A Starbucks barista stepped in to help a teenage customer in an ingenious way.
The 18-year-old daughter of Brandy Roberson from Corpus Christi, Texas, was sat in the coffee shop studying when a man she didn't know began talking to her.
A barista clocked the interaction and, unsure if the young woman felt threatened, brought over a free drink with a secret note telling her how she could silently signal for help.
In marker, the cup read: "Are you okay? Do you want us to intervene? If you do, take the lid off the cup."
Brandy told WKYC that her daughter didn't believe she was in any danger from the man.
"She was sitting at her table alone studying and this man came by and noticed what she was studying and wanted to talk to her about it," the mum continued.
"He, I think, just kind of became really loud and animated about it."
Brandy said that her daughter felt comfortable in the situation so did not take off the lid, but was thankful for the barista's intervention none-the-less.
The teenager later returned home and told her mother what had happened.
"She was holding the cup and knew that I would love that someone did that for her," Roberson told Today.
"It made me feel so grateful that the Starbucks employees were watching out for her. As a mom, that is my worst fear that something would happen to my child and nobody would be there to help."
She also shared a photo of the cup with the story on Facebook, writing that she was very grateful "for people who look out for other people!"
The post has since gone viral, racking up more than 90,000 likes.
Messages written on the side of cups are an integral part of the Starbucks experience - as everyone with a hard to spell name will know.
In 2018 a Starbucks customer was completely shocked when he picked up his takeaway coffee and saw the name the staff had written on his cup.
As is traditional in the coffee giant's stores, university student Sam gave his name to the person behind the till when ordering his iced drink.
The 28-year-old suffers from a stutter, and says the barista serving him mocked his speech when he was placing his order.
He claims he said: "Okay, S-s-s-sam."
But things got even worse when Sam picked up his drink and saw what was written on the plastic cup itself.
His name was actually written as SSSAM.
Speaking to the The Philadelphia Inquirer, he said: "It's rare, as an adult, that that kind of disrespect happens.
"It happens, but it's really rare to see it in print. It felt rude."
At the time a spokesperson for Starbucks told Fox News : "Admittedly, we didn't do a good job of understanding the situation. It was not an appropriate response.
"We're trying to figure out what took place and once we do, we'll take the appropriate actions and make a decision on how to handle it in the coming days."
