Previous post
![Sec State Pompeo Puts Iran on 12 Step Program [VIDEO]](https://victorygirlsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Khamanei.jpg)
After two black men were arrested after refusing to leave a Philadelphia Starbucks last month, Starbucks has revealed its new policy this weekend in response to the incident:
“The men arrested in Philadelphia were non-paying customers who said race was a contributing factor in them being asked to leave. There was no evidence to support the claim, but the national media ran with the story, resulting in Starbucks shutting down operations at more than 8,000 stores to rush its employees through diversity training.”-BPR
Starting Monday I'm using the bathroom in every Starbucks without buying anything. just try and stop me you can't.
— Böb Jänke (@Bob_Janke) May 20, 2018
Who else wants to go to Starbucks with McDonalds coffee and use their wifi and bathrooms tomorrow?
— the Cult of Mike (@elvisknievil) May 20, 2018
While a fair share of snark has been looming around the Twitterverse, Starbucks’ new policy also breeds some concerns, especially in my home city of Seattle where Starbucks sounded off about the $275 per full-time employee head tax voted in by the (useless) Seattle City Council earlier this week:
“This City continues to spend without reforming and fail without accountability, while ignoring the plight of hundreds of children sleeping outside. If they cannot provide a warm meal and safe bed to a five year-old child, no one believes they will be able to make housing affordable or address opiate addiction. This City pays more attention to the desires of the owners of illegally parked RVs than families seeking emergency shelter.” –Starbucks Senior Vice President, John Kelly
I can see it now. Free syringes with every visit for tourists who want to get a glimpse of the first Starbucks. Downtown Seattle has been increasingly worse over the years and could, in fact, be the worst the country:
The Seattle Times reported that on one night in January of last year, 11,643 people were sleeping in shelters, outdoors, or in vehicles.
With 121 homeless people per 10,000 residents, Seattle surpasses Washington, D.C. (110), New York City (90), and Los Angeles (59).
Just last week, Christopher Teel, a 24 year-old homeless encampment resident in the Ballard Nicklesville camp (one of the city’s 6 “sanctioned” encampments), was charged with first-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation after he was arrested in connection with the rape of a woman in a temporary restroom of the Carter Motors right across the street from his “village”. There are other tiny home “villages” popping up around Seattle that allow drug use. For those who do not live in a tiny home community (and who do not want to go to a place where they may be required to get clean), they can just camp in their RVs and shoot up in the neighborhood cemetery. It’s bad. Really bad. And sadly, I doubt the restrooms of Starbucks will see women and children who are sleeping outside looking for a warm and safe place as the majority who take advantage of this open-door policy.
Kissing everyones ass doesnt work.#Starbucks This will be great in Seattle. Starbucks will be full of homeless people. https://t.co/O2hOOdJZjf
— Guerilla News (@theguerillanews) May 20, 2018
Starbucks is already full of homeless people in Seattle. Can confirm, they use it as a day shelter (especially the one at First and Yesler, where they guard the charging outlets violently.)
— Fox Doucette🏀🍳🥓🥞 (@RealFoxD) May 20, 2018
And then, there’s this:
I have a friend who just left Seattle PD (working Narcotics) who says legal pot attracted many homeless people from outside the state.
— anajay (@anajay) May 21, 2018
Yeah. Thanks for that, Jay Inslee.
The bright side of all of this? Perhaps we can stave off the dreadedPoop Mapsfor at least a few years. We can thank Starbucks for this.
Scott says: BWAHAHAHAHAHA…. hmm something about chickens… home… roost…
Stephen Ippolito says: An interesting and well-written piece about an interesting issue. Thank you.
Am I alone, though, in confessing to never having understood what has made Starbucks so phenomenally successful?
When they first opened in Australia I tried a cup but it was awful. It tasted burnt and tepid and the decor seemed routine to me. So I tried another cup elsewhere – and then a third cup at a third Starbucks, but all the same. Burnt and underwhelming. I never returned.
I know you can’t argue with success, but their appeal is a real mystery to me.
Being a student of business I even bought and read a book on the founding and subsequent development of the chain in an effort to understand why it is just so successful.
The answer proffered was something about their being a magical/mystical “third place”- neither home or office, but in-between. Isn’t that true of all cafes and coffee bars?
And now I learn that their leaders are undistinguished too.
Having built and run my own law firm for many years I can assure you there is no achievement – and no point at all – to attracting people into your shop or office when you charge them nothing at all. All that will happen is that these new “bums on seats” will crowd out, annoy and discourage the paying customers. I will watch how this unfolds with interest.
Scott says: Stephen,
If you cannot see the genius of starbucks, and truly appreciate their version of coffee, you quite clearly are NOT a hipster douche, and therefore are not capable of understanding the appeal..
Lisa Carr says: I will be watching as well, Stephen. All from my car with my black coffee I got from a mom-and-pop coffee stand!
GWB says: This City continues to spend without reforming
HAHAHAHAHAHA! This is exactly what you progressives WANT. It’s what you keep asking for!
If [the city] cannot provide a warm meal and safe bed to a five year-old child
WTH is that the city’s job? Why aren’t YOU providing that? You’re the one with the deep pockets. Why do you insist everyone else pay for it instead of YOU stepping up? Could it be that you really don’t want to DO the virtue, but want the CREDIT for it?
Honestly, if you think the homeless need help, then give it to them yourself.
Seattle is … blecch. When I lived in the area I tried to never actually go into Seattle.
Lisa Carr says: Always on-point, GWB (and all)! what would be wrong with some hot coffee, scones and overpriced breakfast sandwiches for the homeless women and children looking for a warm place and food? I remember every year at the little diner I worked at in AZ through college, we would host a Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day from about 11am-2pm. Everybody was welcome. We would serve our community homeless and just those who needed a traditional dinner but may not have had the means to buy the food for it, cook it or who were just alone and lonely. I loved sitting with some of those folks and talking to them. The sad issue about a great deal of the homeless in the city of Seattle is that some of them are that way BY CHOICE. They camp out in tents and RVs because the shelters want them CLEAN and they would much rather smoke pot and shoot up heroin and walk into stores and steal stuff. I heard a story the other day about a security guard in a Bartell Drugs downtown who would literally stand in the store to prevent fights from breaking out amongst the homeless population but could not do ANYTHING if they were to steal stuff. As a result, they’ve walked out with beer, chocolate bars…whatever! Looks like some full-time employees in the City of Seattle should be looking for other jobs because none of the nouveau riche, Tesla-driving, bleeding heart liberal hipsters will want to drop $7.00 on a “Vente 180” and a potty break. And to think some of these very same people get pissed when they see Bible studies going on in a Starbucks. SMH.
thesgm says: I was at a Six Sigma Class in North Chicago once. The last day was Friday and we got out at about 10 or 11. I hit the road back to Iowa without getting rid of all the coffee I had that morning so, on the expressways, I was hurting.
I missed the 2 interstates back to Iowa in my preoccupation with finding a truckstop and ended up pulling off in South Chicago in dire straights. There were people and school age kids everywhere. Every gas station I pulled up to had bars and a sign that said “No public bathrooms.”
It was the southside so I could’ve probably just whizzed anywhere and was about to when I saw the Golden Arches! I knew they would have an open bathroom.
I dashed inside only to find the urinal was out of order. It had a garbage bag taped around it. Undeterred, I open the bathroom stall.
In the stall were 2 guys in their bare feet, in various sorts of undress, just staring at me!
I closed the stall, pee’d in the sink and left.
The future of Starbucks.
brad G says: Starbuck’s banged it’s own head into a brick wall trying to bend over too far as it tried to achieve PC fame. This follows after a minor, perhaps racist, incident the Philly; but even this is dubious, since who knows what the character of that neighborhood was. It may be the sort of neighborhood where you are stupid if you aren’t suspicious of young black men hanging around — and that’s not being racist: it’s simply being cautious since around 90% of the crimes are committed by young black men. So Starbucks immediately slams it into full PC mode, and invites everyone one in, to hang around, use the bathrooms…take a break from sleeping on the sidewalk….whatever. Of course, this isn’t exactly the sort of environment most of the gentile crowd feels comfy hanging with at 8 am, so they forgo the $9 coffee and head to the local gas station. Oh darn — so now only the rabble is sleeping there, driving even the rats out of the place. Gosh — what a fantastic reward for such a stupid policy!!
Stephen Ippolito says: Scott, LOL. Made me spit out my coffee.
The standard of commentary, like the ladies’ pieces, is always high on Victory Girls but I found the comments on this particular thread all particularly witty.
Now, back to my modest, very tasty, inexpensive – and bum free – home-brewed macchiato
Scott says: Glad to be of service!
10 Comments