A viral TikTok video shows a woman rescued by a male harasser Starbucks Cafe employees have viewed more than 1.6 million views on TikTok.
She said that the video was posted by a user named @greenybeany420 and the incident occurred at a Starbucks in Orem, Utah. At the beginning of the video is the voice of a man. When she drinks nervously and looks away, a woman cannot hear him. The text on the screen reads “*Men will not leave me alone*”.
“It’s just advertising,” the woman replied uncomfortably. Then, a female barista came up and filled her with drinks and said, “This is for you.”
“Thank you very much,” the woman replied.
The barista stood beside the woman and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” the woman sighed. “Actually I’m going out.” The text on the screen was “*Me: Anxious af*”. AF is short for “as f*ck”, a slang term that expresses extreme emotions.
The barista replied: “Okay.” Then, she pointed at the man and asked in a low voice, “Is it because of him?”
“Yes,” the woman replied. “It’s ok.”
The barista then said: “Okay. I’m sorry. If you have any other questions, please let me know. Would you like me to add water to your water bottle?” The text on the screen is “(With me)”.
The woman replied: “I think I’m fine, I’m done.”
In the second part of the video, the lady sits in her car and speaks directly to the camera. She spoke quickly and admitted that she was still anxious about the encounter.
She said that when the man was sitting next to her, she was working alone. She mentioned her husband six times and told him that she was doing “something very time sensitive” and she did not have time to chat, which made her “very obvious I don’t want to talk.”
The barista apparently came here once before @greenybeany420 started recording. The employee leaned over and whispered to the woman: “We have been arguing with this man. If he makes you uncomfortable, please let us know.”
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However, when the man continued to speak, the woman began to record.
“How many times have I felt harassed in a cafe, and you are just a person, you don’t know what to do, you don’t know what to say, but you also have a job, too… it’s so amazing that she is there. People are relieved,” the woman said in her car.
After the woman packed her things and was about to leave, she found that all the cafe employees were talking behind the counter, discussing how to deal with men. Then they told her, “You can stay. We are actually going to fire him because this is not the first time he has harassed customers.” The employee added that the man also harassed the barista.
The woman told the workers: “I want to go out. I’m really anxious. I feel very panicked. I would rather be in the car safely alone with a panic attack than in a public place in a coffee shop.” She also told the employees Say “thank you very much” because they are a good example of how to deal with customers.
“They are too careful,” the woman said. “They are there and helping. I am grateful for that.”
The woman then pointed out that no other bad things had happened, thus ending the video. The man was taken away, and the police arrived at the Starbucks location at the end of her video.
Some TikTok commentators criticized the lady for not standing up for herself. Others mentioned that when women accuse them of bad behavior, some men become physically violent or threaten in other ways.
In the follow-up video, the woman explained that she did not simply “scold him or say “leave”” because she had “terrible anxiety”.
“My heart beats so fast, I’m so flustered, and my face is so red that if,” she whispered. “If you have the courage to do this, then damn it.”
She also stated that she intends to give a good evaluation of the cafe staff. Other TikTok reviewers encourage people to buy employee lunches or give them large tips. Some female commentators shared stories of them being harassed by men in public, usually no one intervened to help them.
A 2000 national survey by Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates found that 87% of American women between the ages of 18 and 64 have been harassed by male strangers. More than half of people have experienced “extreme” harassment, including touching, physical intimidation, or being stalked by strangers on the street.
A 2014 survey by GfK found that 65% of women have experienced street harassment, which is defined as people talking to them, stalking or physically intimidating them outdoors. In a 2011 Gallup poll, 45% of women said that it is not safe for them to walk alone at night.
Weekly newspaper Contact Starbucks for comments.
