A trip for a takeout coffee turned into a tense standoff after a customer threw his drink at a barista, who responded in kind.
The Seattle barista ended up smashing the customer's windshield with a hammer.
Emma Lee, who works at A Taste of Heaven Espresso, was caught on CCTV pulling out a hammer and smashing the windshield of a customer's car.
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She has since shared the footage on her social media pages and spoken to local media about the incident.
It all began when the man, who is a regular customer, ordered a 32-ounce coffee and a 24-ounce water for a total of $22.
Emma explained he was insistent on paying less, and this led to an argument, in which the man insisted he wasn't aware of the prices and claimed he was being scammed.
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The footage recording shows the pair shouting at one another, with the customer getting out of their car to confront Lee.
The man can be heard telling Emma on the CCTV footage ‘nobody is going to miss you’.
The 23-year-old told Fox News the man had screamed and spat at her, while trying to pry open the window.
As things became more heated, Emma asked the man: "If you don't leave I'm going to throw this [the coffee] at you. Do you want me to throw this at you?"
The customer ended up throwing the drinks at her instead.
Not long after, Emma reached out of her stand and smashed the windscreen of the man's car with a hammer.
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She then proceeded to call the police and file an assault claim against the man.
Speaking to local media she also spoke more about the incident. She said: “Women are allowed to respond when there is danger in ways other than crying.
“For a customer to get out of a vehicle in any sense, but especially to threaten, to argue, to do any of those things is so wildly inappropriate.
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“The conversation needs to change from what did she do to deserve that to why did he think that was at all appropriate.”
Lee also commented more about how the police handled the situation afterwards.
She said: “He refused to leave until the cops came. I’ve now talked to three or four different officers. No one has said a single thing to me about what I’ve done.
“It’s all been about let’s try our hardest to keep him away.”
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UNILAD has contacted Seattle Police for a comment.
Gerrard Kaonga