Notes on Starbucks Incident

Starbucks incident

Prepared by Bill Bowden for OLLI class, “Lifelong Philosphy”

Meeting of May 11, 2018

Sources

USA Today

Associated Press

NPR

The Washington Post

CNBC

Good Morning America

Eater.com (“The freshest news for the food world every day”)

Sequence of events

April 12, 2018

Two African American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, enter downtown Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square Starbucks.

They ask to use the restroom, informed they are for customers only. Asked if they would like to order something, they say no. Say they are waiting for a friend.

The manager calls the police and says the men are trespassing. The police arrive, ask the men to leave. They refuse. They are arrested, handcuffed, and taken away.

The friend they were waiting for shows up as they are being arrested.

Starbucks declines to press charges. Two to three hours later, they are released from custody.

Observations from various media

A police report says the men cursed at the manager when told the restrooms were for paying customers only. (NPR)

The manager called the police because they declined to buy anything. (USA Today)

Police commissioner Richard Ross said the officers gave the men the choice of buying something or leaving. They were asked politely three times to leave. (NPR)

Ross later apologized for the arrests, saying neither he nor his officers were aware of the lack of a clear Starbucks policy on non-paying customers. (Eater.com)

Starbucks’ policy on hanging out at its stores is not clearly dictated in any company directives. The company refused to comment on this. (Eater.com)

A Starbucks spokesman said, “In this particular store, the guidelines were that partners (managers, presumably) must ask unpaying customers to leave the store, and police were to be called if they refused.” (The Washington Post)

Rashon and Donte say they were given no reason as to why they had to leave. (Good Morning, America)

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said, “The basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong.” (NPR)

Executive director of Starbucks Howard Schultz said the police were called because the men were African American. “I’m embarrassed by that. I’m ashamed of that.” (The Washington Post)

Rashon and Donte contend this kind of thing happens “Every day, all the time, everywhere.” (AP)

Starbucks will close more than 8,000 stores on May 29 for an afternoon of “racial bias education” training for over 175,000 employees.

Bill’s observations

There appears to be confusion over an official Starbucks policy about making a purchase or leaving. There are anecdotes about customers staying for hours and not always refilling their drinks.

When police officers tell you to do something and you refuse, you can be in violation, whether or not you are actually guilty of anything. If you say you weren’t’ speeding and try to drive away from the highway patrolman citing you, you are guilty of not cooperating with law enforcement. Because Rashon and Donte felt they had done nothing wrong, they declined the opportunity to avoid arrest by either ordering something or leaving (says Police Commissioner Ross.)

Millions of people patronize Starbucks every day. There are about 200,000 Starbucks employees. It’s risky to use the Philadelphia incident as an indication of widespread racism within Starbucks. How do you assess this?