Starbucks Barista Fired For Posting Satirical Song

Starbucks fired a barista last week after his satirical song aimed at his employer went viral. In it, the ex-barista, wearing nothing but a Starbucks smock, croons an acoustic guitar ballad about how baristas trick customers when they’re short on supplies, how rude customers stink, and the drink purchasing habits of different races.

For instance, in the video which contains several NSFW curse words, Chris Christwell sings that if you order a grande dip and the coffee’s out, baristas may just pour it from the decaf spout. “And I just came up short/on your vanilla bean,” he sings, “I’ll just inject it with some whip/because it can’t be seen.”

Chris says he knew the risk he was taking by making the song but he just wanted to let of some steam after a hard day at work.

The video racked up over 780,000 views on YouTube, and it caught the eye of corporate. When they came to his store, Chris says his manager vouched strongly for his work performance, but the axe had to come down anyway.

“The disparaging remakrs about our customers and company are unacceptable” a Starbucks spokesman told CNN.

But with the song for sale on iTunes, a tshirt shop, and coverage on a big news network, Chris can’t be overly bummed about getting canned. Though he really did loving working at Starbucks and especially loved his fellow baristas.

“Now Starbucks can release his album and sell it at their stores,” a commenter at the Starbucks Gossip blog quipped.

While I support the rights of employees to make their opinions about their employers, I wouldn’t like anyone ripping me off on my coffee just because they’re short on time. If I go to Starbucks, I usually only ever order regular or iced black coffee and add the fixings myself.

Here’s the original video, the one he made after he got fired, and his story on CNN:

(Thanks to janemoth!)

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