PJ Media's Jim Treacher surrounds it with snark that assumes you think just like him:
Do you want to see a preview of the training video? You're curious, aren't you? It's gotta be exactly what you're expecting it to be, right?I am cringing at something. I'm cringing at that style of internet writing. It's like somebody figured out how to look — in text alone — like a super-casual asshole and now it's just standard internet writing. So tiresome! I feel as though I'm constantly being poked in the ribs and expected to laugh at all kinds of mundane things, like an earnest expression of the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome.
Right.
[VIDEO]
We'll now take a quick break so you can get all that cringing out of your system.
[15-20 MINUTES LATER]
Done? Whew. Yeah, all the money in the world can't buy common sense, but it can buy a guest appearance by rapper and activist Common.
Posts
263 comments:
1 – 200 of 263 Newer› Newest»Right on, Althouse. That style is everywhere and it's the worst.
Condescending liberal bullsh*t. I stopped watching the video, liberal crap. I'm glad that I've never been to or had a Starbucks coffee and I never will.
"...like a earnest expression of the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome."
Sure.
an earnest...
sorry
I have never understood why people would go to a Starbucks. Artificially flavored coffe-like bevetage AND more condescension Than a French restaurant?
Add a large dose of SJW bullshit and you have something really worth paying extra for.
I also blame starbickz for the bottled water fad.
John Henry
Haven't watched the video. Probably won't.
Agree with you on the internet style, though. I find it very frustrating to read many things online that are fairly informative, but are riddled with snark and attitude.
Amazingly, they still "garner" plenty of views, though.
Agree about the style; disagree about 'earnest.' Bullshit. Nothing is earnest anymore from any corporate entity. It's CYA all the way down.
The video seems centered around the easy, positive welcoming image stuff.
Did any of the consultants and other pontificators here spend so much as a day working in a difficult store location for simple background?
My critical eye turns to what the people who actually work in the stores are given for tools when it comes to actually setting limits on guest behavior.
And this applies to Starbucks line staff of all races, two of whom you see relate stories of difficult "customers" (e.g, shooting-up in the bathroom).
My gut tells me the training offers them bupkiss, just after the fact recrimination by people who have no interest in going on record as to how to manage the realities of running actual store locations.
I'd love to have my instincts proven wrong.
A cringe-worthy response to a cringe-worthy stimulus? An infinite regress of cringe-worthiness?
I could take only a minute of the video before bailing. I guess if you see this sort of thing as just an "earnest expression of the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome", your cringe-response won't already have been triggered into its habituation state by the video, and you'll still be capable of cringing at the cringe-worthy internet commentary on it.
Cringe-trigger diversity. I cringe at the thought of people who don't cringe at that sort of video.
The execs come up with this self-serving nonsense and in so doing slander their on the ground baristas and store managers as racists and rubes when they are the ones who have to deal with the public every day. Way to go, guys.
Starbucks is a symbol of leftist virtue. I will once in a while buy coffee there if there is not alternative. McDonald's is a little better.
I am watching them twist slowly in the wind as they try to square the circle of homeless invasion and virtue signaling.
People that sit around in your coffee shop, shit up the bathroom, and leave without buying anything are not customers... and I'm tired of constantly being poked in the ribs and expected to accept that they are customers.
Oh, and PJ Media is lowbrow. In addition to that tacky writing style and listicles, they have trashy 'enable desktop notifications' popups. Want to get me to never visit your site again? That's how you do that.
...the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome.
Have not watched the video. Having said that...
1) Someone is not a customer unless there is a reasonable chance that they will spend money, if not on this visit, then on a future visit.
2) There are plenty of places that I feel welcome, that I have no desire to be.
3) Starbucks has always been a place that I have no desire to be. Adding people with poor hygiene and/or drug problems will make that worse, not better.
While I think the Starbucks reaction to whatever really happened in their coffee shop with the two black men being arrested was probably too much, I think this video is nicely done. I have been in a lot of Starbucks, from Santa Monica, CA to New York City, but mostly in the south and lately, Texas and Oklahoma. 95% of them are professionally run and a pleasure to do business with. Occasionally, I will run up on a store where the employees are surly and hostile. Every time this happens, the employees will be not only generally physically unattractive but in your face with their homosexuality. I think, "the island of misfit kids." The service will frequently be poor at these places and I just don't go back after a time or two. The worse one I have been to is in the Jackson, MS metro area and they do a great business, anyway, which I think is due to the desperation in that area for anything "cool." Anyway, I have never been in a Starbucks that seemed to be fully staffed with straight white men and/or women regardless of the demographics of the area. It's always seemed to me that there is probably reverse bias in Starbucks hiring, but I don't really mind as long as they are nice and the coffee is good.
I've only been to LA once so don't know its neighborhoods; I popped into a Starbucks that looked OK from the outside to buy a mug and had a very awkward wait in line trying to avoid eye contact with the guy in the corner who had obviously just finished huffing spray paint. I think Howard Schultz should have to spend a month or so in actual stores figuring out how to deal with such characters.
Customers and non-customers.
I like the black lady telling the jewish guy he's racist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9aKUMeu8Gc
It was on the radio this morning. Lady with three children boards the subway, car is filled with jews, none of them get up to offer her a seat. So she shouts at the one jewish guy who's standing.
The host explained all that, and added that the lady is in charge of diversity at Starbucks. Which may have been a joke or may be true, who knows.
The lady did not feel welcome, whatever else is going on.
You get a lot of you're-supposed-to-feel stuff on the internet, particularly noticable from women bloggers.
If there's a comment section, you can offer small correctives to the universality supposition.
There's a gender thing.
When a spate of consciousness-raising hit the corporate world, the game was to take the qualifying test without watching the video. You can always pass. Pick the most PC answer every time.
Any truckstop has an "atomic caffeine special" for less than half the price of Starbuck's cheapest.
Just make the baristas wear hair shirts and be done with it.
So much of the gender difference is women supposing that society is supposed to care about their feelings.
It used to be what women could expect only from their husbands.
Their husband got something in return. But husbands are out now.
The video was standardized dishonest wretchedness.
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...
The execs ... slander their on the ground baristas and store managers as racists and rubes
Exactly. The execs signal their virtue by throwing their employees under the bus.
The funny part is that the trivial incident leading to this nonsense wasn't racist at all - the guys were kicked out for refusing to buy anything, not because they were black.
The most annoying part of the video is its comparison of segregated lunch counters to customers-only bathrooms. And I'm totally confused about the "racial bias" that's supposedly manifested by a black employee being upset about finding that the bathroom she's got to clean up is being used as a shooting gallery.
The only problem with snark here is that it's too kind to this piece of corporate buffoonery.
I repeated over and over after 2016 that “condescension is very corrosive”.
That’s true regardless of the politics of the speaker/writer.
PS I go to Starbucks periodically, my wife on a regular basis. We’re buying their coffee, not their politics. I would hope my liberal friends who eat at Chick Fil A do likewise.
If Starbucks is worried about homeless people, they could open a shelter or run a soup kitchen. That would do more to help. This is virtue signaling.
I used to hate Starbucks, but I've come around, just as I did with Barnes and Noble, and Borders before that.
There are relative few public places where you can find a comfortable chair to sit down in to read and can also eat and drink (I'm looking at you libraries). I regularly work for hours in these places.
ARM expects public places to provide him a comfortable place to eat and drink for hours -- A Remora Man.
I don't hate or love Starbucks. It's a wildly successful coffee shop. The video is preachy and condescending. How hard is it to enter a store to exchange money for coffee?
That 2 black guys came in and didn't order anything causing some mild friction with a barista doesn't impress or worry me. Further, it doesn't warrant a training video.
The issue with many of these training videos is that they begin with the introductory context that you are, at best, unenlightened -- that you require a remedial course in human understanding.
Whatever good may follow has already been wrongfooted: you are spending the time in an exercise that was primarily made so that the executives can check a box for the lawyers to point to in potential lawsuits.
Do university teachers undergo a yearly training video that instructs them how to interact with students with viewpoints they don't agree with, and to be inclusive and welcoming to all political perspectives?
Because I would like to see the link to THAT video.
LWL
With the internet, there's no reason not to work at home.
"Amazingly, they still "garner" plenty of views, though."
Garnered views from me.
The funny part is that the trivial incident leading to this nonsense wasn't racist at all - the guys were kicked out for refusing to buy anything, not because they were black.
No. They were kicked out for arguing with the staff and creating a disturbance, and then for arguing with the cops and refusing to follow the cops' orders.
One of the first things I were told on arrival in this country was never to argue with the cops on the beat, but save it for the judge if it comes to that.
"1) Someone is not a customer unless there is a reasonable chance that they will spend money, if not on this visit, then on a future visit."
That was my choice of language, so... point well taken.
But if it had been theirs, I would say the business can choose it's own concept of "customer" and it may feel that holding itself out as a "third place" that's for everyone is the branding they want. But they probably wouldn't be inclined to use the word "customer" if that were their attitude. "Customer" puts the focus on extracting money from the people who come it. I think a word like "guest" would be more suitable.
Loren - indeed.
Blogger iqvoice said...
People that sit around in your coffee shop, shit up the bathroom, and leave without buying anything are not customers
But they identify as "customers" and that is the important thing, isn't it? You are a bigoted pig for not accepting their identity (That's OK, so am I)
I'll bet you don't accept that Bradley Manning and Bruce Jenner are really and truly "women" either, do you?
JOhn Henry
It's a pretty rude host who demands that "guests" pay for their coffee.
Drug addicts and the homeless have their bodily functions and needs, just like the rest of us.. Starbucks is providing an invaluable service by opening their doors to such unfortunates. Starbucks is not just in the business of selling coffee for a profit like those bastards at Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks has a higher purpose. If you want good coffee at a cheap price, you're welcome to go to Dunkin, but if you want to make the world a better place and to celebrate the boundless possibilities of America, you should buy your coffee at Starbucks.
"The most annoying part of the video is its comparison of segregated lunch counters to customers-only bathrooms. And I'm totally confused about the "racial bias" that's supposedly manifested by a black employee being upset about finding that the bathroom she's got to clean up is being used as a shooting gallery."
I think a problem is that well-dressed white people have an easy time going in a place and using the bathroom without buying anything, and black people may feel that they're not allowed to take the same liberty. They'll draw suspicion and confrontation. The store is right to train employees to treat everyone the same. Since they are going to continue to let people like me take advantage of the bathroom, it's fine to address the different treatment and even the different mindset of black people. The video of the black guys getting arrested, if not addressed, would heighten the feeling in black people that they'd better not take any liberties, even as white people totally get away with that minimal deviation from the officially permitted behavior. I think being proactive about giving an equal sense of privilege to black people is just fine and the baristas have to take the instruction if they want to work there and then just follow the policy. I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing.
This will not end well for Starbucks.
There is a sort of "Gresham's Law" that applies to retail business. After a few paying customers find filthy bathrooms and smelly vagrants taking up the chais and booths, they will find another coffee place.
" I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing."
I guess I am old fashioned because I would not think of going into a retail business and using the bathroom without buying anything.
"I think a problem is that well-dressed white people have an easy time going in a place and using the bathroom without buying anything, and black people may feel that they're not allowed to take the same liberty."
Lots of fact-assumption there. Unless the store requires a key for bathroom access, there's no way anyone of any race can be stopped from walking in and using it. The issue is obviously extended use of the facilities for non-excretory purposes, such as shooting up.
Or having all the comfy chairs occupied all day by bums like ARM.
There are relative few public places where you can find a comfortable chair to sit down in to read and can also eat and drink (I'm looking at you libraries).
Starbucks has become relatively low end in this category. They are often crowded, noisy, and the seating if you can get it is not always so clean and comfortable. Turning their stores into homeless shelters is not going to help. At least in big cities there are nicer alternatives.
"Since they are going to continue to let people like me take advantage of the bathroom
What are people like you? People who bought something, or people who think they have a right to use other peoples' private property?
it's fine to address the different treatment and even the different mindset of black people.'
What "different treatment"?
would heighten the feeling in black people
Who is responsible for the feelings of black people? Starbucks?
"...the baristas have to take the instruction if they want to work there and then just follow the policy. I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing."
From my earlier comment:
"Do university teachers undergo a yearly training video that instructs them how to interact with students with viewpoints they don't agree with, and to be inclusive and welcoming to all political perspectives?"
Because it seems like if you are credentialed you do not need to do these things if you "want to work there."
Maybe Starbucks employees should get tenure, too.
-LWL
I guess I am old fashioned because I would not think of going into a retail business and using the bathroom without buying anything.
This seems to be partly a male/female thing. Maybe for restaurants (which often have signs like "restrooms for customers only"), but otherwise my wife seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what stores will have a restroom she can use. And the stores are generally accommodating.
Not Sure said...
It's a pretty rude host who demands that "guests" pay for their coffee.
"Guest" LOL.
What's the difference between free coffee on demand and free bathroom (or free "comfy chair") on demand? All cost money to supply.
Starbucks should add showers and laundry facilities, just to be really welcoming.
I think a problem is that well-dressed white people have an easy time going in a place and using the bathroom without buying anything, and black people may feel that they're not allowed to take the same liberty.
Bayes's theorem. In the absence of further information, you assume information from the markers you've got. In this case, blacks are stupid and violent.
The blacks' complaints ought to be with the stupid and violent blacks who are providing information on the black marker to the public, not with common sense exercised by everybody.
In the meantime, don't identiry as black. Dress white, act white, and people will take those markers for their extrapolation to information they don't have. As they do with white people.
It would have been intrusive, so I wouldn't film it, but a guy in the grocery store yesterday was black and exuded white in every pore. A more equal guy you'll never see.
The giant magazine is supposed to make you feel small.
The appearance of "Howard" was creepy to me, not knowing who he was. Is he like Cher at Starbucks?
"I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing."
Shut up, she explained.
I produced this type of dreck frequently in my job as a multimedia developer for corporate clients.
It was degrading, disgusting work, pimping the foul corporate religion. The crew and actors invariably expressed their disgust and ridicule for this shit as we made it.
This corporate religion and loyalty oath stuff is loathsome, prof.
Your weakness, Ann, is identity politics. You think it's your strength, but it's your weakness. You can see the ruthless misuse of it in others, but you embrace it just as ruthlessly when your own self-interest is at stake.
No employee should have to sit through this disgusting indoctrination to work at a job. Thank God I'm retired. I never have to sit through an idiot meeting where people take this horseshoe seriously again.
The problem, Ann, is that the content is evil and idiotic.
Any chance that the subtext here is the future political ambition of Howard Schultz?.........Also, I don't know anything about the rapper named in the video, but my gut instinct tells me that rappers are not the right people to guide us to the higher moral ground.
Re-education camps are only weeks away.
Maybe Starbucks should offer free coffee. Why should the enjoyment of their restrooms, comfy chairs, and brewed beverages be limited to those with the ability to pay? Think outside the coffee mug, people! Think of all the new "customers" they could garner with such an approach.
Hey Baristas.....You know how you make people feel welcomed?? Hey patrons..... and how you can make other people welcome you???
Servers........Be polite. Be courteous. Be friendly. Be efficient in giving the coffee with a nice smile.
Customers. Be polite. Be courteous. Be friendly. DON'T wear a [metaphorical] chip on your shoulder. Get your coffee. Pay for your product. Smile. Say thank you. GO drink your coffee and STFU.
Shorter version: don't be assholes.
It is coffee. Not a date. Everything in the world isn't a social commentary. And, most importantly everything is NOT about YOU.
"I cringe at the thought of people who don't cringe at that sort of video."
Exactly.
But the supposed mistreatment of blacks is an empirical issue: do whites get away with more "minor" deviance?
My sense is that many whites (and blacks) give publicly deviant blacks a pass because we all know the endless grief that might result.
"Ernest Saves Christmas" is one of my favorite movies.
My husband and I worked for a large corporation that went through a phase, in the early 1980's, of 'Sensitivity Training'. Both my husband and I, independently, opted out. We weren't fired.
mockery =/= "bellyaching"
But there is something reprehensible about this. The lowly baristas catch the flak, while Howard Schultz banks the Diversity & Inclusion points.
"everything is NOT about YOU."
Ah, DBQ, you have a lot to learn.
The "customer," umm, the "guest," umm, "everyone" is king.
The point of SJW identity politics is that some people get to be assholes with impunity.
I suggest complimentary cucumber sandwiches
Remember the BBT episode where Sheldon used a gas station bathroom on account of extreme need, had no money, then once he got home, he forced his friends to drive him back so that he could buy a pack of gum? A lot of us have that feeling, if not to that extreme. It's like a version of "The Curse of the Unpaid Whore."
Maybe it's a white people thing.
Yes, I'd like a serving of white liberal guilt with my espresso, please.
“The execs come up with this self-serving nonsense and in so doing slander their on the ground baristas and store managers as racists and rubes when they are the ones who have to deal with the public every day. Way to go, guys.”
That’s the thing that immediately struck me about the whole hoo-ha. Either the execs never worked crap retail/service jobs in their youth or they’ve completely forgotten what it was like. Do they seriously believe that their low-wage line employees are fretting about racial bias as opposed to getting through their shift with a minimum of aggro? The disconnect makes a mockery of Starbuck’s virtuous posturing. I know that leadership requires that some of the difficulties your underlings face be ignored as you move them toward certain goals, but try not to be a complete fucking hypocrite along the way.
Ann Althouse said...
"I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing."
Because the subtext is that black people are exactly like everybody else and the only possible reason for thinking otherwise is a character defect bordering on mental illness. When in reality, believing that shit will get you killed.
My gut tells me the training offers them bupkiss,
Yep. It is all for show and because the Corporate Idiots have been pressured to hold the show. The attendees are also pressured to attend the show. None of them really want to be there and it will accomplish exactly nothing. Other than put on a show.
I had to attend a big "Diversity Training" meeting/show for young/starting brokers, in Big Midwest City that was the headquarters of the broker dealer that I was working for at that time.
Being one of about 6 female brokers in a room of over a hundred guys, we qualified as being in the minority. Some of the other minorities were some Asian/Korean/Japanese brokers from the West Coast, a sprinkling of Blacks and Hispanics. One black lady who had a double minority status!! The rest a sea of mostly white guys, men and boys.
Through most of the pontificating by some talking head basically going yada yada yada, telling us nothing that we didn't already know, most of us were rolling our eyes and wondering when we would be released to learn and listen to some more valuable stuff......like how to MAKE MONEY and RUN our offices. Or, when can we go to lunch together and have some drinks?
Since we were ALL in the same boat of being commission only operators, THAT was the most important issue that we were concerned with.
Screw a bunch of diversity.
Actually, one of the most interesting and successful of our group (who lunched together), who worked in the same city as I was a Korean guy who had Korean immigrants as his niche market. Because he looked like them, could speak somewhat the same language, respected and knew their culture, they trusted him. He did very well. Was he worried about diversity? Did he care that he didn't have many non Koreans as his clientele? Did he care that maybe some round eyes didn't want to do business with him. F*CK no.
We all agreed. What a waste of time.
I produced this type of dreck frequently in my job as a multimedia developer for corporate clients.
It was degrading, disgusting work, pimping the foul corporate religion. The crew and actors invariably expressed their disgust and ridicule for this shit as we made it.
This corporate religion and loyalty oath stuff is loathsome, prof.
And yet, you cashed the check, so to speak, I'm guessing.
And you penance for your sins by attacking Althouse? Rather like a newly-minted vegan lecturing me over my nice juicy beefsteak.
I don’t think that any retail outlet should value non-customers over customers. That’s the overall message I’m getting from this brew-haha.
Ms. Althouse:
Surely a law professor can see the difference between an employer devising and enforcing objective rules of conduct for its employees and an employer insisting it has the right to get inside their heads and try to control or change what is going on there. It would be perfectly reasonable for Starbucks to issue firm guidelines on how to behave and to enforce them however they wish, but this is about reforming/monitoring what they think and feel. I don't believe it is that hard to treat customers equally. If thousands of kids at MacDonald's can persuade me they really do care whether I have a good day or not, surely the baristas can learn to sublimate those pesky micro-aggressions.
What exactly is going to be the position of an employee after this circus if a minority customer complains the sparkle in the barista's eye was brighter for the white customer ahead of her? Will black employees be disciplined for not "Hey, Bro"-ing every paleface they encounter? The adjective Orwellian comes to mind.
Funny, I've been buying sandwiches and coffee and snacks for decades and never had a problem. You politely order what you want, you pay the money, you get change. Wow, what a system!
True, I didn't live in Birmingham, Alabama in 1958 with black skin, trying to eat at the Woolworth's lunch counter.
But neither did the two jokesters causing a fuss at Starbucks 60 years later.
Not Treacher's best work, but I generally enjoy his work and like his brand of snarkiness. It's difficult not to be snarky when you're dealing with "liberals" (by which I mean of course "tax-happy, coercion-addicted, power-tripping government sniffers and State humpers") and their fatuous pieties.
I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing.
All right then, let's bellyache instead about the willful disengagement from reality of lefties who refuse to even consider the idea that everything that sails under the banner of inclusion/diversity/sensitivity/whatever "training" isn't just anodyne or benign instruction in good manners and good business.
E.g., I don't see how your response @8:04 is in any way a serious or pertinent response to Not Sure's (or anybody else's) dissenting comment. The entire "received narrative" about the events that instigated this round of corporate clownery was a lie. Some people find that, ahem, "problematic". But you've got your "when it comes to race, it's always 1965 in white middle-class Boomer happy land" narrative, and you're sticking to it.
As for the video, Yes, I'm now convinced that Starbucks is racist. For penance, Howard Schultz should immediately transfer 51% of his stock to Tennesse Coates.
Coffee Reparations!
like an earnest expression of the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome
To be clear there's an earnest desire to make customers of non white races feel more welcome. Starbucks still wants to agitate conservative/Republican customers.
I am in a Starbucks right now where half of the staff is black, and one of the four people hanging out here is black, well dressed, and looking at his phone like everybody else. Should I be scared? Or is there more to dangerous situations than race?
I won't pretend to believe that blacks and whites are identical, despite the differences in evolutionary pressure we have faced, but grow up! What is your solution to the problem you have identified, irreconcilable racial differences?
like an earnest expression of the desire to make all customers in a coffeeshop feel welcome.
Unless you're wearing a MAGA hat.
It occurred to me that plenty of non-paying customers come here and defecate on threads.
I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing.
Here's a huge hint:
We don't believe in identity politics. All that was needed was a simple statement: "Anyone is able to use our bathrooms at any time for any reason."
Not Sure said...
Or having all the comfy chairs occupied all day by bums like ARM.
I think you underestimate the added value that I create. First of all I do actually buy stuff. But, more importantly, having a thoughtful older gentlemen diligently working away in the corner creates an atmosphere of classiness that no amount of interior decorating can provide.
At one of our local Starbucks a Fields medalist is a regular occupier of one of the seats. I admit that I don't add that level of value, intangible or otherwise.
I see a bunch of rich people making those classic concerned faces, like airline points of contact probably make after a crash, and telling their hired help that they are going to go beyond telling them how to behave--they're going to tell them how to think too. Getting into what makes people human? Why should an employee have to sit through some corporate idea of that? Philosophy by Starbucks®.
"The work," that's a tell. It means you will confirm to this narrative *exactly* no matter what color you are, and until you do, you are in need of further reeducation. I got to see this in action in a religious racial reconciliation group where certain white women relished the role of Woke Hero as they smacked down any talk that didn't fit the prescribed narrative, even going so far as to condescend and invalidate the experiences of women of color who didn't agree with them. So woke they're racist.
I think it's great to do training about overcoming assumptions and treating customers respectfully, but this reeks of condescension and overreach.
"Customer" puts the focus on extracting money from the people who come it.
Isn't that the point of operating a business?
Tim in Vermont, you are not in a Starbucks in Vermont-right? I have never seen a black person in Vermont.
"But, more importantly, having a thoughtful older gentlemen diligently working away in the corner creates an atmosphere of classiness that no amount of interior decorating can provide."
You forgot to add suave and debonair.
More than race, the opinions on this issue probably divide rather cleanly between those who have worked low-level retail jobs since the start of the new century and those who haven't.
Many of those who have done so have had the experience of cleaning bathrooms used by the public.
Further, many of those who have done so have had the experience of cleaning bathrooms used by the public in less-than-upper-class neighborhoods.
Those who have not had to do such tasks act like their shit doesn't stink. Those who have can testify otherwise.
LWL
Fabi said...
You forgot to add suave and debonair.
Implicit.
What right does an employer have to tell his employees to discuss their "identities?" Sounds like a labor law violation.
"But, more importantly, having a thoughtful older gentlemen diligently working away in the corner creates an atmosphere of classiness that no amount of interior decorating can provide."
I accomplish the same by being a slender white Jewish woman that the thoughtful men at their tables try to discreetly lust after.
-LWL
I missed the racial slogan discussion thing Starbucks did.
My daughter is a huge Starbucks consumer. Per her their 4th quarter was not good so they did not do the afternoon frappe special they had in previous years. Plus their secularized holiday motifs was poorly received. And they did not bring back a smoirs drink special.
The strangest thing was a few weeks ago at Lebec, town on interstate 5 just north of LA, my route to San Jose, on mother’s day weekend . My daughter ordered a Frap at the Starbucks, shared it with my wife, who sucked a piece of glass into her mouth. Local Starbucks response was just issue a refund like it was no big thing.
I was unhappy with that, so I complained to corporate and the response was a canned reply and a $15 credit to my daughters Starbucks reward card.
Get a Mr. Coffee maker and save a few bucks. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
So caring, so inclusive — but give the right response in your notebook or you're fired.
All those who think the NFL is wrong to put the kibosh on the Anthem Kneelers but who support this Consciousness Raising Diversity Training please stand up.
And vice versa.
It’s a great time to be a Subversive.
Ann does not see the condescension in that video. That explains her comments, and her remarks about belly-aching. She just does not see the condescension that people are objecting to.
They need education on gender and race
They need instruction on how to smile at your face
Their need for the paycheck is not something to waste
A working class barista is something to be
A working class barista is something to be
-LWL
Don't tip the baristas. They just use the money to buy nose rings.
(tip from Mike Munger at econtalk.org)
"Whatever good may follow has already been wrongfooted: you are spending the time in an exercise that was primarily made so that the executives can check a box for the lawyers to point to in potential lawsuits."
Exactly!
On another note, It's ridiculous that the definition of bias, in the video, was that Black people felt that people looked at them differently and compared it to 1960's segregation in the South.
What right does an employer have to tell his employees to discuss their "identities?"
What if people with DID work for $tarbuck$?
(Recalling my favorite character on One Life to Live: Victoria and all her different identities played by the excellent Erika Slezak)
If I were one of their employees, I'd hate being called a "partner." "Oh, we're partners? Are we sleeping together? Splitting the profits of this store? Can I even go out to lunch with you? Well, then I guess we're not fucking partners, are we?"
I think a problem is that well-dressed white people have an easy time going in a place and using the bathroom without buying anything
That’s entitlement and rude.
If we’re on the road we always buy something.
I'm convinced that LWL is really Laslo's latest persona.
Common should be the new CEO of Starbucks.
I think it is safe to say that Althouse really likes David Sedaris.
From a post with the Sedais tag: "There's only one person who writes books that I pick up the first time I see them and buy without even looking inside to see if it's good. That's David Sedaris..."
But David Sedaris obviously cannot work at Starbucks without the training video. A woke observation of his:
"... seeing a young black kid having a seizure at his local breakfast joint in 1988, he remarks on the boy’s altered complexion as he is wheeled by. “Do black people become pale?” he asks. “Why didn’t I know that?”
And from a black writer's critique of Sedaris' “A Friend in the Ghetto”:
"In “A Friend in the Ghetto,” the first object of the narrator’s guilt/pity/curiosity is a telephone salesman selling camera phones (“The man spoke with an accent, and though I couldn’t exactly place it, I knew that he was poor. His voice had snakes in it. And dysentery, and mangoes”) and then a black girl who went to his school during the first year of desegregation...
He created a friendship, then a courtship, that was entirely in his mind. He calls her Delicia, though it’s pretty clear this wasn’t her actual name. The recollection is set in the early ’70s, and since black-to-Africa names were not yet in vogue, Delicia must have seemed adequately “Negro,” a word he taught his Greek immigrant grandmother, after gently admonishing her for using “blackie.”...
"Likewise, the narrator of “A Friend in the Ghetto” could feel superior to his white classmates by courting a girl from the gutter, even if it was in his head only. He could slum in his fruitloop daydream and still drive through the south side with the car doors locked and the windows rolled up..."
I don't see why black writers bellyache about this sort of thing.
-LWL
After watching the video, I love small businesses even more.
Sounds like a lot of junkies hang out at Starbucks
Shorter Althouse:
You go, Starbucks, train those baristas not to judge on appearance.
Men in shorts are disgusting.
Getting hired to do an anti-bias training video must be a good gig if you can land it. You can probably charge in the low seven figures if it is for a nationwide chain like starbucks. In fact the more you charge the better for them in certain ways because the only purpose it can serve it aid Starbucks in doing a public self-flagellation. It is easy to make, you just need to get some people of color to talk about something that happened to them in the past that they didn't like, and make sure it is all shown over suitably emotional music in the background. The best part is that sense there are absolutely no quantifiable metrics to look at to see if the video is effective it is literally impossible to fail. Other than not actually delivering the final video you can not breach a contract to make the video.
Nice gig!
Vault Dweller observes: The best part is that sense there are absolutely no quantifiable metrics to look at to see if the video is effective it is literally impossible to fail.
A bit like the DARE program.
The workers at the Ministry of Love were so darn EARNEST you just had to respect 'em.
Ann Althouse said...and the baristas have to take the instruction if they want to work there and then just follow the policy. I don't see why righties bellyache about this sort of thing.
Fair enough. I don't see why hippie Lefty non-conformist types cheer this kind of thing just so long as the policy/indoctrination is one they happen to agree with. When an employer makes purity tests mandatory (for religious belief, stance against same-sex marriage, whatever) the non-conformist Left is first in line to decry the horrors of capitalism (in enforcing XYZ prejudice/power structure, crushing the soul of the individual worker, whatever) but when the policy in question is one you nice centrist people embrace it's suddenly a beautiful, praiseworthy thing.
White liberal guilt is a powerful force.
Mind you, it does nothing to actually help black folks in need, but the process of purging it, makes white liberals feel better about not doing anything to constructively help.
Xi and the rest of The Red Scum of the Politburo love this stuff. They know America is going into the shitter when they see this stuff.
Starbucks has over 3,000 stores in China. That’s where the money is. U S sales are flat.
There is no Raise Your Consciousness Training Day for the schleps who work in the China stores. No need. It’s all Chinese people. That’s where the money is. Selling coffee to the cogs in China.
Howard hopes the US consumer doesn’t notice that. Starbucks will do whatever The Red Scum wants as long as they get more $$$. Those who live under the boot of totalitarianism need coffee, too. Starbucks doesn’t care about open societies or freedom. They want money.
"I think a problem is that well-dressed white people have an easy time going in a place and using the bathroom without buying anything..."
Utter bullshit! Well-dressed white people feel guilty about using the restroom anywhere without at least buying something small. When is the last time you saw a well-dressed white person park in a handicap spot, or across TWO HANDICAP SPOTS because "fuck it"? It's a culture clash.
Blacks feel entitled to use tha bafroom at Starbucks even though they aren't going to buy anything cuz n they brought they own drinks. Watch the original Starbucks video -- the man recording the scene was drinking Starbucks, as was the white man in front of him. The two "real estate brokers" were not.
I'm not a well-dressed white person, but I wouldn't even try to use the restroom in a gas station without at least buying a bag of chips. Usually the clerks don't give a shit, but I do. In my culture, an able-bodied person who parks in a handicap spot is considered very low, just above arsonist and armed robber. To Basketball-Americans, Sterling Brown is their best and brightest.
This is a Starbucks ad aimed at paying Starbucks customers. "They're going to teach those low wage deplorables how to stop being racist. I think that's so sweet I want a frap right now!"
Freeman Hunt nailed it.
"If I were one of their employees, I'd hate being called a "partner." "Oh, we're partners? Are we sleeping together? Splitting the profits of this store? Can I even go out to lunch with you? Well, then I guess we're not fucking partners, are we?"
Yeah, liberals are so condescending and yet they see themselves as so sensitive to the feelings of others.
For the record: I think it's their business and they can make their employees watch whatever video and conform to whatever beliefs they want--I think they can make agreement with whatever policy they set a condition of employment. All I ask is that you nice centrist people agree that this standard can be applied equitably in all cases--especially in those cases where you disagree with whatever policy or belief system the business in question is requiring.
Let's call it a freedom of association issue, yeah? I'm happy to agree to that and to limit my criticism of Starbucks and similar companies to a quiet snicker and maybe muttering "get woke go broke" under my breath. Deal?
Our host wonders why the video is judged to be cringe-worthy. I watched it. Not as bad as it could be but the whole enterprise is cringe-worthy. All employees need FACTS and clear policies, period--not soul-searching and preaching. Let's start with the FACT that the original incident has been completely covered up; deep-sixed. We have no idea if that store manager did anything wrong under any Starbucks policy, new or old. I itch to depose Starbucks corporate on exactly what that manager did "wrong." If she lets white people alone who did the exact same things as the two black males, that would be wrong. That would be the only thing that could reasonably be wrong. Did she? Since that store is in downtown Philadelphia, that means that black customers are common--why would she have discriminated against these two particular black men?
In my culture, an able-bodied person who parks in a handicap spot is considered very low, just above arsonist and armed robber.
I find it an interesting sociological note that at my daughter's preschool, which is housed in a large church, there are a good two dozen handicapped spots which are not ever in use during the week when the preschool is in session. These poor moms dropping off preschoolers, often with toddlers and infants in tow and lugging various lunchboxes and nap mats and other accoutrements, wouldn't dream of parking in the close up handicapped spots. They really should, because A. they are not being used by actual handicapped people at those times, B. if anyone needs to park close in it's a mom carrying a sibling and a bunch of other crap and trying to steer a feisty three year old into the building without being run over, and C. they will be in and out in less than five minutes. But no one does, because that's just not done by persons of breeding and restraint who were reared in high-trust communities.
Not Sure said...The most annoying part of the video is its comparison of segregated lunch counters to customers-only bathrooms.
--
Yep.
I would think John Lewis would find a way to get his..err..mug..into this production.
One little mentioned bit on the recent non-customer removal is that when asked if they wanted water, one of the guys mentioned he brought his own.
Now that's a prepared customer!
Will this "Third Place" explicitly allow carry-ins?
ARM can brown bag it!
Actually, given the added value his mere presence brings, he should be paid..kinda like Paris Hilton at parties.
If Chick Fil-A tomorrow announced that it'll require all employees to watch a 30 minute video on "CFA Values" (as a condition of their continued employment) and that video just happened to focus heavily on an unstated-but-obvious Christian belief system--as a guide to the new CFA policy on how to treat all customers, naturally--I'm sure all the nice centrists and Lefties would just clap and clap at how great it is that a corporation can use its power as an employer to instill such important messages into its workforce.
Right? This attitude is 100% content-neutral, right? I can't imagine it wouldn't be!
"This is a Starbucks ad aimed at paying Starbucks customers."
And nice midwestern retirees who think this is "good."
But most of all at woke SJWs out there, ready to ruin any business.
Diversity training is a pagan ritual to ward off evil leftist spirits.
As far as the snarky writing about the training video goes, I guess it is kind of par for the course. Jon Stewart when he was with the daily show kind of developed the 'ideal' TV style of snarky political takes on your political opponents to make them seem silly and dumb. And that style is mimicked by most others that have taken that same point, like Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, and that one British guy on HBO. Stephen Colbert when he did the Colbert Report did something different. I suppose the style becomes so prevalent because it is effective. People like to feel morally and intellectually superior for simply having their own political positions. Making a show that paints those of the opposite political position as morally or intellectually inferior is a pretty easy way to do that.
I guess Treacher's style of writing is just the online writing form of that style. I don't think he is the only one that does it, I also don't think that it is the only style of internet writing that deals with opposing political ideas. There is, or at least used to be, a term called 'fisking' which involved a more thorough dissection and criticism of opposing ideas. If 'fisking' has become less common perhaps it is because the snark is seen as more effective. Perhaps it is a sign that more and more people are retreating to their own side's domain in the internet. I can't imagine that snark works well on people who happen to hold the position that is getting the snark.
This is religious indoctrination action. Diversity Training is one of the sacraments of Progressivism.
Hoodlum,
They could easily find their way into that via a "chicken or the egg?" portal.
Tennessee Coates should do a Michael Moore-type film. He goes undercover to 100 different Starbucks across the country -- Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, LA, NY, Hackensack, New Jersey -- dressed in a hoodie, where he secretly films all his coffee transactions with these nefarious ill-trained Starbucks baristas to ferret out the remaining vestiges of racial Frappaccino discrimination.
Too much ice, skimping on the caramel, inadequate straw length, poor whip cream viscosity -- all those meaty racial transgressions.
The church of PCSJW. You are welcome if you repent.
You need a "Light-weight religion" tag.
Here is a video with some common sense by the former CEO of McDonald's, it's free of liberal crap except the to be expected crap from the liberals at CNBC.
Update, it seems "THE REQUESTED VIDEO IS UNABLE TO PLAY.
The video does not exist in the system."
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/29/tragic-that-starbucks-will-lose-customers-and-profit-today-says-former-mcdonalds-ceo.html
Starbucks is becoming San Francisco. Pretty soon you will be able to just walk in and poop on the floor.
Its one of those annoying "Big Brother" videos which remind you of old 50s HS films warning students about the perils of MJ or pre-martial sex.
If the Simpsons or SNL weren't run by Liberals they could make a hilarious satire with their hands tied behind their backs.
Why does anyone need lesson 1,062 in don't be a racist?
Freeman makes some good points, but the actual job of being a barista probably sucks so much that a day at such a seminar might serve as a relief. At least you don't have to be on your feet all day. I'd rather hear some corporate or HR type drone on about whaever than clean bathrooms.
I just hope this starts a conversation about racism.
I love how peeps pop up and all "concerned" about Starbucks and how much money they make. I don't give a shit about whether Starbucks makes money or whether this hurts sales.
Its ridiculous that Starbucks is in China. Why don't the Chinese start their own Starbucks. Its just fucking coffee. I know several local shops who serve better coffee, but they don't have $billions in capital that allows them setup 2000 coffee shops.
Jersey Fled said...Starbucks is becoming San Francisco. Pretty soon you will be able to just walk in and poop on the floor.
--
Turd Place
--WHAT DO WE WANT?!!
Racist-free Cappuccinos!
-- WHEN DO WE WANT IT?!!
Now!
-- HOW DO WE WANT IT?!!
-Half caff, Vente, light on the cream with two straws and a Biscoti!
Teller said...I just hope this starts a conversation about racism.
'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!
Perhaps they can write up the "Starbucks Anti-Racist Creed" and have the baristas recite it before opening the shop every day.
Or perhaps a Starbucks Official "anti-racist" fight song can be sung.
Conformist patriotism - No.
Conformist anti-racism - Yes.
I found the Althouse reaction curious, since she liked Jon Stewart and his whole shtick was political snark.
Same with Colbert.
I was thinking they could make use of the err..whitespace..on the cups to display various virtue signalling messages.
But then I realized they would only be seen when a purchase is made.
Snark is the lingua franca of our time. It was perfected by elites to deride the uneducated, knuckle-dragging, unwashed Deplorables. The entire premise behind "cringe-worthy" (and "creepy") is that there are words, ideas, and most of all, people, that are so ICKY that they can't be tolerated AT ALL, but are delicious fun for the bright and smug to ridicule. The cringe-inducing are so lame that they don't even NOTICE when they're being dehumanized -- HILARIOUS!
The snotties don't appreciate it AT ALL when the same type of snark is used against them.
I have never understood why people would go to a Starbucks.
I go to watch the girls. I stay to drink the coffee.
Now that Starbucks has espoused a business view that Althouse believes to be worthy, will she no longer go to the little coffeeshops (you know the ones from her pictures) and now support Starbucks with her business?
If not, why?
Is it that Starbucks is too corporate? As in: a big firm that makes training videos to homogenize its employees in how to be racially conscious?
Is it that she prefers the charm of the local coffeehouses that cater to a primarily self-congratulatory white, educated and artsy crowd?
Is it that she prefers the charm of the local coffeehouses where the workers don't need such training videos because they are educated and artsy and provide a suitable educated and artsy atmosphere?
Is it that Starbucks' coffee tastes too burnt?
Because if it is just about the taste it seems one could summon the taste to drink it to support a company pursuing such a noble societal cause.
-LWL
Barista: Good morning, Sir! Welcome to Starbucks! How would you like your coffee?
Customer: Just like my women -- black and hot.
Ms. Althouse,
You watched the 4 1/2 minute video, and ask how it can be so bad. Now imagine sitting for 8 hours of it. That is what 5/29 is to be doing to the employees. Did you do similar "training" at U of W? I did so, more than once, working for a large corporation. It is degrading, boring, and has almost exactly the opposite effect of its stated intentions, not that I even grant the stated intentions are the real motivations behind such diversity lectures.
I like my women, like my tea:
Green (with envy), slightly bitter, and made in China.
Obviously, as a private organizations Starbucks that can mostly do whatever it wants internally to develop its business strategy. If its baristas are insensitive to racial issues that could negatively impact its potential customers, well, have at it. Training seminars daily!!
The solution, of course, is to slowly wean oneself from overpriced, sugary concoctions and to quietly direct those dollars elsewhere.....
rcocean said...
Conformist patriotism - No.
Conformist anti-racism - Yes.
Good point and more timely than mine; how dare those NFL owners say their employees can't take a knee! Each individual employee has the right to express themselves and their beliefs however they feel and any employer who would make an employee undergo some indoctrination process to conform with the employer's beliefs is sick, wrong, and unAmerican.
Oh, also? Hooray for Starbucks' mandatory race sensitivity training!
Every once in a while, Althouse takes a real thrashing on her own blog. And it's usually when she tosses her brain in favor of her liberal streak.
I worked for a large corporation that went all-in for diversity training as part of a discrimination lawsuit settlement. Our sessions were live, not on video, and involved role-playing exercises and self-criticism, all on pain of termination. In spite of all this hectoring we're still white. So was upper management, although it was not considered tactful to point this out. Eventually the company was swallowed up by another company which was not under similar constraints, so the diversity training went away.
"PJ Media's Jim Treacher surrounds it with snark that assumes you think just like him..."
I am trying to calibrate my understanding of snark. Which of the following David Sedaris quotes can be seen as snarky:
“It’s safe to assume that by 2085 guns will be sold in vending machines but you won’t be able to smoke anywhere in America.”
“I haven't the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.”
“On Undecided Voters: "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”
“I'd tried to straighten him out, but there's only so much you can do for a person who thinks Auschwitz is a brand of beer.”
“The drama bug strikes hardest with Jews, homosexuals and plump women who wear their hair in bangs. These are people who, for one reason or another, desperately crave attention”
“It turned out they were a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is better than being a pair of thieves, but still.”
I assume none of this is snarky. If I assume you think just like him.
LWL
Related:
Sopranos - "It's Over For the Little Guy
If I were black, I would be starting a chain of black coffee houses, maybe even call it Black Coffee. I would only hire black baristas and I would advertise that we don't have to put up with any shit from thugs, homeless or deadbeats (of any color). And I would burn the beans.
Instead of taking a knee during the Anthem, woke NFL players should stand, thrust out their Right arm high with a black power salute, while holding a cup of Starbucks mocha cappuccino.
Diversity training is the place that Gender Studies grads go for jobs.
I don't see the problem, more sophisticated baristas wouldn't have called the cops. More sophisticated baristas would have just blasted country music over the shop sound system. Trust me it works.
"Every once in a while, Althouse takes a real thrashing on her own blog..."
I see it as sensitivity training from people who have had way too much experience with mandated sensitivity training.
And -- like almost all sensitivity training -- it will have no effect on the recipient's beliefs.
-LWL
I stopped at schtructurally. I figured the thing I would is something about the schtruggle.
What the hell is the Third Place anyway?
Mac McConnell suggests: More sophisticated baristas would have just blasted country music over the shop sound system.
But, but...wouldn't that be construed as offensive and racist?
BAG,
You just wrote a Starbuck's Superbowl commercial.
It's just the company owned stores that are doing this, so far the franchises are remaining open for that day.
.
I guess I am old fashioned because I would not think of going into a retail business and using the bathroom without buying anything.
Me either. But times have changed. Fortunately I don’t much care for Starbucks coffee in the first damn place.
Did you do similar "training" at U of W?
The UW did have Sexual Harrassment Awareness Training. It was a cringe-y as you might imagine, but it *did* allow a Deanlet up on Bascom Hill to check a box on a Federal Form that the Training was taken. So there is that. Training to foster bureaucracy. Everyone wins. Or something.
It wasn't mandatory, as I recall. But failure to take meant you couldn't get a raise in the future.
So far, there hasn't been any racial awareness training.
"A place for conversation and a sense of community. A third place between work and home."
Problem there with assumptions of "work" and "home".
Called the “Third Place Policy,” it reads in part: “We want our stores to be the third place, a warm and welcoming environment where customers can gather and connect. Any customer is welcome to use Starbucks spaces, including our restrooms, cafes and patios, regardless of whether they make a purchase.”
I sure hope that, while all the employees are off at this training, they left the stores, and their bathrooms, unlocked and available for use.
If not, it was surely due to racism.
It’s worse than that. It’s lazy.
He can do better and has before.
Per Bay Area Guy: Barista: Good morning, Sir! Welcome to Starbucks! How would you like your coffee?
Customer: Just like my women -- black and hot.
Or, Barista: Good Morning, Ma'am! Welcome to Starbucks! How would you like your coffee?
Customer: Just like my men---strong and black!
Yancey Ward: I did so, more than once, working for a large corporation. It is degrading, boring, and has almost exactly the opposite effect of its stated intentions, not that I even grant the stated intentions are the real motivations behind such diversity lectures.
Nagging, insulting, and boring people can have the opposite effect of what's intended?
Well, maybe on a few anti-social types, but surely the attitude of the majority of subjects are improved by these edifying exercises? An exercise conducted by consultants of no discernible skills beyond the ability to run a lucrative racket in the current corporate CYA legal environment, while making many multiples of the salaries of the hapless schmoes, er, grateful recipients who have to listen to them drone away?
Who could possibly resent that? If it's not working, then obviously the subjects haven't been nagged, insulted, and bored enough. Schedule another Day of Love, Smithers.
http://coolstuffstudios.com/blog/how-starbucks-created-a-third-space/
How Starbucks Created a Third Space
July 19, 2016/in Blog /by axis
In shared spaces or community buildings what is commonly referred to as the third space—or place—are the social surroundings separate from the two typical social environments most people experience: one’s home (or the “first place”) and the workplace (also called the “second place”).
Third places are often considered anchors of community life. They serve as meeting spots that foster and facilitate creative and broad social interaction.
So what is an optimal example of this concept? No company has created a more successful third place than Seattle based coffee giant, Starbucks.
......
@Mock,
heh - the female perspective! Yeah, Baby!
go to youtube and search for rescue me diversity training.
I believe in the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. In personal transactions with people of whatever description, I try to be polite and cordial. That said, if other people misbehave, they shouldn't get a pass for it just because they fall into one category or another. All people should be treated equally and given the benefit of the doubt; if they prove to be scoundrels, then they should be treated accordingly.
Howard would have been on the Pettus bridge, of course, there in the front row with Lewis and the others. No fucking doubt about that. As he is proving now with a little come to Jesus talk with his racist baristas.
Look. It is not 1965. It just isn't.
"Third places are often considered anchors of community life."
Of course, Professor Putnam discovered some rather inconvenient facts when he researched the effects of diversity on third places. Starbucks is about to replicate his social science research into the results of too much diversity on people's willingness to participate in community life.
"Implicit"
It certainly is to those of us who enjoy your daily belovedness, but I wanted the casual reader to garner the full experience.
etbass: Every once in a while, Althouse takes a real thrashing on her own blog. And it's usually when she tosses her brain in favor of her liberal streak.
And to her credit she takes it like a man, and never gets all butthurt and ban-ny about it.
Or maybe she's just having fun trolling the hell out us, and lhao.
I haven't had the pleasure of sitting through "diversity seminar" training from some corporate lackey, er, I mean, corporate training partner.
I feel deprived and neglected.
Next weekend, I will invite my superiors, colleagues and subordinates over for a nice BBQ to watch, "Superfly." Will that count?
The video made mention of finding someone shooting up in the bathroom.
Kinda curious where they went with that.
If they expand the training a bit, maybe baristas can get credits towards a Social Work degree.
Am I the only conservative & libertarian individual who thinks PJ Media is a race to the bottom for conservative-leaning media?
Between the ridiculous quantity of ads, re-directs, and "click for more" layout of their articles....their inability to write a balanced article by almost any of their authors....their snarky mocking of the tabloid-like mainstream media without a hint of self-awareness....
I could go on. I remain dissapointed that Instapundit went with them for hosting, support, and content services - but I guess Glenn didn't have a host of choices.
@ Dust Bunny Queen at 8:38 a.m.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a thread-winner.
If Starbucks wants to do this, it's their business. The "everyone is biased" comment strikes me as being an obvious truth that not enough consider, though even then there have to be limits.
There is a big anti-free speech wave coming from Europe, Canada and our universities.
For the lawyers here, I'm wondering how the constitution and hostile workplace laws are compatible. First the constitution, the highest law of the land:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
And (from Wikipedia):
In United States labor law, a hostile work environment exists when one's behavior within a workplace creates an environment that is difficult or uncomfortable for another person to work in due to discrimination. Common complaints in sexual harassment lawsuits include fondling, suggestive remarks, sexually-suggestive photos displayed in the workplace, use of sexual language, or off-color jokes. Small issues, annoyances, and isolated incidents typically are not considered to be illegal. To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to a reasonable person.
Aren't the hostile workplace laws in direct violation of the constitution? Congress can't make any laws restricting free speech, period. And neither can the states.
If not, why?
She doesn't want to wait in line behind the homeless people to use the bathroom.
DBQ ain't "Third Place" woke.
Wonder if Dunkin is feeling any pressure
Here's your racial training video;
http://ktla.com/2018/05/24/authorities-looking-for-man-who-punched-another-man-and-stole-his-cellphone-in-best-buy-in-west-hollywood/
In my culture, an able-bodied person who parks in a handicap spot is considered very low, just above arsonist and armed robber.
.... But no one does, because that's just not done by persons of breeding and restraint who were reared in high-trust communities.
All studies have shown that the more diverse a population is the less trust and consideration are shown to others. Our nation is becoming much more tribal and selfish the more diverse it gets. In certain cultures you are a sucker if you don't game the system and flout the laws for personal gain.
Heroin addicts are usually constipated. Their use of the bathroom is not a worse case scenario. However, many of them have collapsed veins and it takes them forever to find a vein. Meanwhile the other patrons who are not constipated have to wait outside. Perhaps the problem could be solved to everyone's satisfaction if Starbuck's set aside some space for "diabetic relief" rooms. This space could also be used by nursing mothers and others who want a degree of privacy. These problems are easy to solve if approached with the right attitude of tolerance and inclusivity.
"The video made mention of finding someone shooting up in the bathroom.
Kinda curious where they went with that."
That was specifically to contrast with the "real estate brokers" who were kicked out of the Philly Starbucks for no reason other than taking up table space and free wifi, telling the manager that they weren't going to buy anything, asking to use the bafroom, and refusing to leave after being told to by the manager and the police while black.
It's an example to show that they were, in comparison, good customers, and good folks, much the way someone who murders one person is better than someone who murders twice as many.
The beautiful thing is the new bathroom policy will hurt the blue city Starbucks locations worst because that's where the homeless are. So in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles the Starbucks are going to turn into cesspools and will end up going out of business. The suburban Starbucks will go on just fine.
So basically Schultz is declaring war on urban Starbucks! That'll show those evil whites.
"What would you like?"
"I'll take a plain coffee, just bla...er....uh...hmmmm....I, uh....um, what does your coffee look like when it first comes out of the machines?"
"Oh, you know, just like coffee. So what would you like again?"
"Uh, hmmm, I guess I'll have a perrier......"
Diversity consciousness or institutional color judgments including racism.
Anyway, it's not a diversity issue. That's a diversity racket argument. The restrictions are applied across the rainbow, and white, black, and brown, too.
Speaking of SJWs, It's time to sell your Disney stock.
ABC canceled Roseanne's show.
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