It’s clear that CEO Kevin Johnson is going the extra mile to make amends for the regrettable incident at the Philadelphia Starbucks. The guy is trying, which says a lot about him. Sounds like the two victims are in a mood to talk, too. That’s good all around.
The lingering trouble, as far as I am concerned, is the police. No, the cops obviously didn’t instigate the 911 phone call, but is anyone else wondering why SIX cops were ordered to the scene? I mean, if you heard the recording of the 911 call you will wonder where the fire was! The store manager’s call and conversation with the 911 operator was the most apathetic emergency call I have ever heard of. There was no urgency in her voice. No fear. She apparently was annoyed that the two mean wouldn’t leave the shop, but she certainly did not seem to feel threatened or in fear of harm. Were SIX cops needed here?
I really don’t understand why the stores are closing for a day of training. The instructions to managers should be simple: Treat every customer equally. Use common sense.
Anomander, I was thinking the same thing. The four other guys tagged along hoping for a free cup of joe. I’ve seen it happen at a pastry shop in my old neighborhood.
Make that three of us thinking the same way. I can only imagine how many would have come if the call was from a Krispy Kreme. Not to make light out of a serious situation.
Doesn’t work. Starbucks doesn’t want its managers to operate on instinct; that’s what led to this PR fiasco for them. They want managers to have rules and a system to follow. Part of the system should be, if you are contemplating ejecting two black men who were sitting quietly in your coffee shop waiting, when there are still empty tables, you had better have ejected all the white people who also sat quietly waiting today, and you’d better eject all the white people sitting quietly waiting for the rest of the day and tomorrow too.
I’m not sure a corporation could come up with a set of rules to cover every situation. “Treat all customers equally” covers the situation as to when you kick out people who have not bought anything. But what about when customers are perhaps loud and disruptive and the manager wants them booted from the store? What does that mean in every situation? That’s when the “use common sense” comes into play.
Because bias – conscious and unconscious – prejudice and blatant racism exists. And because Starbucks is a multinational company whose image is important to its CEO.
I really don’t understand why this is being questioned.
" And because Starbucks is a multinational company whose image is important to its CEO."
Exactly. It’s not just to insure all employees don’t repeat such behavior in the future. It also is done as a PR outreach measure for the optics surrounding the issue. Look, we are taking it so seriously we are giving up a day’s worth of profits to address it!
Hmmm. Latest report from the Washington Post says the two responding officers asked for back up. Huh? Back up to talk to two guys sitting at a table twiddling their fingers? And at least two of the officers appeared to be on bicycle patrol. What, they thought they could place “the suspects” on the bicycle rear wheel rack instead of the back seat of a cruiser? No wonder the Philadelphia city treasury is broke.
“Treat all customers equally” is a platitude that all managers would say they were following, even when they weren’t. That is why it is no solution. Those orchestra auditioners thought they were treating men and women equally-- but they weren’t. Those people who hire Greg over Jamal think they are treating blacks and whites equally-- but they’re not. The guy who shot the kid looking for directions to school would say he was treating blacks and whites equally-- but he wasn’t.
Platitudes don’t solve the problem. They just let you pretend to solve the problem, and congratulate yourself.
So is Starbucks going to keep a running list of those asked to leave the store, by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, etc. to make sure that managers are following policy? Then of course use statistics to correlate that to the customer base percentages.
If the manager in this case said that she kicked out all non-paying customers would that have been a defense in this case. Maybe the managers will have to keep their own tally to show that they are being even handed.
“Common sense” has no common definition. For example, some people’s idea of “common sense” is to treat black people (particularly young men and high school age boys) as automatically being suspicious or criminal.
Friend and I went to local Starbucks to show support for the company. Very busy and I wonder if other starbuck might be having increase in sales. Just wanted to let starbucks know I think they are a good company !
Starbucks is not just trying to send a message to their employees with their training day, they are trying to send a message to their customer base about their commitment to inclusion. I have used Howard Schultz as an example of effective leadership for years in my classes. He had a great segment with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning about their commitment to a sustainable coffee market in Costa RIca (I think) and he did an excellent interview with her on this morning’s CTM. His story of commitment to social causes is so interesting as he was raised in public housing after his dad suffered a work accident and became disabled before the days of worker’s comp, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. The new CEO seems to be carrying the torch well in his comments following this incident.