Starbucks Barista Gives Colleagues Hilarious Leaving Card So They’ll ‘Never Forget Him’

Jam Press

It’s common to give your colleague a card when they’re leaving – but a young Starbucks barista turned the tables, giving his work friends something ‘to remember him by’. 

Wazidul Hoque, an 18-year-old from Sheffield declared he was leaving the coffee company after getting a new job he’d applied for earlier this year.

Obviously, that’s fantastic news – although Wazidul said he’s ‘gutted’ to leave his team. So, he went the extra mile to craft a one-of-a-kind leaving card that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

Wazidul used stock photos of Starbucks employees and photoshopped his face on to them, adding a text banner across the page reading: ‘Sorry for your loss’.

Speaking about the creative process, Wazidul said:

I just got loads of stock photos of Starbucks workers from google images and photoshopped my face on to them. I think it’s just my humour! I wanted to give them something they’d remember me by.

Naturally, his colleagues found it hilarious, with even his manager Jo approving of the card.

One video shows one of Wazidul’s colleagues, Ben, laugh as he opened the leaving card – jokingly saying: ‘I’m so glad you’re going.’

Jam Press

The departing Starbucks barista even wrote a message for his co-workers, thanking them for all their support even though his ‘latte art was never quite there’.

The text in the card reads:

To the Starbucks team, thank you to everyone for all the love and support you’ve given me during my time here, except for Ben – who just gave me an informal.

Even though my latte art was never quite there, my caramel macchiatos never sat right, and my flat whites were shite, you guys still supported me. That’s love.

Big up to Jess and Yulia Icantango for that one. Theo – thanks for being my partner in crime. Even – you’re doing great sweetie. Also thanks Jo for being my literal mom.

Please everyone (except for Ben) stay in touch! Love, from Waz x.

It was later explained on Twitter that Ben had given Wazidul an informal – a very mild form of disciplinary – for ‘putting a 5p bag through when it should’ve been a 5p cup’.

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Wazidul posted his leaving card on Twitter, which very quickly went viral getting retweeted more than 2,000 times, as well as gaining more than 17,000 likes. Many have tagged their friends, laughing and saying they’re going to do the same.

He should treat himself to a trip to the world’s biggest Starbucks opening in Chicago this autumn.

Speaking more about his co-workers’ reaction to the card, Wazidul said:

My colleagues were all too busy laughing to even say anything. Most of them were sad they weren’t mentioned by name though!

Jo our ‘Momager’ said it was a nice start to her shift when she came in the office the next morning. She also said that I’m her favourite.

After his post went viral, Wazidul was recognised by customers while he was working at Starbucks and said he was surprised by how far the tweet had spread around.

He explained:

At first I was just trying to get some sleep, once the tweet started gaining traction the messages just wouldn’t stop! I think at that point I realised it was getting quite a lot of attention.

I went into work today at Starbucks and someone had recognised me from the tweet. I think that’s when it hit me how big this has become.

On a final note, Wazidul had a message for Ben: ‘I’d just like to say that I do not hate Ben in anyway, we just like to bully each other. Although I think it’s pretty safe to say – I won this time.’

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Cameron Frew

After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.