Man stutters while placing order at Starbucks. When he gets his order, it doesn’t just say his name: ‘This is bullying’

A TikToker has gone viral after sharing a video showing that his Starbucks order was labeled “Um Uh Paul” following what he described as a stutter while placing his order. The video was posted on TikTok by creator Mr Burgies (@mrburgies) and has amassed 5.2 million views.

The order status screen at the Starbucks location displayed the name “Um Uh Paul” under the “Received” section. The cup itself also showed “Um Uh Paul” written on its label in marker. In the video’s on-screen text, Mr Burgies wrote, “POV: You stutter at Starbucks and they add the ‘Um Uh’ to your order.” In the caption, he added, “They put the stutter in my name.”

Commenters shared similar stories of their own names being altered or misheard at Starbucks. One commenter wrote, “i said its for kitty. they wrote ‘fortini.'” Another commenter pushed back on the incident itself, writing, “This is bullying.” 

Other TikTok users shared similar experiences with misheard or altered names

A third commenter described a long-running mix-up with their name. They wrote: “13 years ago they asked if they could have my name for the cup. I said ‘Sure. Liana’ then my name was written as Sherleyanna. I have a friend that still calls me this.” Counter mishaps of this kind aren’t unique to this case, as a separate awkward Starbucks counter exchange also drew attention online after a customer’s comment to a barista was misunderstood. 

Meanwhile, a commenter who identified as a Starbucks employee disputed the video’s framing, writing, “I LITERALLY WORK HERE YOU SAID ‘can you make sure like um and uh is in it.'”

Starbucks has been known for years for misspelling customer names on cups, a trend that has often been discussed online. According to Eater, some social media users have speculated that the company may intentionally alter or misspell names to encourage customers to post about the mistakes, generating free publicity for the brand.

However, Starbucks employees have denied this claim when asked directly on the r/Starbucks subreddit. One Reddit user who identified as a Starbucks employee wrote, “I would love if I had so much free time that I could think about how to creatively misspell names. It’s just hard to hear and the on screen keyboard is horrible. Plus some people just can’t spell.” Mishearing customers at the register or window isn’t limited to name spelling, either, as another Starbucks drive-thru exchange showed a different kind of mix-up unfolding between a customer and staff.

Another Reddit user echoed a similar sentiment, writing, “I am not gonna lie, my brain sometimes just forgets how to spell a lot of names in the moment when asking a customer for their name.” A third user pushed back on the idea that misspellings are intentional, writing, “That would seem to be a silly thing to spend training time on, as opposed to training for other things. Then you’d also be encouraging a workforce that accepts dishonesty.”