Starbucks closing stores after 2 black men arrested

McDonald’s coffee may be better than Starbucks I have no idea, but they are nothing alike in terms of culture.

I go to Starbucks frequently despite not drinking coffee currently. Every time I go I’m sitting with someone and we are surrounded by people on technology that are just taking up space. Some have drinks some don’t. Never matters.

Certainly in the morning it’s an in and out place but during the day it’s packed with sales people waiting for next appointments, people discussing deals, students killing time, etc.

 

Absolutely, Starbucks is a commune, not a business....and if the help dares to speak up without your permission, you make sure to put them in their place.

Peak current year FTW.

 

I'm not totally arguing against the point but that's a function of time of day also

Kids hang in McDonald's after the school

 

Catching up on the thread.

If a white person is asked to leave a store, it would not occur to him that racial discrimination might play a part in why he is being asked to leave. Which would be a violation of his civil rights. I don't really fault a black man for standing on his rights when he thinks he's being illegally discriminated against and stay and protest and argue. If I don't protest getting tossed myself its because I'd never suspect I was getting tossed for being white.

There is a PR element to doing it in such a public way. There is also an internal communications impact as well though. Shutting down all the stores for a day tells the employees the company is really serious about this and wants the behavior to change. Just saying the right thing to the newspapers, apologizing to customers, even having employees do another training does not demonstrate how important these values are to management like forsaking revenue does.

I think that's a good corollary. I'd be as disappointed as I am with this Starbucks incident if a black guy was arrested for trespassing because he stopped at an interstate McDonalds to pee without buying something first. They don't advertise it, but the message was sent regardless -- stop at McDonalds for the restroom and maybe you'll buy something since you're already here. But no obligation.

Not in advertising, but in marketing. And business strategy. Its funny how they can go without ever saying it, and yet everyone (except Philly cops) knows how it goes.

It's one thing to pay lip service, and another to take action. Nobody wants to see a corporate giant throw a low-paid manager under the bus and crow about how progressive they are without doing anything to address the issue of how they allowed an employee to do this. If they are really sincere, they'll take concrete action. The closing-for-training is their response to show that action. It's not enough, imo, though I recognize there isn't a lot they can do. But, admitting there isn't a lot they can do doesn't mean we should let them off the hook. They should feel some pressure.

 

Who sits down at a restaurant and does not order anything?

 

According to the police call, It was placed 2 minutes after they had arrived.
Maybe they didn't like coffee and the white friend that set up the meeting is a big coffee fan, that could also be a possibility.
I know it's difficult to believe but not everyone likes coffee. Why meet up at a coffee house? everyone does for some reason.
If that had happened to me I'd made a settlement behind closed doors with starbucks,
Free coffee for life and bring pumpkin spice year round!


No one should have to go through that, being arrested due to a manager having skin color phobia.

 

someone who was just invited to meet/join someone there but just barely ate or drank somewhere else so at the time wasn't hungry or thirsty at all yet?

 

Heaven forbid the person they waiting on is the person that would be paying

Rocket River

 

I've gone into Starbucks to meet people with no intention on buying anything dozens of times.

It's pretty much the defacto "meeting people at a neutral site" landmark.

Starbucks seems to have embraced this role, BTW. As well they should, it's usually good for business to have lots of traffic at your store.

Even if some people don't buy the product, eventually someone will.

 

So, do we still not have an accurate account of what happened here?

How long were these guys there? What was the interaction between the staff and the patrons? How crowded was the store?

 

Any everyone else who wants to be anti "black social justice issue" warriors on the internet.

Pgabs, Space Ghost, Bobby? Impossible for them to believe people go to Starbucks for any reason other than to order a drink or food, consume and leave. Business meetings? Social hangout spot? Pfffft!!!!

 

They were there for 2 minutes by the time the police were called.

 

I'm trying to find a trustworthy source to corroborate this with but I'm coming up empty so far.

 

Well we have dozens of papers that report the facts as this:
2 black men show up 10 minutes early for a meeting with a white businessman
1 asks the person at the counter to use the bathroom and is told no because he hasn't ordered anything
Guys sit down to wait for the person who told them to meet them
within minutes, police are there and the arrest starts
white guy shows up on time for his meeting as the men are being taken out in handcuffs

So the high end of the length is that from the time the guys walked in to the time they were in the back of a police car was 10 minutes.

The scenario laid out by the way could be me 3 days a week. I meet with people throughout the week at Starbucks to discuss deals because it's a convenient meeting spot. Sometimes I order, sometimes I don't. I'm normally the first one there because I'm always early. Sometimes I'll be there for 30 minutes on my laptop without ordering anything and then I'll pay for something for my guest when they arrive.

 

In terms of what transpired, that's about all we know. But in terms of when and how quickly everything happened, the papers are only reporting the accounts of the men who were arrested. I'd like to some type of evidence (video or even eyewitness accounts) on when they entered the building vs. when the police call happened.

Two minutes would be beyond ridiculous. Not that 15 minutes is totally understandable or anything, but there's just too much gray area here in terms of the timeline and actual interactions to make me comfortable. A SBUX manager going nuclear on two dudes for not buying something begs for more information.

 

I've had friends join me at a restaurant and order water since they ate beforehand.

 

It's amazing (but not surprising) to me that there are posters here, in 2018, who do not understand how coffee shops operate.

 

I don't get listened to on this. Hopefully you will.

 

Since it does not fit their narrative . . .. . they willfully ignorant

Rocket River