Starbucks’ recent 50%-off promotion might have been a hit with customers, but judging by several TikTok videos, employees were out there fighting for their lives.
The coffee company’s Summer WinsDays promotion launched in July, giving Starbucks Rewards members 50% off a cold drink after noon on Wednesdays. The promotion lasted until Aug. 9, according to Spoon University.
Before the madness ended, Los Angeles-based TikTok creator and Starbucks worker Anthony (@goofyychiwah) posted a viral video about the stress. It has more than 35,000 views and 6,500 likes.
@goofyychiwah I wanna go home man #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #makemefamous #comedy #funny #viral #goodychiwah #antwanthebarista #sbux #starbucks #barista #coffee #customers #starbucksbarista #relatable #disney #disneyland #actor #losangeles ♬ original sound – Anthony
In the video, Anthony—who regularly posts “day in the life”-style content from the coffee shop—stands in a back storeroom and wears a Starbucks apron and visor. He picks up various items and mills about nervously, trying to look busy.
“When [you’re] hiding in the back from all the 50% orders,” the text overlay reads.
Anthony captioned the post, “I wanna go home man.”
In the comment section, fellow Starbucks workers blew off some steam (and we’re not talking about lattes).
One person commented, “i made 55 caramel crunches in one hour.” A commenter replied, “nah it was the trenta refreshers that had me beat,” and someone else wrote in response, “this and brown sugar shaken espressos.”
“I finally had a breakdown mid frappes,” one person commented.
A viewer chimed in, “the amount of strawberry acai pitchers prepped are monstrous.”
One commenter wrote, “literally this past Wednesday my shift ended at 12 and I never been happier cuz I was on bar every Wednesday for that deal.” Another commented, “we hit 90 something customers in half an hour.”
A comment read, “cried twice today at work.”
“Dude the 50% off discount is going to be the death of me,” someone summed it up.
Creator and Starbucks worker Taivan Reese (@xtra.kajun) posted a similar video earlier this month. Last year, Starbucks ran a similar promo on Tuesdays, and creator Aaron Wolf (@awolfsquared) went viral venting about it on TikTok.
The Daily Dot reached out to Anthony via Instagram direct message and Starbucks via email.
