Angry customer assaults Starbucks employees

A white female in her 50s assaulted employees at the downtown Birmingham Starbucks after being asked to follow the rules that apply to all customers.

Birmingham police spoke with the victim, a 26-year-old employee of Starbucks, 101 N. Old Woodward, who said she gave the woman a hot cup of coffee at the hand-off location where they give all customers their drinks. She then asked the woman to take her coffee to the condiment bar where cream and sugar are provided, at which time the woman became angry.

The victim told police she attempted to move the woman’s coffee to the condiment bar for her, which prompted the customer to scream obscenities. The woman then took the coffee cup and thrust it toward the employee’s hand, spilling coffee on the counter in an apparent attempt to burn her hand. The woman then threw the cup and remaining coffee over the plexiglass barrier to where the employees were making drinks. The cup then hit the ground, splashing the contents onto the leg of another employee.

The manager, hearing the commotion, then presented the woman with a fresh cup of coffee and asked her to leave the store.

No injuries were reported.