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I stopped going to Starbucks two years ago over their lefty-pooh policies, now I'm glad I did. People go there to get their morning coffee, not to be dragged into Leftist politics and beat over the head with race while they are still waking up. Starbucks should just serve up the coffee, give their customers what they came for, and shut up.
How do you even nonchalantly bring something like that up? "Would you like milk or would you like to keep it real? And what do you think about the assassination of Medger Evers"? I mean? How?
From what I read, the cups will have the words 'Race Together' on them. If a customer asks what that means, the cup filler will respond with something about race relations.
Their coffee is too strong and too expensive. It has something like 700 mg of caffeine while Dunkin Donuts only has 1/2 as much. Until they fix that and get their prices down, I'm not going there.
Plus it tastes burnt.
I admit that I do like their Christmas Blend though - I buy a bag every year. For some weird reason I got into the "tradition" of stopping at Starbucks with my husband while we're doing Christmas shopping. We always buy some overpriced, calorie laden holiday sort of drink with whipped cream and all that jazz on it. I wouldn't really call that "coffee."
I don't want a lecture on race relations from a Starbucks employee. My family already looks like a UN delegation and my immediate family includes about 5 different ethnic groups already so I'm pretty sure I'm more "evolved" than most 18 year olds in that regard. I don't need social smugness served alongside my peppermint fluffy thingie.
I stopped going to Starbucks two years ago over their lefty-pooh policies, now I'm glad I did. People go there to get their morning coffee, not to be dragged into Leftist politics and beat over the head with race while they are still waking up. Starbucks should just serve up the coffee, give their customers what they came for, and shut up.
This is the gist of the matter.
The CEO sounds like a very nice man but, if I were a customer, I'd resent having someone else's politics, world view, or opinions on anything shoved down my throat. I'd even go there if I liked their coffee (I don't) despite the company's views because I don't let that get in the way of business.
The other issue here is that they're breaking the simple rule of not purposefully offending customers. For obvious reasons, that's usually anathema to them. It's simple: You don't engage in controversy with customers.
Memo to Starbucks (not the poor counter staff dragged into this): Be happy that people want your product. Give it to them as quickly and pleasantly as possible, and don't handle those dang coffee cips any more than is necessary.
Everyone is making a big deal out of nothing. So they write something on the cup. Big deal. If you don't like it, ignore it or don't buy it. Don't engage. No problem. The baristas aren't engaging in any way other than writing on the cup. If the customer chooses to take the next step and discuss it with the barista, that's their decision.
I do NOT like Starbucks coffee...wouldn't pay for it...don't go there. I can't imagine that the folks who are hired to pour coffee have any business or knowledge to discuss race relations! And I'm pretty sure most of the customers have no insight, either!
I guess, if you're into Starbucks, and they start to engage you in this conversation, you can join in and either agree or disagree with coffee pourer's stand on the subject! Hopefully, you've already gotten your brew, so you don't have to worry about spit in your cup!!!
Quite a few of them have college degrees. Heard of the great recession and the lost generation? Starbucks is even helping their employees go back to school if they still need to finish their education.
There aren't many opinions possible on the subject. There are idiots, racist idiots, and people with at least a shred of dignity.
I wonder if this engaging the client will also include such topics as inflated CEO pay, fair compensation for coffee bean growes in developing nations by first world corporations, corporate donations to political actions committees, white priviledge to developing nations for generations of enforced exploitation, fair compensation to coffee bean agricultural workers,etc.etc.
It'll only take about a week for this to affect their bottom line. It will die by it's own hand.
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