Starbucks barista praised for leaving secret note on cup to help young customer

Not all heroes wear capes – and apparently, some wear Starbucks uniforms.

While you usually just get your name sprawled across your coffee cup, a barista went above and beyond for a young customer they were concerned about.

The barista in question worked at a Starbucks branch in Corpus Christi, Texas, and in 2022, they wrote a message to a teenage girl who was in the store on her own.

In light of her being on her own, the staff members became worried when a man came into the coffee shop and was acting somewhat strangely.

The girl's mom, Brandy Selim Roberson, took to social media to detail what happened next.

The 'very loud and animated' man started to engage in conversation with the girl, which the Starbucks staffers were concerned about.

With this in mind, a female barista decided to intervene by writing a secret note on a paper cup, which was handed to the teen.

The barista said the cup was ‘an extra hot chocolate someone forgot to pick up’ while she handed over the goods.

The note read: "Are you okay? Do you want us to intervene? If you do, take the lid off the cup."

A picture of the note that was penned on the cup ended up going viral (Twitter/Call to Activism)

Roberson said that her daughter then looked towards the counter where there was a 'row of baristas staring at her — ready to step in'.

Fortunately, the teen told them she didn't help and that she was okay.

Roberson went on to call on other businesses to be just as vigilant as the Starbucks baristas were on that day in February 2022.

Speaking to the New York Post, the mom said: "This reaffirms my faith in humanity."

"Maybe just seeing this story, others [...] if given the opportunity to say something or turn away, they would say something," she added.

People were quick to praise the Starbucks employees (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Elsewhere, people online were quick to applaud the barista's quick thinking.

"In today’s society more people should be proactive like this. You just never know what a situation really is. Kudos to the alert Starbuck’s staff. Never be silent and always ask," one social media user wrote.

A second added: "As a parent, this story shook me to the core, but also gave me hope that there’s still some humanity out there," while a third remarked: "As a father of daughter, I’m glad people are still looking out."

A different person noted how it was 'nice to see people looking out for one another'.