There I am, minding my own business at Starbucks, when I hear someone raising their voice. I lookup and see an American woman (civilian) berating the staff for not understanding her English. It looked like she was ordering/talking while staring down at her phone. Staff asked her to repeat her order, which resulted in "ugh! I SAID bhah blah.." the staff is trying to be patient and starts making her order, and she's literally demanding the staff "hurry up with my drink" while making her order. I couldn't believe it!!
Same Starbucks a few weeks later, almost same thing happens!! Except this time, she got her order and said it was wrong. I shit you not, the only words she said were "fix it" and pushes the drink back. It was like a TikTok cringe video. What made it even worse, the staff tried to I guess cancel the card charge? so they asked for her credit card again. She said "nope you don't need it. Your mistake. Not mine. You're customer service. This is your problem".
I get being an asshole isn't illegal, but if I have this person's name, is there a way I can report them?
by xamist
27 comments
You can always call the non-emergency PMO number for the nearby base. Making a public nuisance can be grounds for removal of status if it is causing enough of a problem. If anything they will get a formal reprimand for acting like a jackass.
Report her for what? 🙄
I’ve been on Okinawa since 2001 married to a local and have never seen this behavior and if I ever encounter it I will approach the person doing it period.
Report her to base for wearing badge outside secure environment.
Would you feel the need to contact their work if it was a Japanese person being an asshole?
I don’t condone their behavior, but you should have done or said something on the spot.
They don’t arrest the soldiers for doing way worse, so some military wife in Starbucks being an entitled dickhead probably won’t get much traction…Â
You should have taken her picture and her vehicle to publicly shame her. There’s no place to act like that, here or anywhere.
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If she is a SOFA member, take her picture and vehicle (make/model/plate) down and forward it to the nearest base. It does eventually make it to the right destination. Even dependents can be sent back home and yes I’ve seen it done. If they’re regular civilian like a tourist then report them to the JPs. DOD civilian have to the follow the rules too
I think the new Customer Harassment laws won’t be made nation-wide until 2026, it’s different by prefecture right now, not sure if Okinawa is doing it yet. This behavior would definitely fall under one of the definitions of harassment under the law.
In general, I’m quite sure bystanders can face legal action for taking video evidence and posting it to social media if faces are not blurred/personal information is shown (defamation, privacy), but you could take video evidence and take that to the local police.
I would have gone up to her and told her to k o k it off & stop being a jerk.
Since she is a civilian no. The military doesn’t get involved with civil matters off base. If it is on base you can report it to the MPs.
Blast her on the dependa Facebook groups, they really hate that lol
Don’t bother any security forces or mp’s with this. Frankly, if you wanted to something done, you should have said something.
Next time record it and post it online. Some people need to be shamed.
report then for what? being your average American?
Should’ve slapped her! Kidding kidding but how do we know this was an American who is military affiliated? This could be some tourist as well? But anyways you could’ve also made the correction while you were standing there.
Say KAREN sit down and shut up! 🤣
Also I love Starbucks here they make every drink perfectly.
why didn’t you do anything lol?
If I’m reading correctly, you had two opportunities to intervene and instead just watched or left. What would you expect the cops or military to do? Drag her out by the hair or JDAM her car? This is more like one of those situations where we as people have to police ourselves. Sounds like she frequents that place, so just get her next time if you do care that much.
How do you know she’s a civilian and not in the military?
Unless she’s wearing her uniform there’s no way to report her and the MPs won’t do anything as she’s not breaking any laws by being an asshole.
You can take them out of the ghetto, but the ghetto is always there.
That must’ve been Absolutely Traumatising for the poor service staff.
Based on these horror stories, it kind of makes sense why there are restaurants with older locals running them apprehensive of taking a chance on ending up with the same fate. (i.e. the No foreigners policy due to language barrier & the notoriety some idiotic, entitled foreigners traumatise locals with.)
You’re an ambassador of your own country when abroad. I believe it’s your social responsibility to remind your kin that they’re guests here and to behave, because at the end of the day her behaviour shapes Japanese opinion or ALL Americans (and foreigners).
Take a video and post it here next time. lol. What she gonna do?
Mental illness is real.
The times I’ve had to correct other Americans about treating the locals (or anyone really) with patience and respect because we are in their home.
Please do not be afraid to confront and correct these people. If we are ambassadors and a reflection of America, we gotta ensure we are correcting those folks.
It’s a privilege to be able to live here on the U.S. gov’s dime, but it’s crucial we correct and protect. We need to build the strength of our communities, not let the shitty ones continue tarnishing it for us. 1 bad egg can make us look bad.
With that being said, drop the location, imma make sure this lady catches her fade lmao
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