Starbuck’s New “Third Place Policy” Not Going Over Well With Employees and Customers.

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I always start my day with a red-eye misto – two shots, extra hot, extra foam – from Starbucks. – Mika Brzezinski

FoxNews.com reports that

Starbucks announced a new policy Saturday that allows anyone to occupy the coffee shop or use the store’s facilities, even if they don’t buy anything, but many are left to wonder if it’ll have a negative impact.

The “Third Place Policy” maintains that employees should consider anyone who enters Starbucks space, including restrooms, cafes and patios, a customer “regardless of whether they make a purchase,” the company said in a statement.

“We are committed to creating a culture of warmth and belonging where everyone is welcome,” Starbucks said.

Customers using the space must still follow a set of general guidelines, which requires them to use spaces as intended, be considerate of others, communicate with respect, and act responsibly, or they might be asked to leave.

This policy comes after the company faced intense scrutiny and backlash when two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia.

The incident, which CEO Kevin Johnson has called “reprehensible,” took place last month and quickly made headlines after video of the arrest circulated online.

According to officials, the officers were told the men were refusing to leave after being denied use of the restroom since they hadn’t purchased anything.

Cellphone footage shows police talking to the two men sitting at a table before handcuffing them and leading them outside. Their friend arrives, a white man identified as real estate developer Andrew Yaffe, and tells police they were waiting for him, but an officer says the men were not complying and were being arrested for trespassing.

Johnson said shortly after the men’s arrest that the company had made a “mistake” and was working to “take appropriate action,” including a review of company policies.

But the resulting Third Party Policy is being called into question by both customers and employees alike, who wonder what impact it’ll have on stores, specifically in urban locations.

In a Starbucks subreddit, people are voicing concerns that the new policy will lead to stores being filled with homeless people and drug users. One user who claims they work at a Chicago Starbucks wrote that a homeless person using the bathroom got into a fight with a customer and police requested to see the store policy before taking action.

“This is exactly the kind of behavior that I fear will drive all the regular customers away, at least from urban locations. Opposing racism is nice and all, but it is not the responsibility of Starbucks to resolve all urban problems at one location let alone turn its stores into homeless drop-in centers,” another user wrote in response.

I have written several times about Liberal Intolerance.

In this case, Liberals are bending over backwards to attempt to prove that they aren’t.

In this case, Starbucks Management’s altruism is about to backfire against them.

I have a confession to make: I don’t drink Starbucks Coffee.

I have been in a Starbucks a total of two times, both work-related.

I’m just not a big coffee drinker.

Besides that, $5 for a cup of coffee? Are they out of their mind?

But, I digress.

The upscale customers of Starbucks are simply not going to abide having “just anyone” come off of the street and use the restroom there. They want to sip their latte and surf the web in genteel surroundings.

They don’t want to suffer the anxiety of a homeless person coming in to use the restroom or hanging out in the restaurant asking patrons for change.

And you know what? They have a point.

In their attempt to smooth over what they perceived as a Public Relations Disaster, the Liberal Executives at Starbucks have potentially placed their patrons in peril.

Through this attempt to save face, it is apparent that Starbucks has shot themselves in the foot.

Starbucks did not have to prove themselves to not be racists.

I observed that they had a diverse workforce during the two times that I have been in one.

By unintentionally jeopardizing their customers, Starbucks has probably decreased their revenue…to say the least.

Liberals are their own worst enemies.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Starbucks Baristas Talking Race Relations: The Worst Idea Since Pajama Boy

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Remember the launch of Healthcare.gov?

It failed spectacularly.

So much so, that the Liberal Brain-trust (now, there’s an Oxymoron for you) decided that what they needed to smooth things over was a snappy advertisement, featuring a stereotypical 20-something year old nebbish, up in the living room from his Mom’s basement, sitting around in his footie pajamas, sipping hot chocolate, and talking about Obamacare.

Not unsurprisingly, that went over with the American public…about as well as New Coke did.

Now, another Liberal has had a brilliant marketing idea…and it will go down in flames like the Hindenburg.

And, apparently, I am not the only American who feels that way.

Dailymail.co.uk reports that

Twitter has ruthlessly mocked Starbucks campaign for the company’s new anti-racism campaign in which baristas talk to customers about race issues while serving their coffee.

One user tweeted, ‘I don’t have time to explain 400 years of oppression to you & still make my train’, while another pointed out, ‘y’all realize there are no coloured hands in the press photos right’.

A third speculated, ‘maybe Starbucks actually wanted to get people of all races & ethnicities to join hands and make fun’.

Corey duBrowa, the company’s Senior Vice President of Global Communications, was forced to delete his Twitter account, before re-activating it the next day. 

‘Last night I felt personally attacked in a cascade of negativity,’ he said in a post on Medium. ‘I got overwhelmed by the volume and tenor of the discussion, and I reacted’.

Staff at the 4,700 cafés across America now have the option to write ‘RaceTogether’ on cardboard cups, which is the slogan of a Starbucks anti-racism campaign.

It was hoped that customers who encounter the slogan on their coffee cup would be inspired to discuss the deeper issues affecting America, in an attempt to ‘create a more empathetic and inclusive society – one conversation at a time’.

But many customers found the campaign ‘patronizing’.

‘#RaceTogether is what happens when a 1%-er without any actual anti-racist education or training has a mid-life “white man’s burden” crisis,’ one user tweeted.

Another took a sarcastic approach, tweeting a picture of a white barista, with the message: ‘Here’s your macchiato! Let’s discuss the historic disenfranchisement of your people that has allowed me to prosper.’

The campaign was the brainchild of Howard Schultz, 61, the company’s boss, who has a track record of speaking out about contentious topics, from gay marriage to gun control.

His decision came in response to the escalating racial tension that emerged when grand juries failed to indict white police officers involved in the killings of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, 43, in Staten Island, New York.

Last year, Schultz travelled to Starbucks branches in the cities most affected by racial tension, including Los Angeles, St Louis, Chicago, New York, Oakland and Seattle.

Mr Schulz met about 2,000 Starbucks staff on the tour, and made contact with the rest of his 200,000 employees – 40 per cent of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds – via a video address.

‘It’s an emotional issue,’ he said. ‘But it is so vitally important to the country.’

You know, when I first heard about this a couple of days ago, while driving in to work, I just about had a wreck.

The pompousness of the whole situation left me shaking my head in disbelief.

Being a political junkie, I tend to spend a lot of time on Political Facebook Pages, where I have borne witness to the Liberal Insanity, which is part and parcel of the divided nation which we have become under President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

I have noticed that Liberals, even though they still comprise only about 24% of our population, view themselves as the majority in this country.

This self-aggrandizement usually leads them to over-estimate both their gravitas and the popularity of their ideas….as is the case with Mr. Shultz.

Why would customers, rushing into Starbucks for a $5 cup of coffee, want to discuss their feelings concerning Race Relations in America with an $8 an hour college kid?

Let’s examine this scenario, shall we?

First off, the sheer hubris of the Starbucks CEO to believe that it is up to him to solve, what he perceives as being America’s “problem” with Race Relations, just floors me.

Modern American Liberals tend to believe that they are the most tolerant people that have ever walked the Earth, and, therefore, they believe themselves to occupy the “Intellectual High Ground” on every issue plaguing American Society.

Mr. Shultz is no exception.

However, there are several flaws in his grand scheme to school us ignorant, average Americans in how to get along with each other.

1. Such a heady topic as Race Relations is waaay above the average Starbucks Barista’s pay grade. Heck, they can’t even get a customer’s order right half of the time.

2. Those of us average Americans who are, say, 35 years old and up, do not wish to be lectured about Race Relations by some kid, the age of our own child or grandchild.

3. How we feel as individual Americans about Race Relations in America is a deeply held belief, which will not be easily changed, especially within the confines of an over-priced coffee shoppe.

In other words, we will refuse to be assimilated into the Hive Mind.

4. Lastly, Americans come in Starbucks for coffee, not Liberal Platitudes and condescension.

And, that is exactly why a popular new hashtag has appeared on Twitter, with these words:

#shutupandpour

Until He Comes,

KJ