Ha ha!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/s...st-policy-1526918854

Starbucks Says Drug Use, Sleeping Unacceptable as It Clarifies Guest Policy
Company’s statement is second attempt to explain its new policy following complaints that it would turn cafes into homeless shelters and drug havens

By Julie Jargon
Updated May 21, 2018 6:55 p.m. ET

Starbucks Corp. SBUX -0.31%▲ tried to dig itself out of controversy Monday by attempting to clarify a policy toward nonpaying guests that generated an onslaught of weekend criticism.

The Seattle-based retailer on Saturday had said it would allow all guests in its U.S. company-owned stores to use its cafes, including its restrooms, whether or not they make a purchase. That announcement, which attracted some support, also drew complaints that cafes wouldn’t have enough seats for paying customers and would turn into homeless shelters and drug havens.


On Monday, Starbucks revealed more about the policy, telling The Wall Street Journal that employees now have detailed instructions on what to do if someone is behaving in a disruptive manner, such as smoking, using drugs or alcohol, using restrooms improperly or sleeping.

At issue, in essence, is whether Starbucks views itself as a business that caters to customers, or a quasi-public place generally welcome to all. The uproar, which follows the arrest last month of two black men who wanted to use a Starbucks bathroom in Philadelphia, demonstrates the unusual spot that the nation’s biggest coffee chain holds in American culture.

While many other restaurants and retailers also must manage the issue of lingering customers and nonpaying guests who come in to use restrooms, Starbucks has promoted itself as providing a “third place” between home and work where people can freely exchange ideas. It essentially pioneered the idea that is now generating controversy.

Other restaurants and cafes have followed suit in recent years. McDonald’s Corp. and Panera Bread now offer free Wi-Fi and encourage customers to linger. Panera didn’t respond to a request for comment, and McDonald’s—which is almost entirely franchised—said it lets its franchisees determine how to best serve their customers.

“The whole Starbucks situation has opened up a can of worms. In most cases restaurants leave it up to the discretion of the individual restaurant and most are too busy to enforce a policy,” said Joe Pawlak, managing principal at restaurant consulting firm Technomic Inc.

Starbucks’s piecemeal messaging on the issue and the outpouring of commentary that ensued shows the challenges firms can face in an era when every corporate move can be immediately telegraphed and then dissected by the public at large.

“Often the people with the strongest views on either end of the spectrum will be the loudest online,” said Jeremy Robinson-Leon, president of Group Gordon, a corporate and crisis communications firm.


Views over the last few days ran the gamut. “It sounds like Starbucks is turning their stores into homeless shelters. Their coffee is strong but their management is weak,” said Ron Raduechel, a 64-year-old retired supply chain executive from Waukesha, Wis., who said he would no longer go to Starbucks.

“I believe Starbucks is doing what’s right in their hearts whether its outcome sparks negativity or not,” said Johnny Varela, a 31-year-old carpenter in Orlando, Fla. “I think Starbucks is very humanitarian.”

The dust-up is far from Starbucks’s first. It has driven attention to itself before by using its size to try to enact social change. The company in 2015 tried to foster conversations about race relations by urging baristas to write “Race Together” on customers’ cups, a move from which it backed away following social-media backlash.

Before the Affordable Care Act was proposed, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz decried the lack of affordable health-care for millions of Americans. He caused an uproar among gun-rights proponents when he told U.S. customers that firearms were no longer welcomed in its stores.

Conveying a message of inclusiveness without alienating paying customers is critical for Starbucks at a time when its cafe business is more important than ever.

The company this month agreed to sell the rights to market and distribute its packaged coffee in grocery stores to Nestlé SA so it could focus on its coffee shops. Sales at its U.S. cafes have been slowing.

“Starbucks is making a strategic bet that by defining its own moral code they will continue to attract a core consumer group that will remain loyal, but you max out on that demographic at some point,” said Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants.

Starbucks, he said, had no choice but to take action rather than just apologizing and then letting the news die down. “The whole goal of managing a crisis is regaining credibility and that comes from aligning words with actions,” he said.

Under the procedures for handling disruptive guests, Starbucks said Monday, managers and baristas should first ask a fellow employee to verify that a certain behavior is disruptive and if it is, respectfully request that the customer stop.

Other examples of disruptive behavior include talking too loudly, playing loud music and viewing inappropriate content. The company provided employees with examples of when they should call 911, which includes when a customer is using or selling drugs.

The arrests last month in Philadelphia came after a manager’s decision to call the police after the two men asked to use the bathroom without purchasing anything and allegedly refused to leave when asked.

Starbucks quickly apologized for the actions of the store manager, who ultimately left the company. When a video of the men’s arrests went viral, people immediately took to social media calling for a boycott of Starbucks.

A couple of days after the news spread, the boycott threats died down.

The company announced a few days later that it would close its more-than 8,000 U.S. company-owned stores on May 29 to conduct antibias training for employees. Later, Starbucks said it settled with the two men for an undisclosed amount.

Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com

Appeared in the May 22, 2018, print edition as 'Starbucks Draws the Line At Drugs and Sleeping.'

There's no putting that genie back in the bottle now, Starbucks.

There was a group of us on FB discussing how to take advantage of this new policy and throwing out ideas back and forth and a couple of mine were:

-Host local NRA chapter meetings, with open carry
-Buy a bag of DD donuts and a DD coffee and hang out in there for hours taking up one of the big tables
-Bible studies

Shoulda stuck with what they were good at....making shitty coffee flavored douche water with caramel syrup.

They don't say anything about leaf blowers.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
They don't say anything about leaf blowers.

Oh man, I needed that laugh today.

Or emotional support creatures.

So as long as you're not:

quote:

behaving in a disruptive manner, such as smoking, using drugs or alcohol, using restrooms improperly or sleeping

it's all good.

Let's play some D&D while drinking DD coffee.

Starbucks has opened up Pandora's Box and do not even know it yet. They should've stuck by their rules and chastised the employees of the store in question for not kicking out EVERYONE who had not purchased anything.

So, Paulie Walnuts is with Tony Soprano for a big meeting in Italy, Paulie goes to the bathroom and sees that the toilet is nothing but a hole in the floor.
He walks outside and tells Tony "I'm goin' back too the hotel. I gotta take a wicked shit!"

I must practice my Paulie Walnuts impression to perfection, then go into a Starbucks and say "Where's your bathroom? I gotta take a wicked shit!'

quote:

Originally posted by Tuckerrnr1:
Or emotional support creatures.

I hear emotional support peacocks are in fashion these days.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:...Starbucks has opened up Pandora's Box ...

I wonder if a Black druggie comes in to loiter, what will they do?

Their stock price has remained remarkably consistent through all this nonsense. I’m surprised, typically investors like to see a corporation play closer attention to profit/loss than company standing with the Left.

“Starbucks Says Drug Use, Sleeping Unacceptable as It Clarifies Guest Policy”

Caffeine is a drug, says the FDA.

Starbucks had been a very regular caller into our dispatch center asking that we come remove the homeless who were sheltered there from the rain and snow. Wait until they find out they they are now welcome to shelter inside on the hot and sunny days too. This is going to be fun to watch...

Anybody else have the urge to buy a stack Starbucks gift cards and then pass them out to panhandlers and the homeless?

They're going to have to keep "clarifying" and "re-clarifying" the rules until they have something as arcane as the tax code, at which point nobody will know what's acceptable and what's not

Stupid move, *$'s. Even Forrest Gump could've seen this coming.

Starbucks tossed their store manager under the bus when they took the side of the non-paying customers. If I was that manager I would not be happy.

How hard is it to say the manager was right?
If you're not buying something, move along.
That sounds perfectly reasonable to most people, I would bet.

Yeah, that would mean having your priorities straight, and your customer's best interest in mind.

The new policy of letting non-paying public hang out and use the bathrooms might not be a big problem at some stores, but it will be a huge problem at others. Like downtown Seattle. Where the junkies (also known as homeless) permeate the area.

Legit, paying customers aren't going to be happy about sharing restroom facilities with street junkies. Or having to sit near them.

These places are starting to sound like a public nuisance.

quote:

Starbucks tossed their store manager under the bus when they took the side of the non-paying customers.

Based on my experience this tends to be more often the case than not.

I have told this story here before, but when my significant other was in the restaurant business they had a family that came in to eat once a week. Something was always wrong, a complaint was always made with corporate, and their meals were always comped to make up for the problems.

After a year or so she put her foot down. Told them to get out and not come back. Corporate was called and they told her that she couldn't do that to customers. She reminded them that customers were those who actually paid to eat there. Seeing these people hadn't paid a dime in over a year that they were simply free loaders. Corporate didn't see it that way. They issued an apology to the "customers" along with some gift certificates to make up for their troubles.

quote:

While many other restaurants and retailers also must manage the issue of lingering customers and nonpaying guests who come in to use restrooms, Starbucks has promoted itself as providing a “third place” between home and work where people can freely exchange ideas.

When things go to hell, I wonder how they will walk this policy statement back? Perhaps they'll use the excuse that too many non-paying customers were coming in with leaf blowers claiming that they needed to take wicked shits? In any event, it looks like a genuine train wreck is in the works. The lefty viewpoints seem to always ignore or discount human nature usually to their detriment. But maybe it will work this time.....?

Wait until the homeless come in and use the bathrooms for hours to do laundry and take baths.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Wait until the homeless come in and use the bathrooms for hours to do laundry and take baths.

Yeah, free wifi, hobo baths, and a higher end clientele to solicit alms from. Good times.