Starbucks barista said to substitute ‘Moshe’ for epithet

Coffee chain investigating after Orthodox man’s order arrives with ‘bullshit!’ scribbled on cup

By JTA 22 January 2016, 5:20 am

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Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 20,891 stores in 62 countries. (Starbucks Image Via Shutterstock)

Starbucks is investigating a claim that a barista scribbled an epithet instead of “Moshe,” the client’s name, on a paper cup.

“So I am at Starbucks with my Jewish Orthodox husband,” Gitty Halpert Pearl wrote Wednesday on her Facebook page, describing an experience at a Montreal-area outlet.

“He looks visibly Jewish, beard, sidelocks, kippa,” she wrote. “He ordered coffees for both of us. The Barista asked for his name, he replied ‘Moshe.’ This is what was written on our cups.”

The attached photo features a cup marked with “Bullshit!”

Pearl tagged Starbucks in her post, and a representative of the coffee chain’s customer service replied, “We’re concerned to see this and would like to be able to get it to the right people ASAP.”