This Starbucks barista from San Diego received nearly $80,000 in tips after standing his ground to not serve an ignorant, mask-less woman


Covid-19 has taught us a new way of life. It taught us to live with the minimum, made us givers, leading a much more hygienic, considerate and disciplined life. It taught us patience, embedded a sense of community wherein we look out for each other. But the world is still home to some ignoramuses that haven’t learned anything from what’s going on in the world; as a generation, this coronavirus episode will be a hard one to forget and the habits will stay with people for a long time even after its termination. The incident that took place in a Starbucks between Amber Lynn Gilles, who walked into a Starbucks in San Diego without a mask and was declined service, by the barista, Lenin Gutierrez will show you the reality of our world and we are so glad to discover what ensued. 24-year-old Lenin asked Gilles if she has a mask and why isn’t she wearing it; her response was one that cursed up a storm by his admission even before he was even able to show her company guidelines requiring customers to wear one. Amber Lynn Gilles, didn’t end it at the coffee shop instead she went ahead to take a photo of him and post it on her Facebook writing, “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,” God knows what she was expecting, the woman ended up getting a lot of backlashes and umpteen support for the barista in question. People came up in huge numbers to support the man who stood his ground to do the right thing against an ignorant fool who couldn’t learn a basic precaution during a pandemic. If a pandemic couldn’t set her straight Lenin, feel good you at least tried!


Talking about Lenin, the idiom ‘good begets good’ has come true in his case as he has received nearly $80,000 in virtual tips after the Facebook post that criticized him went viral. Matt Cowan was also deeply moved which led him to start a GoFundMe, which he named “Tips for Lenin Standing Up To A San Diego Karen,” to give everyone who wanted to tip Gutierrez a chance to do so virtually. The result- a whopping $80,000 as opposed to the campaign’s initial goal that was $1,000! Gutierrez said, “I thought it was heartwarming to see Matt created a GoFundMe for me, even though we didn’t know each other. I felt baffled and honored to receive so much support and love when it was at $1,000. The fact that now it went over $65,000, I don’t know how to truly vocalize how grateful and blessed I feel with this opportunity everyone has given me.” It’s really not much to ask people to wear a mask, hope others who emulate the disappointing behavior of Amber Lynn Gilles learn from this and be considerate enough to do the small but significant deed of wearing a mask.

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[Via: CNN]

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With over 15 years of experience in luxury journalism, Neha Tandon Sharma is a notable senior writer at Luxurylaunches. Her expertise spans luxury yachts, high-end fashion, and celebrity culture. Beyond writing, her passion for fantasy series is evident. Beginning with articles on women-centric gadgets, she's now a leading voice in luxury, with a fondness for opulent superyachts. To date, her portfolio boasts more than 2 million words, often penned alongside a cappuccino.