This woman got kicked out of a coffee shop for wearing workout clothes
Davina Ward is a personal trainer, so suffice it to say, she wears workout clothes on the regular. So on Wednesday, when the 35-year-old went to a Costa cafe in South London on with a friend after a “ninja skills lesson,” she didn’t think anything of the fact that she was wearing leggings and a sports bra — after all, she’s worn the attire plenty of times to Costa before. Unfortunately, after she paid for two coffees, the barista informed her that she must leave. Why? Because of “health and safety and common sense.” “I won’t allow anyone to sit in here without a top,” the barista said.
Davina had nothing to cover up with, so after fighting for a refund (which the staff was reluctant to give her), she had no choice but to leave the establishment. “I’ve never been so angry in my life. . . I’m absolutely fuming,” she told The Mirror. “Why would they let me sit down and then embarrass me by telling me to leave?”
After the incident, she and her friend went to Starbucks and Nandos in the same workout clothes and received no complaints there.
Kicked out of @CostaCoffee http://t.co/nFnH4f59gB #fitness #discrimination
The personal trainer, who hails from West London, decided to fight back by taking her story to Twitter, where it gained a ton of traction. Her follower count soared as people empathized with her situation.
“I spend all my life in my gym kit, that’s how I get most of my business. . . I don’t see myself coming back to Sutton much — I’ll stick to west London,” she told The Mirror.
Amidst a ton of backlash, Costa head of communications Kerry Parkin spoke to The Mirror, apologizing for the incident. “We’d like to assure customers that our stores are warm and welcoming environments and we will be looking to reassess our training policy with our teams immediately,” she said.
However, the damage has already been done, with a ton of people taking to Twitter claiming they will be boycotting the coffee shop — and with Davina getting a TON of support and encouragement from thousands all over the internet. Costa, you chose to mess with a ninja who just got back from her training? Well, you probably wouldn’t if you had seen this video.
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