14 DAY TRIAL // Police were called in to a Starbucks location in Denver on Friday, May 17, responding to reports on a confrontation between the cafe staff and patrons.
Ruth and Alex Burgos felt insulted after they changed their son's diaper in the seating area at the cafe and were mistreated by employees.
Ruth describes that the Starbucks at 7900 block of East 49th Avenue is not equipped with a changing table for babies, and she has been forced to change her son’s diaper inside.
"As a mother, you have to do what you have to do. Wherever you have to do it.
"I just kind of wiped him off, cleaned him off as quickly as I could," Burgos says.
According to KSDK, they had only planned to buy a coffee when they noticed that their one-year-old son Thiago needed changing.
Staff were not supportive, and instead had a dismissive and condescending attitude, father Alex mentioned.
"He said make sure to wipe the seat when you're done. [...] They started talking amongst themselves and laughing about it," he describes.
It was then that he confronted them and intentionally spilled his coffee on the floor to show his disapproval of the way he was being treated.
"And I said make sure you clean that," Burgos adds.
Jami Dennis, president of Glendale-based ABC Nannies comments that Starbucks is not the only food and drink chain that does not offer a changing table, but that parents should change diapers in private nonetheless.
"It's really frustrating as a parent or as a child care provider," Dennis comments.
While the police were called in at 10 p.m., they didn't arrest anybody. A spokesperson for the Starbucks cafe "apologized to the Burgos family."
"I hope that other families don't get treated the way we did," Burgos says.