Tattoo Tiff: Employee of Coffee Shop Giant Told to Remove Her Body Art or Go Grind Beans Somewhere Else

It's a single heart tattoo...

Image source: WJBK-TV

...the size of a penny:

Image source: WJBK-TV

And the tattoo's owner, a woman who calls herself Kayla, said she had the tattoo when she interviewed for her job at a Michigan Starbucks almost five years ago.

But now Kayla says Starbucks has had enough of her body art, giving her 30 days to begin a removal process — or resign.

"It's just a little heart you can cover it up with your thumb...It's not offensive to anybody," she told WJBK-TV in Detroit.

Image source: WJBK-TV

The international coffee icon has had the no-visible-tattoos-allowed rule since it ground its first bean, reported . The problem? Kayla doesn't remember the policy being mentioned during her interviews.

She concedes that after couple of months higher-ups took notice of the heart art between her thumb and index finger, telling her she needed to something about it. The 27-year-old from Rochester Hills said she complied and purchased makeup to cover up the tattoo each day — and that appeared to be that.

From left, tattoo before make-up...then after. (Image source: WJBK-TV)

But now management tells her the tattoo needs to be removed — which Kayla won't do.

Starbucks global corporate communications issued a statement to WJBK, noting that employees "cannot have visible tattoos. This is part of our dress code policy and is discussed with our candidates during the interview process."

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