Trouble brewing? Be more perky.

I've been paying attention to this Starbucks mess up in Philadelphia. I'm sure you've seen the story. Two African-American men were waiting in a Sbux for a third guy - a business associate - to join them and they got the old tosseroo from the staff because they were sitting there without ordering.  Even though they said they were waiting for a dude, they still got the rush, and plenty of people leaped up to say they hang around in the green coffee dungeons all the time without getting treated like DJ Jazzy Jeff.

So! It's full emergency time for the *bx public relations team, and HBIC (Head Barista In Charge), Kevin Johnson, is putting himself out there. He had a cup of coffee and flew to Philly, where he is appearing on every television show except "Hockey Night In Canada" to beg the public not to boycott.

The two men so rudely (and likely illegally) arrested have agreed to meet with Johnson, who called the arrests "reprehensible" and told Good Morning America, "I'd like to have a dialogue with them so that I can ensure that we have opportunity to really understand the situation and show some compassion and empathy for the experience they went through. Finally as we're working to solve this, I'd like to invite them to join me in finding a constructive way to solve this issue."

I am reading a book in which a guy gets gasoline all over his jeans, and later is surprised to find himself engulfed in flame, and seriously burned.
I bring this up to point out that it's best to prevent situations like this, rather than deal with them afterwards.

I know it's tough to hire people to serve coffee, and be courteous to people as well.  Even though Starbuxxxxxx calls them "baristas," they have a need to educate the people they hire, to teach them the rules of civil conduct. No, there is no way to test an applicant for latent racial bias (although a look at their social pages and t-shirt can give you some leads) but at least the coffee shop empire could provide training for managers BEFORE an incident like this comes along and allows some callow counter person to cause the firm millions of lost customers and dollars.

Two questions remain in my mind:

• What difference did it make to the starb*** staff if those two guys sat around waiting for their friend? Did it affect their income or status at all? No matter the race of the people involved, who cares if people sit there soaking up Wi-Fi and waiting to get a coffee? 
• Does anyone ever think of finding locally-owned cafes and diners to grab a cuppa mocha java instead of enriching people from Seattle? I know, Starbs is the cool coffee spot, beloved by hipsters. I urge the pack to find another place that knows how to treat people right.

And one last thing before I finish my tea. Here come the standard stencilled-and-outlined PR denials! Johnson is now saying, "This is not who we are."  Balderdash. This is EXACTLY who you are, or people would not be so steamed.  Maybe it's not who you WISH to be, but you can work on that while I get my tea at home.