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Starbucks employee's meltdown goes viral

Mary Bowerman
USA TODAY Network
A New York City Starbucks

A New York City Starbucks employee no longer works for the company after a cell phone video of her screaming at a customer went viral.

Ruby Chen told WNBC-TV that she was trying to pay for a Frappuccino in the Starbucks on Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens, when an employee began shouting at her on May 12. She says the employee accused her of trying to steal a cookie straw and refused to let her purchase the drink she ordered.

She "told me to leave and never go back to the store," Chen told WNBC.

Another customer took a video of the incident and posted it on Facebook with the caption "too much attitude at Starbuck(s)."

In the video, Chen repeatedly asks for the manager while the employee screams at her.

"You're talking to the manager," she says to Chen. "Get out. You're not going to be served here. Period. Bye."

Starbucks said they immediately suspended the barista, local station WPIX-TV reported. In a statement released on May 16 to WPIX, the coffee giant said, "The customer's experience is not reflective of the service our baristas provide. The employee was immediately suspended and no longer works for Starbucks. ... This experience is not what we want our customers to have in our stores. We worked to quickly resolve this."

"Our leadership team has reached out to the customer to make things right," Maggie Jantzen, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, said in the statement to WPIX.

Chen said that Starbucks offered her a $100 gift card, according to WNBC.

Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.

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