Airline travellers queuing for their morning coffee at a Starbucks at Dublin Airport on Monday appear to have got more of a wake-up shot than they bargained for when they found themselves drenched in coffee by the outlet's staff.
Johanna O'Brien from Co Clare, who was travelling to Newcastle in England on business, took to Twitter to express her annoyance: "Just had an unbelievable experience in Dublin airport. Staff throwing coffee @ each other and soaked me before a flight. My clothes are ruined and not even an apology!" she tweeted.
John McGahon, a Louth county councillor who was beside O'Brien in the queue, was also caught up in the melee, posting a photograph of his coffee-splattered trousers and T-shirt. He tweeted: "The start of last year's holiday resulted in a 26 hour flight delay. This year's holiday start involved staff in Starbucks Dublin Airport throwing coffee at each other, missing, and landing on me and another customer."
Saw this too and their reaction to customers was to shrug their shoulders - incredibly rude and unprofessional @DublinAirport @StarbucksIE https://t.co/DEmaZzjJxS
— Áine McMahon (@AineMcMahon) August 26, 2019
That was me also, currently sitting on my flight for the next three hours with coffee stains. pic.twitter.com/Ka4KKpzIR5
— John McGahon (@John_McGahon) 26 August 2019
An Irish Times journalist, Áine McMahon, also witnessed the incident. "Saw this too and their reaction to customers was to shrug their shoulders – incredibly rude and unprofessional."
According to O’Brien, the incident involved three members of staff at the Starbucks counter in terminal 1. “There were three of them messing around at the coffee machine. We were waiting ages for the coffee because they were joking around so much. There was another lady soaked too. She asked for a refund, and they didn’t know what to do. There was nothing malicious in it; they were just being so silly.”
DAA, the airport's owner, said: "SSP Group operates the Starbucks outlet in terminal 1. We have sought further information from the customers in question via social media and have already been in touch with SSP Group regarding this incident, which is not in keeping with the customer-service ethos of SSP, Starbucks or Dublin Airport. SSP is currently dealing with this issue."
A spokesperson for SSP said: “We were concerned to hear about the incident at Dublin Airport. This is currently being investigated by our senior management team.”
