THE STARBUCKS STOPS HERE!

I have never had a cup of coffee from Starbucks. I hate coffee. I tried a few times to drink a couple of cups of coffee to develop a taste, but it never worked. It tasted terrible when I drank it and the awful taste seemed to linger for months. So, I have never understood the attraction to Starbucks in the first place.

Starbucks was one of the most respected brand names in the world. Here in Folsom, there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner. There is always a line at the drive thru window and the restaurant seems to always be crowded. Now, I think Starbucks may be in serious trouble. This is a classic example of a knee jerk reaction to political correctness resulting in incredibly stupid business decisions.

This all started when a Starbucks employee allegedly asked two black men to leave, because they weren’t buying anything. This was immediately portrayed as an act of racism. Perhaps it was, but we don’t really know. As far as I can tell, no one investigated to see if white people were also asked to leave if they stayed too long without buying anything. The liberal left assumed racism and Starbucks panicked. Starbucks decided to make their restrooms available to everyone, whether they buy anything or not. That is guaranteed to make Starbucks very popular with people in desperate search of a public restroom. If you have ever used the restroom in a public place, like a Bart Station, you know what to expect. It won’t be pretty.

Someone made a fake coupon offering free coffee to any black person who takes the coupon to Starbucks. This may have been intended as a tasteless joke (pun intended.)

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/fake-starbucks-coupons-circulate-online-promising-free-coffee-for-black-customers.html

This created a lose-lose situation for Starbucks. People started showing up with coupons expecting free drinks. If Starbucks honored the coupons, they would be racist. If they didn’t honor the coupons, they would be considered racist. All Starbucks got was angry customers and bad press.

In response, Starbucks shut down every store in the country for eight hours of mandatory diversity training:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-01/uncomfortable-starbucks-employees-respond-becoming-worlds-biggest-public-toilet

This is guaranteed to make things worse. I distinctly remember when a company I worked for had mandatory diversity training. These arrogant self-righteous instructors came in, poured the oil of political correctness over everything and offended almost everyone. White associates who were not racist, were deeply offended when the instructors tried to explain why they needed to come to grips with their racism. Black employees were offended because this made them believe everything that happened to them really was racially motivated. The real racists just laughed. They didn’t care what these self-righteous liberals had to say about anything.

It won’t work for Starbucks either, because this never works. In addition to Starbucks becoming the world’s largest public bathroom facility, there will be more racial incidents. Some people will show up wanting to be offended. In their haste to eliminate racism, Starbucks is incentivizing both racism and victimhood. Odds are they will get a double dose of both. In the meantime, a lot of people will really wonder if the high-priced coffee is worth it. The buck already stops at Starbucks, that may now change.

I predict, sooner rather than later, Starbucks will start to look a lot like Sears.

TDM