Xiara Mercado was making a routine coffee stop when she was accused of disrespecting the very country she serves to protect because she spoke Spanish while in uniform.

In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 50,000 times, Mercado, an Air Force airman, describes how she was accosted by a woman at outside a Starbucks in Hawaii, where Mercado is stationed, on July 17 who took offense to her speaking Spanish during a private phone call.

“You speaking another language that does not represent America and that uniform you are wearing, that's distasteful,” Mercado described the unidentified woman as saying.

Mercado said she was speaking on the phone in the Starbucks, but as she was leaving the woman confronted her outside about speaking Spanish.

She wrote that she responded to the woman by saying, "I'm sorry ma'am the only distasteful thing here is that you are clueless to your discrimination, please educate your self. Have a nice day "