Nationwide — Kevin Key and his spouse, Nelisa, an African American couple from Richmond, Virginia, say a Starbucks employee refused to assist them throughout a medical emergency as a result of they didn’t wait in line. Kevin, who has Stage 4 kidney failure, wanted water instantly, however was denied it on the counter.
On March 30, Kevin and Nelisa have been at Quick Pump City Middle for a comedy present when Kevin instantly fell unwell. He began sweating, leaned over, and started vomiting. Nelisa, understanding the indicators from previous episodes, rushed to search out ice water for a fast treatment.
She bumped into the closest Starbucks and defined the emergency to clients in line. They let her go forward, however when she requested the barista for water, she was instructed twice to attend in line like everybody else, even after pointing to her visibly unwell husband exterior.
Kevin mentioned the delay may have worsened his situation.
“A state of affairs that ought to have taken, like, lower than in all probability 10 seconds to get water, became a nightmare immediately,” Key instructed WLBT. “I may have presumably blacked out. It may have had a extra dramatic impression on my physique. My kidneys may have presumably simply shut down.”
Luckily, Nelisa noticed Capital One Café proper throughout from Starbucks. She rushed inside, and an worker instantly gave her ice water. Kevin drank it and felt higher inside moments. Weeks later, he met the worker and thanked her for her kindness.
Starbucks later apologized, saying they’ve been involved with the couple and are retraining employees to behave with extra compassion. Nevertheless, they emphasised that water requests ought to undergo the register to keep away from disrupting operations.
Nelisa mentioned they obtained a present card, however felt Starbucks nonetheless didn’t take full accountability. “Starbucks had a call that day, like I mentioned earlier than, to select coverage or humanity, they usually selected coverage,” she mentioned.
In the meantime, Kevin discovered a kidney match in his sister-in-law and could have a transplant in July.
