Starbucks employees are not to be color blind, but “color brave” after yesterday’s unprecedented store shut down.This term comes from Mellody Hobson’s 2014 TED talk, “Color Blind or Color Brave.” Ms. Hobson’s idea is that we need to talk about race–even though it makes us extraordinarily uncomfortable. Hobson’s ideas and stories are powerful, but will it make a difference when you get your coffee?
Everybody Is Welcome
Starbuck’s decision to not limit the use of their space to customers only made headlines earlier and was emphasized at the training.
“Whether a person makes a purchase or not, they are welcome in our spaces. This includes the use of restrooms, cafes and patios–regardless of whether a person makes a purchase, they will be considered a customer. So partners, everyone who crosses the threshold is a customer.”
This seems nice and friendly but certainly makes Starbucks’ goodwill open to abuse. The Babylon Bee, a satirical website, mocked Starbucks policy earlier with the article: Frugal Dad Suggests Family Lodge At Starbucks During Memorial Day Vacation.
To keep reading, click here: What to Expect When Starbucks Opens Its Doors After Diversity Training
If all that results from Starbucks’ training is that more of its employees think before acting on unconscious biases, it will have been a success.
The training is a great step and I appreciate Starbuck’s effort to lead the way here. But at the end of the day, if I’m a paying customer and I can’t sit and enjoy my purchase because the place is full of layabouts who haven’t bought a thing using it as their “third space” I have a n issue with that. And if I have to sit amongst loudmouthed, foul mouthed, rude jerks because baristas have been OVER-trained and are too afraid to speak up when they see patrons behaving poorly, that’s a problem, too.
Businesses are locking their bathrooms and requiring you to be a customer because their bathrooms have turned into transient druggie places. Fact! We’re certainly seeing this in Sacramento. I have seen locked bathrooms all over the country on road trips. Those places with a problem are locking them down for entirely good reason. Starbucks is going to regret this. Yes, be kind and respectful of patrons. But don’t be stupid and open your doors to everyone, be they paying customer or a strung-out heroin addict who’s going to shoot up in your bathroom and leave the needles in the trash. The “everyone” is not who pays the wages. Common sense must prevail. It’s a business.
Personally, I do not patronize Starbucks because their prices are high and I do not like their coffee. Although I will buy it if I am in an airport. However, I do understand their knee jerk reaction to the bad publicity and pr nightmare they received. And since they do not want people carrying concealed weapons even though I have a permit and never been arrested, that is another good reason to go to Paneras or some other coffee shop.
However PC the wording of how to handle people who enter the premises, nothing has changed except to create other problems for the actual paying customers who don’t want to deal with loitering people.
I am going to be frequenting two Starbucks on my way home from my hairdresser’s place because I have to deal with long waiting times to connect bus to train to bus because I am traveling on a Sunday so a cup of coffee will help but I will not be tolerating panhandling. As the new policy has just started, I will have to see what happens. I would hope that the cleaniness of the stores would remain the same, as that’s something I expect in a place that serves food and drink. As for problems with people acting out—depends on if someone is going to cause bodily harm as words don’t hurt. Rude people are everywhere and so are those who try to scam the system. Leave my coffee out of the problem.
Ha! I don’t expect any changes for the better – besides I like Dunkin’ better. They know me and have my order ready almost as I walk in the door. Now, that’s customer service!
While it’s a nice idea by Starbucks and I hope it works, but it does have the potential to go either way…
Starbucks can run their business as they choose. If they choose to allow this behavior, they must deal with the consequences. Nobody is required to patronize them. If you don’t like the people (or the behaviors), don’t get your coffee/scone/whatever from them. Simple. Eventually these things work themselves out. If there are stores that tend to attract less-than-polite people that abuse the open door policy, others may stop going there and the store will eventually close. If that particular store stays open… well, I guess the problem really isn’t that bad.