Starbucks bans man for asking out a 16-year-old girl in coffee shop

The man's plan to garner sympathy online backfired

A man has been banned from Starbucks for giving a 16-year-old barista a note so "creepy" that staff felt compelled to call the police.

The 37-year-old later claimed on Facebook that the incident was an example of "age discrimination" and asked people to complain to the company on his behalf. But the coffee chain has instead been inundated with messages of support from members of the public.

The man claimed the teenage girl said he was "funny" and that she liked him, so he "wrote her a nice note" asking her out to dinner.

But he said the next day a police officer intercepted him as he tried to enter the cafe in Spokane, Washington, and told him he was banned because of his “creepy” letter.

“I know the female Starbucks barista was of legal age to date. I broke no laws. I merely took a chance with my heart,“ he said, in his re-telling of the incident, in which he likened being described as a ”creep“ to a racial or homophobic slur.

“I have a whole webpage dedicated to age gap love,” he said in the post, adding in another message that he had not had a girlfriend for five years.

The content of the note has not been shared online, but the man's Facebook wall reveals an obsession with dating extremely young women in their teens and early twenties, backed up by sometimes absurd and incoherent theories about enzymes, DNA, and reproduction.

“I want to date 18 year old women, to be honest,” he said, describing them as the “best looking”, most “intelligent, sultry” and insisting that his desire was supported by “science”.

He ended the strange post with what is believed to be an echo of his letter to the barista: “Dinner with me at Red Robin."

It was signed off with: "And if not, Happy Holidays, bigots.”

The man called on supporters to contact the store to protest his treatment.

However the coffee shop's Facebook page shows that hundreds of people did the exact opposite and got in touch to post messages of support for the staff and company, in addition to leaving five star reviews of the store.

“Thank you for standing up for your young employee who was approached romantically by an older man,” one woman wrote.

“As a mom of two teen girls, I applaud a business for standing up for their employees when they feel violated or uncomfortable. I remember when I was a young and being friendly and kind to all customers and there were always a few creeps who thought I was flirting and were very inappropriate to me and my employers said to take it as a compliment. Gross. So proud of your stand Starbucks!”

Another person said: “Thank you so much for protecting your employees. Women are forced to deal with harassment on a daily basis and usually just have to “take it” when working in a service industry.”

A former teenage waitress added: “High five for protecting an employee. I wish the company I worked for as a teen had protected me the way you protected them.”

A Starbucks spokesman said the company supported the shop's handling of the situation.

“We have no tolerance for any such inappropriate behaviour or harassment, and we will continue to support our store partners and local authorities investigating the situation,” he said.