Starbucks sent out this Tweet:
We apologize to the two individuals and our customers for what took place at our Philadelphia store on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/suUsytXHks
— Starbucks (@Starbucks) April 14, 2018
Okay, what happened?
Apparently two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philly.
- They came in and asked to use the bathroom without buying anything.
- The manager asked them to leave.
- They said they were waiting for someone but still hadn’t bought anything.
- The manager called the police.
- They men were arrested.
Now Starbucks is being blasted for being racist.
https://twitter.com/80sGirlCheryl/status/985504236275367943
https://twitter.com/IAmRaeHope/status/985495558742839297
Even VOX got in on it “Two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks for doing nothing.”
This is what an entitled victim mentality ultimately leads to.
The black men did nothing and that was the problem.
Starbucks is a business. It is not a hangout. They make money selling coffee and snacks. They spend money on rent, cleaning supplies, and labor. If you use the bathroom you cost them money. If you buy something from them, you make them money.
This is why the policy “bathrooms are for paying customers only” is a thing.
It also keeps vagrants out of the bathrooms. There is nothing worse than a homeless man giving himself a sponge bath with the hand towels in a bathroom. (Yes, at one point in my life I had to deal with that.)
I have bought more cups of coffee or frozen lemonades* than I can count just to be able to take a baby into a bathroom to change a diaper.
*Chick-Fil-A has the cleanest, most family friendly (diaper changing stations in men’s rooms) bathrooms of any chain restaurant I’ve ever seen. I will go out of my way to find a Chick-Fil-A when I hear “daddy I need to potty.”
The manager called the cops because that is precisely what he was supposed to do. Employees are not supposed to get into confrontations with customers or other people in the store. That’s become standard policy.
When I worked in a convenience store, the employees were not allowed to stop shop lifters. You could walk in and start carrying cases of beer out the door and all they could do is say “stop.” The rule was they had to call the cops for any type of disturbance.
This whole situation could have been avoided if the two men had the common courtesy of buying a drink before asking to use the bathroom. That’s how I was raised.
When the manager approached them and asked them to leave had they said “We’re waiting to meet someone, but how bout we buy some drinks?” I’m sure the manager wouldn’t have called the cops. But not being a paying customer and asking to use the bathroom and not offering to buy anything after being confronted by the manager is asking for trouble, regardless of race.
The Starbucks near where I used to leave would kick people out after so long because kids would buy a short coffee and use the WiFi for hours taking up tables.
A business exists to make money and if you are not making them money, they have every right to ask you to leave.
But when you have a world full of people who are entitled victims, they don’t get that and see racism as the only reason why two men can’t loiter in a Starbucks and use the restroom without a purchase.
Of course Starbucks issued an apology and “plans to investigate the pertinent facts and make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again.”
What they should say is “we’re sorry that these men were arrested but if you want to pee in a Starbucks, buy a drink first.”
Nope, they apologized so the dumping on by cry-bullies will continue.
Last I heard, blacks aren’t being nailed to tabletips and raped to death in front if their parents anywhere in the world while law enforcement turns a blind eye and random commenters in the internet say they deserved it like is happening to *some* ethnic group in South Africa *right now.*
My former career involved a lot of cross country traveling. When nature called, I’d find the closest Truck Stop etc. I might not have time to buy something before I used the facilities, but afterwards I’d always buy a soda, snack, tank of gas etc. If nothing else as a “Thank you” for providing a necessary service.
The owner asked them to leave or buy something. They refused. The police were called. The police asked them to leave. They still refused. They were told that if they did not leave, they would be arrested. They refused again. It was at that point that the recording began.
The police prepared for the arrest. Then the guy they were waiting for arrived, and realizing they were being recorded, they then offered to buy something or go somewhere else. The police said it’s too late for that and arrested them.
The same would have happened to me as a white man, except I am not walking around with a chip on my shoulder and a race card in my pocket. I would have left long before the police arrived.