Why did a coffee store towel rule spark debate?

A short video said to be filmed by Cotti Coffee employees shows a worker using a red-edged towel on a table, a colleague snatching it away, and several staff kneeling toward the surveillance camera in apology. Color-coded towels separate food-contact surfaces from other cleaning areas, so using the wrong one counts as a violation under chain food-safety audits.

The clip gathered over a hundred thousand likes and thousands of comments. Food service workers said the kneeling scene felt familiar, since mistakes caught on surveillance can bring fines or dismissal. The episode has fed a broader coffee culture discussion about strict chain controls, employee dignity, and how audits are handled in coffee store operations.

Recently, a short video allegedly filmed by a Cotti Coffee employee sparked widespread discussion on social media. In the video, a staff member is seen having a red-edged towel snatched away by a colleague, after which several employees kneel toward the surveillance camera with hands clasped in a pleading gesture. This seemingly absurd scene struck a chord with many food service workers — it turns out that towels of different colors correspond to different usage scenarios, and using the wrong one constitutes a violation that can result in fines or even dismissal. The incident reflects both the strict food safety controls of chain brands and has sparked public debate over employee dignity and management practices.

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Recently, a funny short video allegedly filmed by Cotti Coffee store employees has been circulating on social media, quickly drawing a large crowd of curious viewers and discussion.

From the surveillance footage, one employee is seen using a red-edged cloth to wipe a table, when another colleague immediately rushes over, snatches the cloth away and stops them, then kneels down facing the surveillance camera together with several other coworkers behind the bar, hands clasped in a pleading gesture.

After the video was uploaded, it garnered over a hundred thousand likes and thousands of comments. Many ordinary viewers who saw employees kneeling so readily over just a piece of cloth were completely baffled as to why the people in the video felt the need to apologize to such an extent.

However, food service industry peers drawn to the video saw the employees' rapid kneeling apology and remarked that the scene felt all too familiar to them. According to these industry insiders, the red towel in an employee's hand is typically only allowed to come into contact with food-related surfaces, such as wiping the mouths of ingredient bottles or the rims of takeout cups. For areas behind the bar that don't touch food, such as countertops and equipment, towels of other colors must be used, in order to prevent cross-contamination.

That said, the store employee used the wrong towel while cleaning the bar, which already constitutes a violation. Many food service workers revealed that once such a mistake is discovered by audit personnel reviewing surveillance footage, the person involved will be criticized, have pay deducted, and the violation will be recorded for the store. If violations accumulate beyond a certain number, not only may the employee be dismissed, but the store itself may also be fined and, in serious cases, even ordered by the brand to suspend operations for rectification.

Because the consequences of violations are quite severe, many workers admit that once they realize they've made a mistake, they reflexively apologize toward the camera. Sometimes, afraid of having their pay deducted, they even feel the urge to kneel and apologize, hoping the auditors will see from the footage that they've acknowledged their error and go easy on them.

So in the eyes of these workers, the person who posted the funny video probably went through something similar, which is why they thought of using such an absurd way to entertain themselves. "All I can say is these employees' mental state is beautiful hahaha, immediately kneeling to apologize and beg for no punishment," "Every time I do something wrong I bow to the camera with my coworker."

However, other onlookers felt that while chain brands strictly enforcing store hygiene is fine in itself, the penalties for employee violations may be too harsh, forcing workers to resort to kneeling apologies to escape punishment.

In addition, many netizens also pointed out that while young people today like to use abstract videos to show off their "beautiful mental state," using the gag of kneeling to apologize over a wrong towel is, in their view, inappropriate. They said bluntly that this kind of video isn't funny at all.

"Even if the wrong cloth was used, there's no need to make someone kneel — people have dignity too," "It's fine to have strict food requirements, but who can laugh at something that humiliates employees' dignity as a joke," "I feel kneeling is very insulting, especially in a public place."

They said that although the video of kneeling toward the surveillance camera to apologize might just be employees fooling around, or filmed to promote the brand's strict hygiene enforcement, in the eyes of onlookers who don't know the inside story, the employees' behavior only creates an uncomfortable impression and may even damage the chain brand's image.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.