In my 12 years working in a similar role for minimum wage, I described it as, 90% of people are pretty benign, 8% are mildly annoying, and that last 1-2% is filled with a broad spectrum of assholes that ruin it for everyone else.
The area I worked was very wealthy and the only way I can describe it is these types of people, for one reason or another, are having a bad day and you’re the last thing they’re dealing with. They don’t seem to see workers as human beings, so they use that as an outlet for whatever they’re dealing with.
The reason this punishment isn’t effective is you’re just going to shame them, not teach them empathy. She’s going to work with a bunch of people she sees as “beneath” her. She’s not trying to support herself with a minimum wage job and all the extra stress that comes with, and she’s not working 70 hours a week (like the manager in the article was). You can even hear in this woman’s interview that she’s only barely ashamed of what happened, and seems to see the action as somewhat justified/heroic.
60 hours of mandated therapy would likely be more effective, but I admire the goal here.