A coffee shop owner is asking for help identifying a woman who she says threw scalding hot coffee at one of her employees because she had to wait a few minutes for her drink.
Little Latte Drive Thru owner Ebony Spiteri said the woman, wearing a pink puffer jacket, visited the shop in Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne’s west on Sunday afternoon accompanied by another woman.
Shocking CCTV footage from inside the cafe shows the barista passing a freshly brewed coffee through the serving window before an unidentified woman reached in and threw it back at her, with steam clearly seen rising from the liquid.
“Things like this shouldn’t happen to people just doing their job… I’m very upset by this,” Spiteri told 3AW’s Jacqui Felgate.
She explained that the cafe is primarily self-service, so cars have priority over those arriving on foot, but the woman had just arrived.
‘She was screaming because she hadn’t been served yet, so the customer in his car said, “just serve her, it’s fine.” So they took her order first (and) then the car, which took a couple of seconds, and made the coffees.
“He then handed it to the two women standing at the entrance and proceeded to abuse her. The staff member attempted to tell her to ‘have a nice day’ and close the window, but she forced her way through the gap and threw the hot coffee at him.
‘My staff was very friendly and professional. No one should be treated that way.’
A security camera shows freshly brewed coffee covering the counter and the staff member after it was thrown through the service window.
The 30-year-old staff member luckily avoided injury but was “shaken up”.
The customer (pictured) had been waiting less than two minutes when she became angry, cafe owner Ebony Spiteri said.
The customer then told the employee, “Call the police… I didn’t do anything wrong,” before walking away.
Both police and ambulance officers were called.
Ms Spiteri said the 30-year-old staff member luckily avoided injury but was “shaken up”.
‘I was distraught when she called me and was nervous to be there without anyone else.
“The same goes for the rest of my staff, one of them is eight months pregnant, this could have happened to her.”
Ms Spiteri (left) thanked the community for their support of her business (right)
Ms Spiteri said she has since spoken to police on two further occasions in an attempt to press charges, but the woman has not been located.
“My staff doesn’t feel safe… we want to identify them so this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” he said.
Many Australians have criticised the customer who allegedly threw hot coffee and offered their support to the cafe worker.
“She always takes care of me and my partner. She’s amazing, always smiling, always happy,” said one.
“Whoever did this is seriously disturbed. It’s disgusting that service staff have to deal with such vile human beings.”
Another added: “Customer attitude is always correct. Employees need a new, more protective and relevant image of the customer, such as: customer behavior is responsible.”
A third added: “This is terrible behaviour, the customer should be ashamed.”
Another said: “What’s wrong with people? Everyone is getting too arrogant and disrespectful. I hope this girl is okay.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police and the company for further comment.
