Remember that open bathrooms thing?

In 2018, Starbucks implemented policy of allowing public access to bathrooms after "racial" incident; now reconsidering policy due to "safety" issues

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SEATTLE, WA- Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced last week that the upscale coffee chain is rethinking its policy of allowing the general public to access its restrooms due to “safety” concerns, The Blaze reports.

Schultz, addressing a forum hosted by the New York Times last week, told attendees that store safety and mental health is one of the biggest issues facing Starbucks employees today.

 

“We serve 100 million people at Starbucks, and there is an issue of just safety in our stores, in terms of people coming in who use our stores as a public bathroom, and we have to provide a safe environment for our people and our customers,” he said. “The mental health crisis in the country is severe, acute, and getting worse.”

 

Shultz noted in light of such issues, “We have to harden our stores and provide safety for our people. I don’t know if we can keep our bathrooms open.”

According to the New York PostStarbucks implemented the policy back in 2018 after two black men were arrested at one of their Philadelphia stores after a manager denied them use of the store’s bathroom and where they were accused of trespassing. As expected, the “racism” card was played and Starbucks changed their policy.

 

Upon changing their policy, Starbucks said that “any customer is welcome to use Starbucks spaces, including our restrooms, cafes and patios, regardless of whether they make a purchase.”

In addressing the policy change at the time, Schultz said:

“We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision a hundred percent of the time and give people the key,” he said. “Because we don’t want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to you to the bathroom because you are less than.”

 

As a result of the incident, Starbucks closed all of its stores in the United States for one day for “racial bias sensitivity” training for all its employees. Moreover, the coffee chain also reached a financial settlement with the two “victims.”

Despite Starbucks bending over and grabbing its corporate ankles, the incident still triggered a nationwide boycott of Starbucks.

“I think it’s fair to say that most people have some level of unconscious bias based on our own life experience,” Schultz said at the time of the training. “So there’s going to be a lot of education about how we all grew up, how we see the world, and how we can be better.”

 

Schultz was appointed interim CEO of Starbucks in April, his third such turn at the helm. His return came in the midst of an effort by some Starbucks employees, including in its home base of Seattle, to unionize.

In response the company announced in May they would invest $200 million on stores and employees, including higher wages for employees who are not in a union. Schultz has slammed efforts to unionize the company in the past, claiming Starbucks is a “pioneer” in worker benefits and compensation.

Schultz doesn’t believe that unions have a place in the transformation of the company into a more worker-centric company.

“We don’t believe that a third party should lead our people,” Schultz said.

 

He claims unionization is part of a larger “generational divide,” the Seattle Times reported.

 

“What’s happening in America is bigger than Starbucks,” Schultz told forum attendees. “Starbucks unfortunately happens to be the proxy.”

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Rob B
1 year ago

Open bathrooms are disgusting...but the open boarders have allowed cocain to make it all the way to the Whitehouse

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