Starbucks serves an average of 70 million customers every day across its 35,000 locations worldwide. Which means that at any given location, hundreds of people are paying for orders, with employees handling potentially handling tons of receipts, depending on whether or not customers ask for them. But one barista is urging customers to not ask for a proof of purchase, claiming the receipt paper gives them “joint pain.”
The Starbucks employee, a TikTok creator named Duncan (@leagueorlegends) is urging store guests to refrain from requesting receipts as they are raising his blood pressure. He went on to say that although his doctor claims his illness is “psychosomatic” he doesn’t trust the medical advice.
@leagueorlegends ♬ use this sound if you are homophobic – .
Duncan writes in a text overlay of the his video: “PLEASE use mobile pay or something PLEASE don’t ask for your receipt. The BPA from the thermal paper is raising my blood pressure and leading to extreme joint pain. My doctor says it’s psychosomatic but she doesn’t know that i know my employer is paying her to misinform me.”
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has reported that thermal receipt paper does indeed contain BPAs, and that individuals who handle this paper with their bare hands on the daily are not only exposed to more BPAs than other folks on average, but that their bodies absorb it as well through this regular contact: “We know that thermal receipt paper exposes people to BPA, particularly those who handle lots of receipts. Studies show that cashiers have higher levels of BPA in their bodies than people in other occupations.”
The Endocrine Society reports states that regular exposure/absorption of BPAs has been linked to increased blood pressure in affected individuals.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Starbucks via email and Duncan via TikTok comment for further information.
One commenter who saw Duncan’s post joked that he is Chuck McGill, the character who plays Saul Goodman’s older brother in the acclaimed AMC series Better Call Saul. In the show, McGill suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, leading him to believe that a litany of everyday objects, down to the electricity in his home, is threatening his health. Duncan responded to the commenter by stating: “Ya but mine is real.”
But there were a number of viewers who saw Duncan’s post who stated that they were still going to ask for their receipt regardless, like one commenter who quipped that they wanted them for Fetch rewards points redemption: “Sorry, no i have fetch points to redeem,” they said.
Another joked: “on second thought i’ll take two receipts”
There were others who quipped they believed the Starbucks’ employees’ fears regarding receipt paper were unfounded and that they were creating problems in their own mind.
“Me when i’m a hypochondriac,” someone else said.
