Is anti-bullying training next for Starbucks?
A month after the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain closed stores for anti-racial bias training, another mistreatment of a customer has occurred in Philadelphia.
This time, an employee mocked a customer for stuttering. Once Starbucks officials learned of the incident, company officials reached out Monday to apologize to the male customer, a University of Pennsylvania student.
The male employee is no longer with the company, a Starbucks spokesman told Nation’s Restaurant News on Thursday morning.
“We have no tolerance for this kind of behavior,” Starbucks spokesman Reggie Bores said in a phone interview. “We want everyone to have a welcoming experience when they come into the stores.”
The incident occurred on Friday, when a customer by the name of “Sam” entered a cafe near the university to order a coffee. He stuttered his name when ordering, and the employee repeated back to him, “Okay, S-s-s-Sam,” according to Tan Lekwijit, a friend who was with him at the time.
Lekwijit put the incident into the spotlight over the weekend after he described the mocking on his Facebook page.
Bores declined to reveal specific details about the transaction only stating that “the partner appeared to have mocked his stutter.”
He said the customer described the June 29 incident in an email to Starbucks’ customer service team. They apologized to him and gave him a $5 credit. Starbucks said, in hindsight, that response should have been elevated.
“It probably should have been handled a little differently,” Bores said.
On Monday, Starbucks Mid-Atlantic Regional Vice President Camille Hymes reached out directly to the customer to apologize. Starbucks described Sam as a regular Starbucks customer at a different cafe in Philadelphia. He told Starbucks he still plans to visit the stores, Bores said.
His friend wasn’t so forgiving.
On his Facebook page, Lekwijit wrote: “There are many people with speech disorders who are in a worse position than my friend’s and struggle with self-esteem and self-confidence. Getting this kind of treatment from people, especially service employees, only scars them — and I beg Starbucks employees to have this in mind.”
The incident comes in the same city, but not the same cafe, where a Starbucks manager called the police on two black men in April. The men, who were arrested for trespassing, had not made a purchase and were denied use of the bathroom. They were handcuffed and taken away by police before a stunned crowd of customers. The men were later released and were not charged with a crime.
The incident sparked protests against the chain, which prides itself as a safe haven for its customers. Starbucks closed stores May 29 to discuss the roots of racial intolerance, and provided training to employees that ensures all customers feel welcome.
Bores said the mocking incident has less to do with that May 29 training, and more about “being kind to someone who walks into our stores.”
That’s a behavior problem, and being nice is “something that our partners should inherently have,” he said.
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