Man. I meet people at a Starbucks around the corner all the time when I’m selling something on Craigslist. I don’t drink coffee and I don’t really care for Starbucks’ tea, so I rarely order anything. Oftentimes wait for 30m+ if someone is running late. Never been hassled, or frankly, even noticed.
I’m sure the fact that my people come from Norway has nothing to do with it.
Sounds like a typical loitering squabble.
It would be if Starbucks had a history of asking loiterers to leave. I don’t think they do though, so you have to ask yourself, why these people. What makes these people different from the usual.
Now the obvious answer is that the people in question are black. But if you delve deeper, you will quickly realize that its really because these people are black.
Really, you didn’t have to delve deeper at all. Sometimes you get it right on the first go.
No, it sounds like a typical racist situation.
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It’s not unusual to see people coming to Starbucks to chat, meet up or even work. We’re a neighborhood gathering place, a part of the daily routine – and we couldn’t be happier about it. Get to know us and you’ll see: we are so much more than what we brew.
The patrons have every expectation that they can go to Starbucks and “meet up” and “gather” as “part of their daily routine”. They should not have the expectation that the Starbucks corporate mission would be violated based on their race.
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Yep. I’ve had numerous meet-ups at Starbucks before without buying anything (they’re useful landmarks, have comfortable seating, and free wifi). While I think it’s within a store’s rights to ask me to leave if I am loitering, I’ve never seen it happen. Frankly, the employees are typically too busy to notice and don’t care if they do. Sure seems selective.
Kind of like an unarmed black man being shot 9 times in the back is just a typical resisting arrest squabble.
Starbucks does not ask anyone to leave. They’re actually known for letting people hang out there, for hours, and that includes people who don’t buy anything.
The official acknowledged that the incident is at odds with what many people have routinely done at a Starbucks without drawing suspicion or calls to police. The stores are “community” hubs, the official said, where people often drop in to use the WiFi or chat with friends and do not necessarily order anything.
Ahem:
Yup, so the excuse was pretty much BS.
I used to “loiter” at the Starbucks near the Marina Del Rey workers’ comp board when I was waiting for a case, up to 90 minutes at times, without buying anything, using their wi-fi, and they never uttered a peep. Of course, I was a white dude wearing a suit, so hey it’s cool.
Never even heard of a Starbucks having a code for the bathroom.
Somewhat more common in bigger cities, but I’ve only seen it a handful of times myself.
Yep no doubt whatsoever.
Philadelphia has a pretty big homeless problem in their downtown area of late – any restaurant that doesn’t want a semi-permanent encampment right outside their doors has to limit access to their restrooms.
All the Starbucks I’ve ever been to had (and presumably still have) key codes.
Anyway, all this discussion of racism in America made me think we should get some, err, historical perspective.
Ergo I present this map
And some 2000 year old porn (nsfw I imagine.)
Which is why I am equally bemused and irritated by the modern obsession with blackness :S.
Anyway, I got that from an interesting quora discussion.
I’ve literally never seen this.
They opened one recently near me, in the big department store… No toilet there because you just go to the department store.
It’s a common thing here, having closed toilets.
My most frequented café doesn’t have a key code, it has an actual key.
Might be a Spanish thing.
My limited experience is that it’s more common in major cities here in the US (and not just a Starbucks thing), especially those with large homeless populations as Tin mentioned.
So do you just ask for the keycode or something?
Yes, locked bathrooms is definitely an inner city thing. I never encounter it until I’m in a place like… Philadelphia! I love the city even though like any other it has its bad neighborhoods, but there is definitely a juxtaposition of possible Trumpish folks working/living next to ardently non-Trumpish folks right next door that may not be the same in other parts of the country. You’ve all seen how close the election was in PA. It’s a battleground at times.
The focus of this story should be on the manager of the store. That person is the problem. The police could have handled it a little better IMO, but there is no reason to call 911 because you don’t like the people in your store.
