A Texas mom recently shared the story of how a Starbucks worker in their area offered help to her teenage daughter when a strange man suddenly approached her.
One night, the 18-year-old sat alone at a Starbucks in Corpus Christi to study when a man began talking to her. Immediately, the staff made a move to make sure she didn’t feel threatened—they discreetly passed her a handwritten note.
“Are you okay? Do you want us to intervene? If you do, take the lid off the cup,” read the note, written in marker on the side of the Starbucks cup.
Brandy Roberson, the teen’s mother, shared a photo of the cup with the story in a Facebook post, which has since been deleted.
The mom told Fox News Digital that she appreciates the Starbucks employees’ concern over the situation and what they did to ensure her daughter felt protected.
“I absolutely feel safer knowing that people are watching out for others, especially teenage girls,” Roberson said. “I do not feel this was sexist in any way. I truly believe that they would have done it for anyone who was in a vulnerable situation, regardless of gender.”
Her Facebook post had gone viral, racking up over 90K reactions. She declined to reveal her daughter’s name after learning that her post had received much attention. She has also made her account private.
Starbucks representatives confirmed to the news outlet that employees at their Corpus Christi location stepped in to help the teen, but the chain declined to comment on the incident further.
Roberson said that her daughter just wanted to get out of the house and sit and study somewhere. She especially likes studying at coffee shops.
She was unable to recall exactly what the man had said to the teen that drew up concern. However, she said her daughter described the man that approached her as “loud.” The man also lingered for a while.
“She was sitting at her table alone studying and this man came by and noticed what she was studying and wanted to talk to her about it,” Roberson told WKYC. “He, I think, just kind of became really loud and animated about it.”
Noticing that a strange man had approached the teen, an employee served her “an extra hot chocolate someone forgot to pick up” with the secret note instructing her how she could discreetly notify the staff should she feel threatened.
Her daughter didn’t feel like she was in danger and didn’t remove the lid, signaling to the baristas that she was okay. However, she was highly appreciative of the gesture and later thanked the Starbucks worker for ensuring she was safe. The man eventually left her alone.
The teen said the whole team at the coffee shop continued to watch her for the rest of the time that she was there. And when she got home, she told her mom what had happened.
“She was holding the cup and knew that I would love that someone did that for her. It made me feel so grateful that the Starbucks employees were watching out for her. As a mom, that is my worst fear that something would happen to my child and nobody would be there to help,” Roberson told Today.
Roberson didn’t think her story would go viral as she only wanted to express her gratitude to the employees. However, she hopes the incident will shed a positive light on local workers.
“I am incredibly grateful to the staff there,” she said. “I hope that we can all learn from them and be willing to help anyone who seems that they might need help.”
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