling out the baristas online isn’t really the best look.
Some customers may feel so wronged that they feel justified in filming these baristas who supposedly purchased the Bearista cups for themselves. This isn’t safe, though. They aren’t doxxing the employees, but they’re still putting their faces on the internet for all the people who are angry to see.
Ketut Subiyanto | Pexels
There needs to be some kind of happy medium here. @chingonamama implied that she kept the details of the calls she made to local Starbucks locations and could report them if she chose to. That’s one option.
Of course, there’s always the option to boycott the chain. We’ve seen boycotts have success recently when directed against companies like Target. She suggested this as well. “Like, I think we’re all done with Starbucks after this, unless you change your policy,” she said at the end of her video.
There are much safer ways to go about letting Starbucks know how upset you are that employees got first dibs on the Bearista cups than jeopardizing someone’s safety. Seriously, it's just a cup.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
