rockin'robin
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An inspiring exchange between a customer and barista at a St. Augustine Starbucks this week is making major waves on social media.
Rebecca King, who's deaf, was stunned when she stopped by the coffee shop on Monday and the barista taking her order popped up on a video screen and started signing back and forth with her, she told Times-Union news partner First Coast News.
The very next day, she returned to the Starbucks to record her experience. Then she posted it to Facebook.
But even King, 28, couldn't have predicted what would happen next. At last check Wednesday evening, her video had been shared more than 115,000 times and had piled up nearly 4 million views.
It was all made possible thanks to barista Katie Wyble, 22, of St. Augustine, who knows sign language and digital screens going in at new Starbucks stores.
"It is a big deal to (the) deaf community that Starbucks has one now. Nowhere else has that!" said King. "We all want to have that at every drive thru in the world."
Wyble, who says King is a regular, said she wasn't initially looking at the monitor when King pulled up. When she looked at the screen, she noticed it was King and she started signing back and forth with her.
Like King, Wyble was surprised by the response the video generated on Facebook, but she was thrilled about the impact it's been having. "It's amazing, honestly," she told First Coast News.
"I'm glad that there's more awareness for deaf culture and the deaf community. To see this come to light and actually be a part of it, I feel so blessed," said Wyble, adding that she was glad King shared their conversation.
Wyble, a junior majoring in communications at the University of North Florida, said she first fell in love with American Sign Language in grade school. When she got to high school, it was offered as a foreign language, so she took advantage of that and continued studying it in college.
"I'm so happy the deaf community is finally getting some exposure," Wyble said.
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-ne...arista-goes-viral-her-signing-language-skills
Rebecca King, who's deaf, was stunned when she stopped by the coffee shop on Monday and the barista taking her order popped up on a video screen and started signing back and forth with her, she told Times-Union news partner First Coast News.
The very next day, she returned to the Starbucks to record her experience. Then she posted it to Facebook.
But even King, 28, couldn't have predicted what would happen next. At last check Wednesday evening, her video had been shared more than 115,000 times and had piled up nearly 4 million views.
It was all made possible thanks to barista Katie Wyble, 22, of St. Augustine, who knows sign language and digital screens going in at new Starbucks stores.
"It is a big deal to (the) deaf community that Starbucks has one now. Nowhere else has that!" said King. "We all want to have that at every drive thru in the world."
Wyble, who says King is a regular, said she wasn't initially looking at the monitor when King pulled up. When she looked at the screen, she noticed it was King and she started signing back and forth with her.
Like King, Wyble was surprised by the response the video generated on Facebook, but she was thrilled about the impact it's been having. "It's amazing, honestly," she told First Coast News.
"I'm glad that there's more awareness for deaf culture and the deaf community. To see this come to light and actually be a part of it, I feel so blessed," said Wyble, adding that she was glad King shared their conversation.
Wyble, a junior majoring in communications at the University of North Florida, said she first fell in love with American Sign Language in grade school. When she got to high school, it was offered as a foreign language, so she took advantage of that and continued studying it in college.
"I'm so happy the deaf community is finally getting some exposure," Wyble said.
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-ne...arista-goes-viral-her-signing-language-skills
