Starbucks has come under fire after video surfaced of an employee and a security guard attempting to eject a homeless man eating lunch on the store's patio — a lunch purchased by a customer attempting to do a good deed for the man.
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Watch Starbucks Try To Kick Out Homeless Man Eating Meal Bought By Kind Person
Sajid Kahlon says that when he saw a homeless looking "hungry and weak," he asked the man if he could buy him some food.
Facebook | Your Southend
"It was painful to see that someone had to search for food like that," he said. "I asked him if he was hungry and if he would like me to buy him some food? He replied yes in a very weak voice."
So Sajid went to a nearby Starbucks. "I bought him a sandwich and a chocolate cake worth £8.45 (about $10.30 U.S.) so that he could eat respectfully," he said.
After paying for the meal, the man sat on the patio to eat, but before long, an employee and a security guard came out to tell him he couldn't sit there.
Facebook | Your Southend
That's when Sajid started filming. On the video, you can hear the security guard saying that the homeless man has to go due to "a policy of the company."
Sajid wasn't about to let that go unchallenged, however.
"I paid for that, if the food is being bought and he is eating that food. I spend like £8 and he is eating the food. Why can't he have a seat, is he not human?"
Facebook | Your Southend
"Now he is obviously eating the food, you can't just ask him to leave. Let him eat the food and he can leave, what's the problem? He's eating his lunch, then let him eat the food."
Reactions have been largely angry toward the Starbucks staff.
Facebook | Your Southend
In Facebook comments on the post of the video to Your Southend's page, more than 2,000 people have expressed their feelings, and they pretty well agree with each other, thanking the man for helping and calling on Starbucks to do better.
Starbucks has made a statement regarding the video.
"The interaction on video is not indicative of the environment we strive to create," a spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
"We are looking into the circumstances surrounding this customer's experience and will take appropriate action to ensure that our stores remain welcoming places for everyone.
"We want every customer to have a positive experience, and we apologize that we did not meet that expectation in this instance."
Sajid's video of the interaction can be seen here.
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