When next you are in Starbucks to get your morning Venti Latte Macchiato, you might want to avoid the bathroom. There may be a needle disposal box in the bathroom…for heroin needles. Pity the employees who had to sign a petition to get the disposal boxes.

There is history here in case you have forgotten. Let us jump in the Wayback Machine and travel back nine whole months ago. Apparently, Starbucks used to have a “buy a product, if you want to sit at our tables” policy. Which seems perfectly reasonable to me. Those lights, those tables and that air conditioning don’t come free, am I right? Then, two black men in Philadelphia, with help from woke bystanders, screamed racism when asked to make a purchase. Here is how the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the trouble:

The two men, whose identities remain unknown, were sitting at a table at the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce Streets on Thursday afternoon. They were waiting for an acquaintance, but didn’t make any purchases. When they refused to leave, a store manager called police, who arrested both men and led them out of the store in handcuffs. No charges were filed, as Starbucks declined to prosecute.

I knew that would sound familiar to you. Starbucks’ management, born again in wokeness, was appalled:

In an interview with the Inquirer and Daily News, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson called incident “reprehensible,” vowing to work with store managers and employees to address any “unconscious bias” across the coffee chain. He made similar statements in an interview on Good Morning America.

How do you reach into someone’s soul to “address any unconscious bias”? Nevermind. In addition to paying each of the two men involved $1.00 and addressing that unconscious bias, the bean brains at company headquarters decided to give up any purchase requirement. One could sit in Starbucks for ten hours a day. Make no purchase. Use the bathroom. Wash up. Maybe do a little laundry or sell or use drugs.

Ben Shapiro explains it beautifully:

Well of course, in the naturally sped up world we live in today, it didn’t take years for the chickens to come home to roast, I mean, roost. Not even a year later Starbucks has a problem. Drug addicted persons, homeless or any ne’er do well can nest all day. There are reports of stalls of a bathroom being closed for extended periods for extended cleaning. Shudder!

The Daily Wire reports:

Fast forward a few months. Certain Starbucks locations, less than a year after announcing this enlightened new restroom philosophy, now must install special disposal boxes for used heroin needles. They’ll also be removing regular trashcans from some bathrooms after employees expressed concern about getting pricked with needles while changing out the bags. There have been reports of condoms, alcohol bottles, and blood stains on the floors. Indeed, this bathroom free-for-all has made bathrooms ironically less accessible as some Starbucks restaurants have had to close their stalls for extended periods due to, says the New York Post, “prolonged cleaning.”

Can you imagine all those Art History majors/baristas having to deal with those bathrooms. Of course, Starbucks management didn’t rush to their aid as it did when Social Justice was at risk. Fox News reported that the employees had to sign a petition:

Several Starbucks locations in the Seattle area will be installing safe needle deposit boxes in store bathrooms after thousands of workers signed a petition calling on the coffee megachain to “protect employees.”

Workers took to Coworker.org to pen the petition, which 3,700 employees had signed by Wednesday evening, 300 shy of its 4,000 person goal.

In the petition, workers urged corporate to place needle deposit boxes in Starbucks bathrooms, citing the “heroin” and hepatitis C “crisis” as well as the risks involved with unsafely discarded hypodermic needles.

“Exposure to HIV/AIDS, Hep C, Hep B, etc. is a risk in Seattle where there is a heroin/hep c crisis,” the petition claimed. “Employees risk getting poked, and DO get poked, even when following ‘protocol’ of using gloves and tongs to dispose of used needles left in bathrooms, tampon disposal boxes, and diaper changing stations.”

The petition went on to report that along with the risk of being poked with needles, “Employees have to pay out-of-pocket for [treatment if poked] before being reimbursed until Starbucks’s company insurance kicks in.”

Raise your hand if you are a sentient being with commons sense and you know that this was all foreseeable. Right. Starbucks and every for profit company provides a good or service. They employee people to sell said goods and services for the benefit and enjoyment of the public. Company then pays employees and makes a profit. Company tries to be a good neighbor. In Social Justice World, this means having no standards and proliferating a growing problem. Drugs. Well done Starbucks.

Me, I am a Folgers girl.

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