A Starbucks customer from South West London was left stunned after a barista scrawled the word “Hippo” across her coffee cup. 25-year-old Nadia Khan claims that she initially didn’t think much of the incident, but soon revised her opinion thanks to a conversation with her mother, who was understandably furious about what had taken place. 

In an interview with The Mirror, Nadia revealed that the issue arose after she ordered a cookies and cream frappuccino at her local outlet. As she explained, "When I got my drink, I noticed 'Hippo' but I dismissed it as really bad writing." It was not until she showed her cup to her mother that the gravity of the situation began to dawn on her. 

According to Nadia, her mum Andria "went absolutely ballistic," before confronting the offending staff member directly. As Nadia put it, "Mum told him he should treat customers with respect, no matter how skinny, fat or whatever." This in turn led Nadia to lodge her own complaint regarding the employee’s "grotesquely unprofessional" behaviour. 

In response to the criticism over the incident, Starbucks have insisted that they are taking measures to make sure that no one has to go through a similar experience. A spokesperson told the Mirror that:

"We have a longstanding tradition of connecting with our customers by writing their names on our cups. This incident is not indicative of the welcoming environment we aim to provide in our stores, and have apologised to the customer directly. We are working closely with the store team to ensure it doesn’t happen again."

The incident in Feltham isn’t the first time that the coffee franchise have been embroiled in controversy over what is written on their cups. Per CNN, last year, an outlet in California was forced to make a public apology after a barista referred to a Latino customer as a “beaner” - a derogatory term for someone of Mexican descent. 

A Starbucks customer from South West London was left stunned after a barista scrawled the word “Hippo” across her coffee cup. 25-year-old Nadia Khan claims that she initially didn’t think much of the incident, but soon revised her opinion thanks to a conversation with her mother, who was understandably furious about what had taken place. 

In an interview with The Mirror, Nadia revealed that the issue arose after she ordered a cookies and cream frappuccino at her local outlet. As she explained, "When I got my drink, I noticed 'Hippo' but I dismissed it as really bad writing." It was not until she showed her cup to her mother that the gravity of the situation began to dawn on her. 

According to Nadia, her mum Andria "went absolutely ballistic," before confronting the offending staff member directly. As Nadia put it, "Mum told him he should treat customers with respect, no matter how skinny, fat or whatever." This in turn led Nadia to lodge her own complaint regarding the employee’s "grotesquely unprofessional" behaviour. 

In response to the criticism over the incident, Starbucks have insisted that they are taking measures to make sure that no one has to go through a similar experience. A spokesperson told the Mirror that:

"We have a longstanding tradition of connecting with our customers by writing their names on our cups. This incident is not indicative of the welcoming environment we aim to provide in our stores, and have apologised to the customer directly. We are working closely with the store team to ensure it doesn’t happen again."

The incident in Feltham isn’t the first time that the coffee franchise have been embroiled in controversy over what is written on their cups. Per CNN, last year, an outlet in California was forced to make a public apology after a barista referred to a Latino customer as a “beaner” - a derogatory term for someone of Mexican descent.