Baristas get revenge over discriminating ex-boss
Mar 17, 2012, 12:33 PM | Updated: Mar 18, 2012, 8:20 am
 Shirley Stagner feels vindicated after getting her old barista job back. (Photo courtesy Shirley Stagner) |
Two women are feeling quite joyful this St. Patrick’s Day in celebrating their return to work after being discriminated against because of their age.
Shirley Stagner, 47, and fellow barista Tina Holcombe, 48, were fired from their position at the Early Bird coffee stand in Kent last November because the owner, Jim Honnies, wanted younger girls to serve at his newly renamed bikini stand.
But the backlash associated with their firings led to the demise of “Hot Java Hunnies”, and Honnies had to sell the coffee stand because they lost all their customers.
“Nobody showed up,” Stagner explained to the “Ron & Don Show” on 97.3 KIRO-FM last Friday. “His hours went down from 6:30 to noon and he failed.”
The new owners decided to scrap the failed bikini stand idea and hired the two women back to their old barista jobs.
This St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll find Stagner and Holcombe serving coffee at the grand opening of the newly renamed Crazy Coffee Cabin Espresso.
“I just love all the customers that stood behind me and all the people, you just made my day,” Stagner said.
