Barista smashes car windscreen after driver throws drink in her face

She's defended her actions

Emma Lee was working at A Taste of Heaven Espresso in Seattle, USA, when things got heated between her and a regular customer.

You can watch the moment below.

Lee explained that the man had ordered his usual order of a 32-ounce coffee and a 24-ounce water for a total of $22.

She said that she usually charges him $20 for the order, but this time he wanted to pay less.

She told Fox 13: "You don’t get to name your own price. No one is forcing you to come here. The argument that he didn't know or was scammed doesn’t hold up. The prices are listed."

When the pair started to argue about the payment, the man said he didn't know what the prices were and claimed he was being scammed.

Lee alleges that the customer told her "nobody is going to miss you", and that he screamed and spat at her.

As the 15-minute argument escalated, he then threw his drink in her face.

This prompted the 23-year-old to go and get a hammer, reach out of the kiosk and smash the man's windscreen.

The police were then called to the scene and filed misdemeanour assault charges against the man, who has also been banned from the coffee stand.

The man could take Lee to small claims court for the damage she caused to his car, but she says she isn't worried about this.

"Why should this kind of interaction be expected because of the environment? It’s disgusting," the barista said.

"It’s OK for him to be outraged, but it’s not appropriate for me to respond?"

She also shared the footage on Instagram, where she said the "real issue" was the "safety of women, more specifically those that are disproportionately less protected."

She continued: "We work alone in this industry, wearing nearly nothing and interacting with men (most of which we don’t know) all day.

"The majority of people we meet throughout our shifts are kind, respectful, overall amazing humans!

"However, on occasion we see the ones that think it is appropriate to get violent both verbally and physically."

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