Click! The camera shutter sound goes off as I’m faced with two customers, one about fifty and the other twenty, snapping selfies of themselves holding their Mint Majesty tea at the checkout counter. 

I’m certain my coworker and I are in the photos, immortalized in a stranger’s photo gallery and likely on social media, in a post boasting having just ordered the late Charlie Kirk’s favorite Starbuck’s order.   

I’m even more certain they ordered not for the enjoyment of the drink, but rather for the name “Charlie” on the cup and the political gesture. 

In the weeks following Kirk’s assassination, it’s been a trend to visit Starbucks and order a Mint Majesty tea with two honeys, Kirk’s beverage of choice, and provide “Charlie” when asked for a name. 

Ordering one by itself is reasonable. But this act of memorializing Kirk has begun to delve into borderline harassment of coffee-chain workers. Ordering the Mint Majesty goes beyond just the order— in many viral cases, it’s involved filming and taking photos of baristas without their consent, at times making a scene, and even verbally harassing Starbucks employees when they don’t know the drink. 

Just a few days ago my friend was scolded by a customer for not knowing the exact recipe for “The Charlie Kirk drink,” though it isn’t even an official menu item. The drink itself was rarely ordered outside of as a remedy for when you’re feeling under the weather.  

Another barista has gone viral for refusing to write Charlie Kirk on the cup, though the employee’s intent was to follow the Starbuck’s corporate policy regarding “no political or pop culture” references on cups. 

One day later, the policy was tweaked to allow writing Kirk’s name, due to the backlash the company received from the public. 

As a Starbucks employee, quite honestly, the whole ordeal has gone too far. The mint majesty memorialization trend by itself causes no issues— it’s the conflicts that both customers seeking internet fame and online commentators bring to the table that makes it an issue, putting us, as workers, under a microscope that we didn’t ask to be under. 

It’s typically unprofessional to bring politics into most work settings, so why are we taking political matters to a Starbucks? Why do employees who are just doing their jobs need to be pawns in a political ‘gotcha’ game? 

Rather than honoring Kirk, the trend has shifted to taking advantage of the opportunity to shame teenage baristas and use moments of tension as “gotcha moments” only furthering the increasing political polarization in our current landscape. 

It’s not wrong to mourn somebody you feel is important to you. But as of right now, ordering a Mint Majesty with two honeys just to post it on social media, and incite conflict if it doesn’t go smoothly, isn’t doing much to honor Charlie Kirk at all.