Be extra-nice to your Starbucks’ barista today

There’s a good chance your Starbucks’ barista just lost out on his or her share of $100 million. That was the fine a Californian judge issued to Starbucks for pooling tips for baristas and shift supervisors. Yesterday, an appeals court reversed that ruling saying that supervisors and baristas are essentially the same thing.

The case was brought by a former barista named Jou Chau and ended up encompassing 120,000 former or current baristas who had their tips pooled. Breaking down the numbers, the original settlement would have worked out to around $800 per wronged barista.

Once you factor in legal fees and taxes and more legal fees who knows if the final amount would have even covered a cup of coffee, which is why many baristas don’t seem that upset by the reversal. On the popular barista Web site Starbucks Gossip, reaction to the ruling was mixed. A commenter named Melody posted this: