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Friday, April 20, 2018

I Hate Starbucks

I Hate Starbucks
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a cranky old man with no expertise in the topic opined.  Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are wrong.  As always, please, no name calling, and that means you, you big stupid-head! 
I hate Starbucks.  I hate Starbucks because their coffee is too strong.
I hate Starbucks because it is so damn expensive.
I hate Starbucks because Starbucks is young and hip and I am old and cranky.
Is that a fair reason to hate Starbucks? Maybe not, still, I hate Starbucks.
Because I hate Starbucks, it pains me to come to their defense.
Starbucks is in the news lately because they called the police on two men who were doing nothing wrong while in one of their establishments. 
It seems two men entered this establishment and asked to use the rest room.  They were told only paying customers could use the restroom.  The two men then hung around the restaurant apparently waiting for someone.  They were asked to leave, they refused, the manager called the police and they were arrested tor trespassing.
The men that were arrested were African American and this has become a racial incident.  The manager was fired.  The CEO of Starbucks is apologizing all over the place and has even met with the two men to ask their help in resolving the issue and assist in ending systematic racism in Starbuck’s corporate culture.
Now I am thinking, I have gone into a McDonalds many times while traveling and used the bathroom without asking.  Most times I still bought lunch, but not always.  Their bathrooms are always open.  The fact these men asked to use the bathroom tells me the room is locked.
If they are locked it suggests to me that these restrooms have been misused in the past by non-patrons.  Maybe they were damaged, maybe the homeless used them to bathe, maybe they were used to take drugs…who knows, but it seems to me that it should be an establishment’s right to not have open bathrooms for anyone to use at the possible detriment to their paying customers.
I also don’t know why anyone would be allowed to take up a table in a restaurant and not purchase anything.  I would never walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for two, and then not order anything.
“No thanks, we’re just waiting for a friend and then we’re leaving.”
If I wanted to use the bathroom and then wait for a friend and was told I needed to be a paying customer, I would buy a cup of coffee.  Most people would buy a cup of coffee.  Anyone who just refused to buy anything or leave is suspicious to me.
Apparently Starbucks is a known place to sip coffee and dawdle, work on your computer, kill time between appointments etc.; but at least, buy a cup of coffee.
Is Starbucks racist?  Not for this incident. 
I have read claims that white people have used this same Starbucks without purchasing anything.  If white people are using the restroom and not buying anything, if white people are hanging around just killing time without buying anything and they are not given the bum’s rush, then yeah, Starbucks is racist. 
But, you ask, “Even if the white people are polite and these African Americans gentlemen copped an attitude?” 
Hell yes, white people would cop an attitude too if based on previous experiences they had reason to believe they were being discriminated against. 
Starbucks should kick out anyone, white or black who is just loitering. If they discriminate and allow whites to dawdle without buying anything then they are racist and I hate Starbucks. 
If they assert this policy equally, then they are not racist.
I still hate Starbucks because their coffee is too strong, it is so damn expensive, and because I am old and Starbucks is young and hip.
The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man, and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.

20 comments:

  1. Years ago, I don't remember how many years, Starbucks opened a couple of stores here in Adelaide. It didn't go well. They closed within two weeks. The main problems I heard about were people didn't like waiting in line so long to get a coffee (my daughter and her friend left the line, went to another coffee shop and had their coffees within five minutes while the Starbucks line had barely moved) and people just didn't like the coffee.

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  2. I hate Starbucks. I don't like the coffee but that view was taken when abroad. Now we have Starbucks infiltrating our tiny car park set in the middle of a group of stores. There is a footpath all round so people don't get run over, but Starbucks have decided that it's an ideal place to put tables and chairs - on pavements and extending to the middle of moving traffic. I fear for the safety of children and mothers pushing prams.

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  3. Hi there, I enjoy reading all of your post.
    I like to write a little comment to support you.

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  4. I would like to read what other customers have to say about what really transpired.

    And yes, Starbucks coffee sucks!

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  5. My father had a saying that I might apply to Starbuck's coffee, "Now that'll put hair on your chest." Not wanting hair on my chest, I avoid Starbuck's. I do believe that doing any ordinary thing is still far riskier if done while being Black. You can call me a bleeding heart liberal if you want. Most people do.

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    1. Not generally a liberal here, but you are correct about the riskier thing.

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  6. This is a tough one Cranky. If like you suspect their restrooms had previously been vandalized and otherwise abused, then I agree they have a right to keep them locked and reserve their use only for paying customers, regardless of their race. But if that wasn't the case, then it seems to me to be rather heartless to deny someone the use of a restroom. And if they were standing room only and these two were taking up a needed table, then it would not have been improper to ask them to leave. There are just too many unknown factors for anyone to make that judgment based solely on what the news said or didn't say.

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  7. It is too strong and too expensive and too young and hip....I don't hate them though...I just don't go there. That episode was on the news here as well and I questioned why it was referred to as a racist problem.....we have coffee shops here where you have to ask to use the bathroom and are told NO if you aren't buying anything....I disagree with this practice. Access to a functioning bathroom is a necessity of life and shouldn't be refused to anyone.

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  8. I am not young & hip (sigh) but I do enjoy Starbucks coffee once a month or so. They have a store in one of the shopping centers I sometimes visit, and I've used their restroom without buying anything...and it's not locked. Off the cuff I would say someone really screwed up, as Starbucks always has people loitering around ~ students with their computers, seniors with their newspapers.... I agree with Lowandslow's comment that we just don't know enough.

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  9. I have to agree with you Joe, whether or not the restrooms were locked and deemed for customers only, common sense tells me that if I go into a restaurant to wait for a friend and I take up space at one of their tables I am at least ordering something to drink until said friend arrives, common sense says that this is the right thing to do, and common sense tells me that these tables are for customers, what is missing in most of today's situations and problems is common sense...

    If I was going to loiter around waiting for a friend I sure wouldn't pick Starbucks in the first place, I can find cheaper coffee.

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  10. I generally go ahead and order something, even if I'm waiting for another party, just to show I'm intendning to order.

    But a group I'm in regularly has meetings at a local restaurant that knows that we're eventually going to get around to ordering (and tip them well at the end).

    Arrest seems like overkill. I'm not sure that's on the Starbucks so much as the cops.

    If it happened in Houston, I'd have to know which location it was at before passing judgment. There are some locations (some near my house) where, if you told me someone was rrested for basically loitering inside, I'd say, "Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense."

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  11. I don't go to Starbuck's. The coffee is okay, but all the specialty coffees are full of calories. You can have a meal with the calories of one cup of their specialty coffee. I don't know anything about this arrest, but the overreaction is par for the course these days. Show me the money is the next step.

    Have a fabulous weekend, Cranky. ☺

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  12. I'm not a coffee drinker and not a hipster, and I don't see the point in sitting around reading or internet-surfing while in a group of people. So Starbucks isn't going to miss my business any more than they already miss it.

    I don't know all the facts in this one. Nobody should be singled out for different treatment. Everybody should leave if management tells them to, and pursue a grievance with higher-ups after emotions have calmed.

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  13. Agreeing with Olga and Lowandslow. Too many unknowns here but I think the CEO's of Starbucks are making the right moves.

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  14. I agree with what Olga said. I'd want to know how they treated white people doing the exact same thing.

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  15. You are certainly welcome to hate Starbucks for any reason you choose, that's part of the freedom we are supposed to have in this country. As for strong coffee, theirs is considered average for around here.

    If you treat everyone the same, you are not racist. If you don't, then you are. It seems that simple to me.

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  16. You like WEAK coffee????? I’m not sure I fully trust anyone who likes WEAK coffee. I’m keeping my eye on you mister grouchy britches.

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  17. We are fortunate that in our local establishments most do not feel it necessary to monitor toidy usage, it's there and it's free just don't be a messy ass. I've chatted with a few managers and even an owner or two and they have a simple philosophy- if they don't fuss about folk dumping garbage from a competitor and they don't make restrooms a point of contention they get more and better business. Folks know the focus is on service instead of high-school hall-monitor issues. It works.

    I suppose in the big city there are more concerns about such things. But really, if you think about it StarBucks (and their nasty-bitter coffee) being a progressive entity SHOULD be focused on things other than hall monitors and loitering. Their business model is based on loitering and, well, biological needs don't discriminate. I've seen some insisting that it must have been the reaction from the arrested but the reaction doesn't happen unless an action precedes it.

    Ya know?

    And the 'Bucks charge enough for their nasty bitter stuff, they can foot a couple loiterers here and there.

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  18. Two years ago(before the 2016 election)my wife and I were in Virginia and to my surprise here's a younger woman wearing a Hilary Clinton lapel pin. OK, that's fine, but were employees allowed to wear Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders lapel pins? probably not. I guess since Starbucks leans heavily left (my opinion)this politicking at work is ok so long as it's in line with the views of company. In this case Starbucks.

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  19. Why is it that Starbucks employees don't wear "black pride" or "black lives matter" lapel pins? After all it's sure ok to wear gay/lesbian lapel pins, wrist and hair bands. But based on the treatment, recently, of people of color at Starbucks maybe they really don't care....Dan

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