The employees closest to the customer have to deal with the most crap.
Starbucks baristas have to handle a particularly large amount of craziness in their always-busy stores. And with 20,000 locations around the world, there are bound to be some bizarre stories.
We've collected a bunch of them, ranging from the simply irritating to the totally bonkers.
Had a strange encounter at a Starbucks? Shoot an email to kbhasin@businessinsider.com.
A college professor took Starbucks lingo hatred to a whole new level
College English professor and Columbia Ph.D Lynne Rosenthal refused to use Starbucks terms to order her bagel. When she was asked, "butter or cheese?" she said she just wanted a multigrain bagel, and refused say "without butter or cheese," according to the New York Post.
Why? She said that "linguistically, it's stupid." Then, she got really mad and started yelling. The barista refused to give her the bagel without her saying "without butter or cheese." Rosenthal refused to give in and just kept arguing.
Eventually, the manager called the police and they escorted her out of the store.
Help a guy out, get second-degree burns
A young Starbucks barista gave a homeless man a cup of hot water for free, but when he went to the condiment bar, she told him he couldn't use it because he wasn't a paying customer.
So, the man flung the hot water in her face. She was taken to the hospital and treated for second-degree burns to her face and chest, according to UT San Diego.
Other customers just help themselves — permission or not
A Starbucks Gossip commenter shared this story:
"There's a crazy lady at my local Starbucks who comes in and just takes the milk and drinks it all straight from the thermos.
"I don't add milk to my coffee when I'm there."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider