Starbucks customer, told to stop hitting on girls, assaults worker

Not a gentleman at all..

This is an unusual case. Under normal circumstances the woman would have just quit.

Holy "Career Suicide" Batman....

Not that being a Barista is a life long ambition for many but something like this is gonna stick to you like glue - especially in Japan...

Most of the problems with Japan's 20'somethings can be attributed to SOED - "Severe Over-Entitlement Disorder"

"Barrista requires lawyer as tension percolates into scrapuccino"

HollisBrown

haha...nice one! and not a minute to latte either :)

man, and who said all japanese guys are herbivore? this guy is carniverous!

No mention of any action on the woman, and the only side we hear is the guy who told him to stop. Nothing about the girl complaining. This could very well be the very famous c-block move we're all so familiar with.

Kind of weak the guy took a sucker punch without knowing it was coming. He was asked to step outside.

Also no mention of who was supervising, or what the chain of command was.

Saitama has starbucks??

Headline should have read "Starbucks employee hits on girls, coworkers"

Starbucks has a chain of command?

SOED!! I like it! Been to Hanno and that SB a few times. Woulda been funny to be sitting there and witnessing that.

Oddly I'm impressed the guy asked the other outside, and didn't go for the shoving and accusation of fake brand product route I tend to see on trains. Girl likely not much more impressed after than before.

This guy is a loser and would never be my cup of java.

ummm. its funny what is considered news in Japan. This happens 10000000000000000000000 times every day in the USA. It happens in probably 11 out 10 bars every night in the western world

Sounds like the guy has a future in politics to me. He seems to have the right credentials... Doesn't listen, is aggressive, arrogant and assumes he is special.

That's what you get for going to Starbucks. Girls should stay at home.

cracked me up, especially with the little detail "punched him with his right hand." Japanese journalism. woo hoo.

not really sure how this made national news.

Me thinks this guy had way too much caffeine.

not really sure how this made national news.

Totally agree with you. How does such a small incident with absolutely no significance on the national level make national headline news? Only in Japan...

Ahhh... Saitama.

Shimizu often flirted with female customers

What's wrong with that? On the positive side he brought sales to Starbucks. The girls who hangs around in Starbucks must either be lonely and looking. I left my boyfriend alone at Shibuya Starbucks for only 30mins the other day and when I returned all the J girls were looking in his direction and looked disappointed with my sudden presence...

So Mr Shimizu must have made the girls & obasans happy...:)

ummm. its funny what is considered news in Japan. This happens 10000000000000000000000 times every day in the USA.

Yeah if you want to pay 10000000000000000000 dollars after the female employee sues you for sexual harrassment too...

Persistently chasing the females, becoming aggressively violent when challenged by an alpha male: sounds like this would make a good study on testosterone and the animal that is man.

so what if he hits on girls? as long as there are no sexual harrasment involved it should be ok, that guy was just a jealous loser... It's normal Guys get attracted to female, and they flirt, so what!?

27-year-old barrista, who has been identified as Zentaro Shimizu, was asked by a male co-worker to stop attempting to proposition a 27-year-old female employee

first of all, the guy who was arrested was NOT a Starbucks employee. He was a regular customer. He said to some girl (employee) hey, kanojo! (hey girl!!), so the male employee said this place is not that kind of place.

Moderator: Yes, the original translation was wrong. It has been corrected. We apologize for the error.

Is this a news?

Regardless if he worked there or not, as herefor now stated, sounds like he had a little too much caffine with a double dash of testosterone in his latte.

Starbucks is the ultimate pick-up joint! It is really unbelievable. My husband thinks he is oh-so-safe out at the office every day when little wifey at home pops in to SB for my afternoon cup of coffee...and collects up a bunch of "friends" - great way to practice Japanese!

nemurenaijin at 12:04 PM JST - 23rd February

so what if he hits on girls? as long as there are no sexual harrasment involved it should be ok

Initially, that was my reaction as well. But when the article mentioned that he frequently hits on the staff, the first thing that came to my mind was borderline "stalker material". In other words, if the guy hit on girls that often with no positive feedback, and he continues to do so, then he's just plain creepy (ie. harassment).

Starbucks girls are hot! But you must be a mad ignorant imbecile to try to pick them up while they are hard at work! Props to the dude who stood up for them. Wish him speedy recovery.

I can imagine this goes on in many coffee shops, as well as places like Anna Millers and Hooters. And just imagine what sort of unwanted attention attractive flight attendants have to put up with.

However, I can see how a regular customer at a store or coffee shop might get attracted to a friendly employee. In fact, I have favorite waitresses at many restaurants and eateries and we do chat when the place isn't busy, but it's just friendly chitchat. There is a line you don't cross. I guess this Starbucks customer blurred the line between reality and fantasy.

"unwanted attention" = attention from someone who is not good-looking :0

A friend of mine was eating alone at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo. He started flirting with another costumer and, after a few smiles and winks, he waved for her to join him at his table. She did and they ordered some wine....then the waiter came over and said they could not serve them as it was obvious they weren't together!! Two consenting adults decide to sit together and share a drink and the waiter spoils the fun! They were kicked out and decided to take their business somewhere else.

I can understand when the eatery staff stop persistent harassers, but why on earth would the Strbks employee agree to step outside with the offending costumer? It's obvious the staff don't know how to deal with these people.

Tahoochi - I doubt this is stalking... if it was, they will report this as stalking and the starbucks manager will fire him, I think , the guy was just a jealous "Sempai" , there was no report that the girls are complaining about him, it's just flirting at work, that's normal. You have a cute co worker , he has the guts to flirt with them, so what? Sometimes Sempai's here in Japan are over acting. If he has problems with it , he should talk to the manager and let the manager talk to the guy. I don't feel bad for that URUSAI SEMPAI!

the starbucks manager will fire him......................

I think Romeo is the customer, management cannot fire the customer.

That's what happens to Japanese who drinks coffee. Japanese should drink only dericious o-cha.

I feel sorry for the guy. What he did was just a flirting, some words added. And they complain about herbivore men...

"I feel sorry for the guy"

I don't feel sorry for this jerk.

The guy was an idiot and obviously thinks he's something special in every respect. The employee that was punched was dumb for not knowing why he was being asked to go outside. The smart thing to do would have been to request him to leave and never return and call the keystones.

Good on the guy that intervened, sure he got knocked out, but i'd buy him a mocha latte any day. P.S. Japanese Starbucks girls are hot.

starbucks attracts all kinds of wackos. it's sort of the opposite phenomenon in some places though, the girls on the staff work in the "mizushoubai" (hostess bars) places after hours, and i've seen such people trying to establish a scene in the starbucks by showing up en force to try and promote their sex industry businesses in the neighborhood.

quite disgusting.

is this news? get a life!!

Not only is this news... It's really funny news :0

Alath! Forthooth, he broke my tooth.

And now I dribble, drinking juith.