Starbucks
can’t get it right. They continue to be the coffee chain that can’t shoot
straight after a highly publicized incident involving several uniformed police
officers in Tempe, Arizona.
Last Sunday,
a Starbuck’s employee asked six uniformed cops, who had paid for their drinks,
to leave the store because a customer reportedly didn’t feel safe with the police
presence.
The officers
left and the story went viral. A spokesperson for the chain has since
apologized saying the company was “taking the appropriate steps to ensure this
doesn’t happen again.”
I have heard
this line before…and it came from Starbucks after they racially profiled two
African-Americans in Philadelphia who wanted to use the bathroom. Starbucks
said that was against company policy unless they bought something and asked
them to leave. The next day the same kind of outrage hit Twitter and the
company was forced to shut down 8000 stores to deliver “unconscious bias
training,” whatever that is…
.
First of
all, I don’t pay four bucks for a cup of Joe. Second, make your managers be the
final word if you are going to bounce someone from your shop. Finally, how
about some “police are the good guys” training. If I run such a shop, I want
every uniformed cop in the neighborhood frequenting my door. Starbucks would be
best served to focus on lattes and Expressos and stop booting customers.
As for the
people who feel uncomfortable in seeing our first responders in person….They need
to brew their coffee at home…where only family members can offend them. Call
that my “unconscious bias.”
You're playing into this outrage culture. This post is not so different from the Twitter outrage. Of course Starbucks shouldn't be booting people from their store because they're cops or because they've got dark skin.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your last paragraph though, you're not the one who can get shot just for existing in a place, so I don't think you really have room to talk about feeling unsafe around cops.
Hey Mike, your unconscious bias is showing every time you throw down for team Bailey. Also, the cops aren't really the good guys. They are a dangerous gang with authority at this point. They barely have oversight and regularly get away with abducting people and murdering people with little to no repercussions. Maybe that is why they were scared of them. Personally, I wouldn't trust the Fairfield PD any day of the week. We have our fair share of bad cops who think they are above the law.
ReplyDeleteWant to talk about your unconscious bias with this whole Bailey/Musgrave political ladder climbing you got going on? How much do they pay you for exposure? What did they promise you?