Barista gets big tip after customer Facebook complaint

Kelly Tyko
USA TODAYPublished 9:29 PM EDT Jun 28, 2020A GoFundMe campaign for a San Diego Starbucks barista has raised more than $84,600 after a customer’s Facebook post went viral.In a Facebook post Monday, Amber Lynn Gilles posted a photo of a barista named Lenin Gutierrez and says he refused her service for not wearing a mask.”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,” Giles wrote in a Facebook post. Many jumped to Gutierrez’s defense and debated the use of masks. The post has more than 133,000 comments and 109,000 reactions Saturday morning. Costco brings back free samples: Samples are back at some stores but half-sheet cakes are no longer availableCOVID-19 store closings: Microsoft says it is closing its Microsoft Store physical locations after shifting online during the pandemicSan Diego started requiring masks or face coverings May 1 and the state of California added the requirement June 18.“We want everyone to feel welcome in our stores,” a Starbucks spokesperson told USA TODAY. “We respectfully request customers follow social distancing and safety protocols recommended by public health officials, including wearing a facial covering when visiting our stores.”Matt Cowan, of Irvine, California, doesn’t know Gutierrez but started the virtual tip jar Tuesday with a GoFundMe campaign titled “Tips for Lenin Standing Up To A San Diego Karen.” The initial goal was to raise $1,000 and as of Sunday night nearly $85,000 had been raised.Gutierrez posted a Facebook video Wednesday to share his side of what happened and said as an aspiring dancer the GoFundMe will help him pursue his dreams.“Thank you for all the love and support. It’s been so helpful and so shocking to see something get so big that only happened within a few minutes,” he said in the video where he outlined the incident.The incident is similar to one at a Costco store in Arvada, Colorado when a shopper took a video of a Costco employee with a badge name “Tison” asking him to leave the store for not wearing a mask. Comments in that case overwhelming supported the employee over the shopper.A woman shopping without a mask at a California Trader Joe’s caused a scene Friday, calling employees “Democratic pigs” and screaming profanities. A video of the incident went viral Saturday.The Centers for Disease Control has recommended “wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.”Contributing: Josh RiveraFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko

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