Seattle barista fired over snarky anonymous blog
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SEATTLE -- An anonymous blog containing snarky comments has cost a Seattle barista his job, even though he claims the comments were intended as satire.
The Bitter Barista blog has gained thousands of readers since it recently launched.
"It just all happened so fast, and here we are!" said Matt Watson, the man behind the blog.
Watson has been posting snarky comments on the anonymous blog, including:
"You don't tip, and suddenly the Wi-Fi goes. What a coincidence."
"I would remember your usual drink if you were a more memorable person."
Watson said he would have preferred to remain anonymous as the writer of the blog, but Sprudge.com, a blog highlighting "coffee news and frothy gossip", outed him.
The news didn't sit so well with his boss at All City Coffee in Georgetown even though Watson's rants never identified the business, and never named the customers he mocked. As a result, despite the blog's popularity, Watson was fired.
"It's a shame you can't have a job you like and complain about it," said Watson.
Watson said he plans to continue writing his blog, and said he won't look for another barista job right away.
Instead, he plans to focus on rap, his real love.
"I have a record out in four weeks, and I planned to take some time off to promote it," he said. "So this works out really well."
He hopes his new-found notoriety helps fuel his hip-hop career.
The Bitter Barista blog has gained thousands of readers since it recently launched.
"It just all happened so fast, and here we are!" said Matt Watson, the man behind the blog.
Watson has been posting snarky comments on the anonymous blog, including:
"You don't tip, and suddenly the Wi-Fi goes. What a coincidence."
"I would remember your usual drink if you were a more memorable person."
Watson said he would have preferred to remain anonymous as the writer of the blog, but Sprudge.com, a blog highlighting "coffee news and frothy gossip", outed him.
The news didn't sit so well with his boss at All City Coffee in Georgetown even though Watson's rants never identified the business, and never named the customers he mocked. As a result, despite the blog's popularity, Watson was fired.
"It's a shame you can't have a job you like and complain about it," said Watson.
Watson said he plans to continue writing his blog, and said he won't look for another barista job right away.
Instead, he plans to focus on rap, his real love.
"I have a record out in four weeks, and I planned to take some time off to promote it," he said. "So this works out really well."
He hopes his new-found notoriety helps fuel his hip-hop career.
You know, I really understand the concept of not biting the hand that feeds you, but I also understand the concept of the First Amendment. In his defense, he neither IDâd himself, his employer OR any customers. And there doesnât appear to have been an attempt on his part to have done so. So just whatâs the rub?
Sniff sniff... what is that smell? Smells like something is burning. Oh that's right... MC Barista got fired. Somebody say ho! Say ho ho! Say ho ho ho! Now screeeaaam!
We all take ourselves soooo seriously!
I have had various public jobs but never a barista. I can only imagine the uppity d-bag, poser/hipster, Microsoftee, (the typical annoying Seattle-lite) taking up time at the front of the line while texting on their cell phone (still not knowing what they want after 7 minutes in line). And they still find something to complain about. You can argue all you want about the customer being always right but don't forget, just because you are a customer...You are not always right..Customers can be ass*oles also.Â
 @rightandexact bitter much?
 @benevolent misanthrope No, I have been around/seen customers like this (and have family and friends whom act like this) and they are just plain rude to people in the service industry. I remember one time going through a drive through at a fast food restaurant with some girlfriends, then one of them started being really rude to the order taker. She started to ask the person how much do you make an hour  and then her and her fellow cronies started mocking the poor order taker. While the order was being taken, they kept saying really stupid and snarky comments to the worker, while the other would order. Mind me...The people being rude made fairly good amounts of money. Needless to say, I decided not to order anything off the menu. So yeah, once again the customer is not always right and shouldn't be a jerk "just because". Do you treat people in the service industry like garbage? Because you can? Oh wait, the customer is always right...I forgotÂ
Why is it that we allow employers to take away constitutional rights that the government can't take away? First they were allowed to urine test us all for drugs with no warrant, now they're allowed to tell us what we can and can't say. So there go the first and fourth amendments. Next they'll tell employees how to vote.
 @Bellevue Scott Scott so if you owned this coffee shop would you be fine with your employees saying whatever they please after all as you say you don't want to take away one constitutional rights.Â
 @Bellevue Scott Because you are representing a company. Just as its your right to say what you want, it's their right to fire you.
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The constitution isn't just about YOUR rights. Its about company owners as well.
I had not seen his stuff but I thought it was funny. If I was into paying $5.00 for a cup of coffee I would seek the kid out. It does show one of the results of public school though. These kids now are just not able to think. They put all kinds of "stuff" on the net that will often come back to haunt them for years to come. We are raising a generation of idiots.
 @Alex Clayton I don't think we are raising a generation of idiots I just think the idiots are making themselves more easily known.  I for one appreciate it. if I need to hire someone I look them up on Facebook and they usually provide the exact reference I'm looking for, of themselves.
 @APenny4MyThoughts
Itâs a little hard for me to believe that. I grew up long before the net and social media. We had our share of âidiotsâ but nothing like this. People did not put notes on some bulletin board in public telling everyone about some crime they committed. Â When the instant cameras came out I did not see girls taking nude shots of themselves to run around town and post for all to see. Now kids do this and of course itâs soon disaster. They all stand there with their mouth open in shock. We have raised an entire generation of morons. Â
@Alex Clayton @APenny4MyThoughts Perhaps your last line says it best... Â
I have raised my kids to be decent, productive, contributing members of society. Â They have leadership skills, are well-regarded by their employers and tend to be promoted more often than their peers because they work hard and have a good work ethic along with good people skills. Â Which, coincidentally; they learned by working in the family restaurant when they were teenagers. Â Ironic?
One of my favorites from him.
 "I am not going to say your kid isn't smart.  But you brought in a whole bag of cherrios and the retard only managed to get 2 of them into his mouth."  Â
 @somegoofyguy:Â
Why? Isa it somehow "funny" to call someone a retard? Why is that acceptable as humor?
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And it's interesting that you actually CHANGED that one - the original entry on the blog called the child a "little idiot". Why would you change it to "retard"?
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 @LocalLady  @somegoofyguy: Because most of us can recognize the difference between SATIRE and poking fun, and an ACTUAL mentally challenged person.
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Someone that is legitimately retarded - NOT ok to tease about it. Its not their fault.
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Someone that does something stupid that would make you think they had diminished mental capacity, but you know otherwise - completely ok to tease.
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Grow up and quit being so sensitive.
 @Avalonis  @LocalLady  @somegoofyguy: wow
I agree people need to be less sensitive & PC wholeheartedly. But satire and "poking fun" should either be done in fun (i.e. the other person is in on the joke) or, if done in anger, should be directed at those deserving.
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From what it seems, Watson felt everyone was fair game. My assumption (big risk, I know) was he felt that way because he hated his job and resented having to talk to/serve the people who came in there.
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It was his choice to work there. He chose the service job knowing he would have to, you know, serve people.
 @LocalLady  @somegoofyguy: Now that LocalLady deleted her post, mine looks irrelevant and retarded.
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;)
I think it's pretty stupid that people have to pretend to care deeply about their jobs, especially if it's some crappy minimum wage job that requires you to interact with the moronic public. I mean, really, as long as the work is getting done, why do people have to put a fake happy and enthusiastic face on it?
 @sensitiveplant If you don't like working interacting with the "moronic public" then perhaps barista is not your best choice. I've worked in service, from deli to research library, and I really liked working with the "moronic public". Sure, there were some jerks and now I have some good stories, but they were the exception. Of course, maybe that's b/c I treated all customers with respect.
 @strangel00p Exactly!
 @sensitiveplant - so do you want people treating you like 'moronic public' or as a person paying your wages?  DOH!
 @sensitiveplant There has to be a middle ground between "pretending to care deeply" and calling a parent's kid (likely a baby) a retard for dropping more cheerios than they get in their mouth.
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It's OK not to like people, which he seems not to, but don't go get a service job if you don't. He might be funny but he also seems like a passive-aggressive jerk with entitlement issues to me.
 @benevolent misanthrope  @sensitiveplant No, he's simply stating anonymously what 90% of service industry people think on a daily basis.
 @Avalonis I spent many years in the service industry and have many friends still in the industry. I know there are jerks out there and I/we made fun of plenty of them. The point was, we chose to unload our spite on those who deserved it.
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He seems to me to be like the hipster record store employee who feels everyone is beneath him (e.g. Jack Black in High Fidelity) and passes time at his crappy day job by making fun of everyone he sees. The fact that he chooses hurtful comments and actions (calling kids retards, switching coffee orders, etc.) takes it over the line.
What a buffoon.
telling the public your releasing a rap song is not too wise, your probably going to get a bad rap fron the publicÂ
 @norlan It worked for me. I'm far more likely to even take a listen to the guy's album. I would have never heard of him otherwise.
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He called the cops on himself. While he was waiting for them to arrive he called the newspapers and TV people. Then he said, "The record is about to drop... buy it suckas."
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Personally I would rather beat myself over the head with a hammer than listen to his nonsense. Mess with my drink in a dream you better wake up and apologize. I am liable to go OG on your punk azz.
 @SeattleInternetTrollsNBATeam Uh, what? Pills. Take yours
 @Avalonis  @SeattleInternetTrollsNBATeam Obviously you are not sophisticated enough to grasp the satire. What kind of pills are we taking anyway?
besides being a petty, nasty dude - total ripoff of the name. "bitterwaitress.com" was around 10 plus years ago. (one of the best service industry websites ever, actually....).
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guy wasn't lowkey and also seemed to purposely mess with peoples' orders. not ok...
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@Rockberry not sure what video you are referring to, but I saw some of his posts that include ignoring/ridiculing someones' gluten free diet and gleefully claiming to be giving reg coffee rather than decaf, etc.
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mainly the guys' lack of imagination in ripping off the name bugs me most.
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you seem like an idiot, btw......
 @Avalonis The business owner does not have the luxury of making that assumption. They have to assume he did what he said and act accordingly to maintain trust with their customers.
 @SwampThing  @Rockberry I strongly suspect that he didn't actually DO the things he was claiming, or he would have been fired long ago. He was merely expressing what he wanted to do.
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At least, that would be my assumption. Could be wrong.
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@RockberryTo that I would say don't be so insensitive to what is not only an issue that is VERY sensitive issue in our society, but also something that has NOTHING to do with the story.
Don't be so sensitive. If he can dish it out then surely he can take it.
I find his blog hilarious!  I would imagine most of what he posts has been indulged for giggles -- I was laughing until I cried reading the posts!  I occasionally order an extra hot no-foam latte and feel like a tool doing it -- the fact that he points that out is FUNNY!!!  One of my favs:   Sir, you seem to have a little piece of do#cheb@g on the side of your faceâ¦Wait, no, thatâs just a bluetooth.  ROTFLMAO!!!Â
 @NWNative I like No'81 "Don't let this espresso machine fool you...I have no interest in talking about coffee,your trip to Ethiopia, or roasting techniques." lol
I have gall bladder disease. If he had served me whole milk in my drink instead of skim, I could have become severely ill and ended up in the hospital. Its one thing to complain about customers, but its another to sabotage their purchases, which they PAID for, just to be a jerk off. This guy deserved to be fired.
 @kelliellid Same goes for giving people regular when they ask for decaf - can be a health risk.
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@bagsofdirt ? You know this how? The blog is SATIRE. You can't treat it as a factual record. What is the source of your claim?
 @NBA_Is_Useless If he's doing it anonymously, as he claimed, why would he have a reason to lie? The level of disrespect he seems to have for the general population seems to indicated he wouldn't care. There's nothing wrong with not liking people - just don't go into a service job if you don't. Just another hooked on entitlement kid.
 @bagsofdirtÂ
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Was he actually caught doing that doing that or was it simply posted on the website?
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Lots of people say lots of things over the internet.
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@burton.....it was on the net...he wrote it himself....
 @burton Good question, let's hope it did not really happen and was just something he wrote.  (I've never seen the blog).  Scary thought.
@K. Coleman @burton I sure hope he didn't pull stunts like that. I have a near fatal allergy to some sugar substitutes, so pulling that crap on me could have results I'm sure he would never anticipate. (For that reason I never order things with sugar in restaurants!) It's never okay to screw with people's food just because you think you're funny.
 @burton  @bagsofdirt If it's on the internet, it can't be a lie... :) Bon Jour
 @chandler Not the same. Although sometimes it's hard to keep my stories straight. As for...
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Princess Okimba? Yes, her parents had met an untimely end in a horrible shopping accident at Hermes in Paris when a handbag fell off the upper shelf of the accessories department. Anyway, she had some problems with the necessary immigration paperwork at the Consulate and needed me to send her some cash and that in exchange, I would be awarded 5% of her inheritance that is being contested "in toto" by the Uncle Mokimgo. I verified her story with the  "Lagos Daily Bugle" a newspaper that I was referred to by her . I'm no sucker.
 @Getov Mylon Does Mrs. Mylon know about the Nigerian Princess or are they one and the same?
 @edbo1  @burton  @bagsofdirt I have never lied on the internet. Although internet wife, "Mrs. Mylon" is likely wondering why a Microsoft millionaire has to put on a uniform everyday and go to work for the County.
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" Honey, I can't cash out those options until I retire. Everybody knows that."
 @bagsofdirt Really?  Damn, some people with heart problems could have had an attack if they were given full strength coffee. When someone asks for decaf is could be for medical reasons.  Wonder if he ever thought about that?