Photographed by a client whom he had refused to serve for not wearing a mask, a young waiter received the support of thousands of Americans.
Everything started from a harmless scene. While a young woman was at the beginning of the week in a Starbucks cafe in San Diego, California, the waiter in charge of her order simply refused to serve it. For good reason: she did not wear a mask inside the establishment which is however compulsory.
Rebound, Amber Lynn Gilles then decided to take a picture of the barrista and publish the photo on his Facebook account with the following statement: “Here is Leneen from Starbucks who refused to serve me because I was not wearing a mask. The next times I will call the cops and bring a medical exemption. ” A publication which undoubtedly aimed to attack the young man but which had a completely different effect.
A kitty to pay him “tips”
The photo, massively shared, provoked many reactions from Internet users. The vast majority of them stood up for the server and laughed at the young woman’s post, evidenced by the ‘laugh’ emoji which is the first used to react to the video.
In response to this lynching attempt, a user launched a kitty aiming to support Lenin (his real first name) and to pay him “tips”. Result: donations have not stopped since the beginning of the week and the prize pool this Saturday is around 63,000 dollars or nearly 56,000 euros.
An initiative that greatly affected the waiter who wanted to tell his version of the facts: “This lady arrived is she was not wearing a mask, so I asked her if she did not have one with her. She asked me then explained that she did not need it. I then redirected her to the health recommendations and in particular that of the compulsory wearing of the mask in the cafe. She then got angry then left before coming back to ask me my name. I then gave her my name and she then took a picture of me and said that she would contact the company before leaving with a laugh. “
“I never threatened him”
Lenin then wanted to thank the contributors to the jackpot and told them that this money would be used to live on his passion which is dance. Faced with criticism, the client then responded to a local TV channel and defended herself against any threats against Lenin.
“I have never threatened him and I have received thousands of death threats. It is frightening,” said Amber Lynn Gilles, who said he was “discriminated against”. The young woman also criticized on Facebook the usefulness of wearing a mask against the coronavirus and does not rule out filing a complaint against the creator of the kitty for defamation.
California, which has nearly 200,000 infections and more than 5,700 coronavirus-related deaths, is facing an upsurge in the epidemic in recent days like many other American states.
