"Bikini Barista" Seattle Coffee Drive Thru Fight Video

Submission 6,542

Part of a series on Public Freakout Videos. [View Related Entries]

About

"Bikini Barista" Seattle Coffee Drive Thru Fight Video refers to a viral video in which a customer and a "bikini barista" get into an altercation at the drive-thru window of A Taste of Heaven Espresso in Seattle, Washington in June 2024. In the clip, the customer was angry about the price of his order and tossed iced coffee at the barista, to which she retaliated by slamming a hammer into his windshield and breaking it. Online, the barista, whose name is Emma Lee, was celebrated by many for retaliating against an unruly customer, though she may face legal problems.

Origin

On June 14th, 2024, Fox13 Seattle posted a story^[1] about an altercation that took place at a Seattle coffee establishment called A Taste Of Heaven Espresso in which a customer, angry with the price of his beverages, tossed the beverages at the barista and owner, Emma Lee, working the drive-thru window. Fox13 also posted security footage of the altercation to YouTube that day,^[2] gaining over 316,000 views in three days (shown below).

According to Fox13's story, the altercation came after a 15-minute argument over the price of the customer's drinks: $22 for a 32 oz. coffee and a 24 oz. water. Lee stated that the customer grew violent during that time, saying he was "screaming, spitting, and trying to pry open the window."

After the customer threw the beverages at Lee, she retaliated by bashing his windshield with a hammer. She filed charges against the customer for misdemeanor assault, and Fox13 reports she could be taken to small claims court for the price of his windshield.

Spread

On June 15th, 2024, Twitter / X user @CollinRugg^[3] posted about the video, gaining over 7,300 retweets and 66,000 likes in two days, helping the video go viral on that platform.

On social media, many voiced support for the barista's retaliatory strike. For example, on June 15th, Twitter user @commie_trucker^[4] joked, "Normalize service workers hitting customers with hammers," gaining over 4,000 retweets and 70,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). On June 16th, user @sadbokkie^[5] tweeted a similar take, writing, "more women should start responding to vile men’s bullshit w hammers," gaining over 14,000 retweets and 156,000 likes in one day shown below, right).