A Starbucks in Oklahoma is in hot water after intentionally insulting a police officer who was working on Thanksgiving Day by calling him a “pig.”

This is a case of someone trying to do a nice thing and getting a proverbial slap in the face for having the nerve to wear a uniform into a Starbucks. An officer with the Kiefer Police Department decided to treat the dispatch workers who were covering Thanksgiving Day to coffee. The officer stopped at a Glenpool, Oklahoma, Starbucks. Most Starbucks shops these days print labels with the customer’s name and the drink order, to be adhered directly to the cup. When this officer got the coffee to take to the dispatchers, the labels listed the customer name as “pig.”

The officer contacted his chief, who contacted the manager of the store. The manager offered to reprint the labels if the officer came back. Because that will solve everything if they just covered up the offending slur, right?

Police Chief Johnny O’Mara had a different idea.

The complete post reads as follows:

So… one of my on-duty officers decides to do something nice for our dispatchers. It’s Thanksgiving Day; our dispatchers are under appreciated as it is. My officer goes to Starbucks to get the dispatchers coffee as a thank you for all they do (especially when they’re working a holiday.)”

This is what he gets for being nice.”

What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town.”

This cup of coffee for a “pig” is just another little flag. It’s another tiny symptom and a nearly indiscernible shout from a contemptuous, roaring and riotous segment of a misanthropic society that vilifies those who stand for what’s right and glorifies the very people who would usher in the destruction of the social fabric. It’s another tiny pinprick into the heart of men and women who are asking themselves more often: “Why am I doing this?”

Just pour the coffee, please. Are we at a point where a task as simple as pouring an exceptionally overpriced cup of coffee is so complicated that it cannot be accomplished without “expressing oneself?”

As a side note, I called the store and was told they’d be happy to “replace the coffee with a correct label.” The proverb ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’ came to mind.”

Thank you, first responders, for risking it all this Thanksgiving away from your families. If you’re looking for coffee use a place where you pour your own and you’re certain of what’s in it.). Stay safe; go home.”

Starbucks corporate has now gotten involved, calling this “totally unacceptable and offensive” on the chief’s Facebook post. Apparently, the employee involved reached out to the officer and apologized, saying she meant it as a “joke.” Hilarious, right?

And now corporate gets to clean up yet another mess by a local Starbucks when it comes to insulting or refusing to serve law enforcement. This is a recurring problem in many a Starbucks across the country.

And now it has spread to Oklahoma. You would have thought after the incident this last summer in Arizona, there would have been an official corporate message sent to all shops: serve law enforcement like any other customer, treat them with courtesy and civility, and if you don’t, you won’t have a job here. If that notice had gone out, do you really think that a barista in Oklahoma would thought it was a “joke” to label a police officer a “pig” on a coffee cup, on Thanksgiving Day or any other day?

Common sense is no longer common, and neither is basic courtesy. This barista thought it would be funny to call a policeman a “pig,” and the manager’s nonchalance about the incident speaks volumes about Starbucks’ culture, and it’s not pretty. When we hear repeated stories about food tampering when it comes to law enforcement, being called a “pig” seems like a minor thing when compared to what food tampering could do to a police officer. But it isn’t. It’s really the first sign of disrespect that could lead to spitting in an officer’s cup someday.

If Starbucks is smart, they will crack down hard on this store in Oklahoma, and send out the word that they are tired of cleaning up after employees who fancy themselves social justice warrior baristas. Company culture starts at the top, and if a police officer can’t get a cup of coffee in peace, the company culture needs an overhaul.

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license