Re: RaceTogether
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:34 pm
I didn't earn a living, but yeah, I worked for a gas station for a while, and I also worked for Starbucks briefly. I also worked for an auto glass repair shop, and a mobile truck washing company, and various other bullshit jobs. What's your point?clickie wrote:Damn Hype, you sound like someone who used to earn a living from being a cashier at the local gas station.
Reporter: This is a little embarrassing, but I was wondering if you wanted to talk about race.
Barista: Race?
Reporter: Yeah.
Barista: What to say about it?
Reporter: I don't know, I just saw there was that promotion going on.
Barista: Oh yeah.
Reporter: Yeah. Like, what happens if someone wants to talk about it?
Barista: I don't know. Nothing.
SR wrote:Their profit margins on their inferior food and drink are not their responsibility. They will charge what people are willing to pay.
Honestly, I'd prefer that corporations *not* do that. But that's a fair point. McDonald's does things like this all the time. In fact, it's arguably McDonald's that prompted Schultz to do some of the recent things he's done.Essence_Smith wrote:SR wrote:Their profit margins on their inferior food and drink are not their responsibility. They will charge what people are willing to pay.
I'd also like someone to tell me about a company that pulls in money in the billions that is even coming close to at least attempting to look like they care about something other than their profits...please, anyone?
Race is important, but I think we should be deeply sceptical of a company like Starbucks doing something that burdens their lowest-rung employees and doesn't involve a direct and sustained investment in any kind of social program.In order to dramatically increase the number of children adopted from foster care, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) developed Wendy's Wonderful Kids (WWK) and worked with us to elevate the system fundraising to support and grow the program in every state and throughout Canada. WWK is a groundbreaking program that has made a huge impact in the world of foster care adoption.
Created in 2004, Wendy's Wonderful Kids funds full-time adoption recruiters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. These recruiters focus exclusively on moving the longest-waiting children from foster care to adoptive families.
With 194 adoption recruiters, Wendy's Wonderful Kids has helped more than 4,000 children find their forever families, and is on track to meet its goal of helping 10,000 children get adopted by 2015. In fact, every 12 hours a child is adopted from foster care because of this work. And a recently-released five-year research study on WWK shows that children served by the program are up to three times more likely to get adopted.
Wendy's Wonderful Kids is an exciting movement that we're very proud of. And it's further proof that we don't just ask, "What can we do?" - we ask, "How can we do it better?”
10000000000000000000000000000000000000 X's YESAdurentibus Spina wrote:Honestly, I'd prefer that corporations *not* do that. But that's a fair point. McDonald's does things like this all the time. In fact, it's arguably McDonald's that prompted Schultz to do some of the recent things he's done.Essence_Smith wrote:SR wrote:Their profit margins on their inferior food and drink are not their responsibility. They will charge what people are willing to pay.
I'd also like someone to tell me about a company that pulls in money in the billions that is even coming close to at least attempting to look like they care about something other than their profits...please, anyone?
Lots of corporations sponsor runs for health issues, or start foundations: Tim Horton's in Canada funds summer camps for poor youths.
It takes literally two seconds to find this: https://www.wendys.com/en-us/about-wend ... y-overview
Race is important, but I think we should be deeply sceptical of a company like Starbucks doing something that burdens their lowest-rung employees and doesn't involve a direct and sustained investment in any kind of social program.In order to dramatically increase the number of children adopted from foster care, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) developed Wendy's Wonderful Kids (WWK) and worked with us to elevate the system fundraising to support and grow the program in every state and throughout Canada. WWK is a groundbreaking program that has made a huge impact in the world of foster care adoption.
Created in 2004, Wendy's Wonderful Kids funds full-time adoption recruiters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. These recruiters focus exclusively on moving the longest-waiting children from foster care to adoptive families.
With 194 adoption recruiters, Wendy's Wonderful Kids has helped more than 4,000 children find their forever families, and is on track to meet its goal of helping 10,000 children get adopted by 2015. In fact, every 12 hours a child is adopted from foster care because of this work. And a recently-released five-year research study on WWK shows that children served by the program are up to three times more likely to get adopted.
Wendy's Wonderful Kids is an exciting movement that we're very proud of. And it's further proof that we don't just ask, "What can we do?" - we ask, "How can we do it better?”
How about: $1 from every coffee goes to the NAACP, and $1 from every breakfast sandwich goes to school food programs for poor children? At least this would actually do something. But it would cost them money, and wouldn't involve a goddamned in-your-face propaganda campaign with every transaction without anyone having to do anything except whatever bullshit some manager says.
Yes, lots of corporations do it.Adurentibus Spina wrote:
Lots of corporations sponsor runs for health issues, or start foundations: Tim Horton's in Canada funds summer camps for poor youths.
I admit to liking really really really fucking good coffee, but I'm not a snob because I also admit to really loving diner coffee. The kind you get at shitty local greasy spoons, or even a place like Denny's. The one thing I give Starbucks credit for is making Americans (and Canadians) aware of the existence of espresso. And I get it: sometimes you just want that jolt. But ya know... in every town with Italians there's bound to be a little hole in the wall (also probably a front for the mob) where you can get a properly made espresso for 25 cents. And anyway, everyone and their mother can make a good espresso now. I find that Starbucks doesn't calibrate or clean their machines properly, and it results in an overly acidic, burnt tasting shot.Essence_Smith wrote:First...where the fuck is this outstanding coffee you guys are drinking that Starbucks is so bad? For the record I drink exclusively expresso from them usually on ice and don't really drink their actual coffee, but I can name 10 other places where the coffee is far worse...buncha coffee snobs is what it sounds like...
Why are you asking the fucking managers? They're given corporate talking points/memos, etc. A manager with a brain might do what these two said. But corporate policies aren't designed to require thinking. The fact that it was a corporate move means that a ton of employees are going to be pushed by a ton of managers to say stupid things for the same low wages. I uh... say this from experience, but also because it follows pretty clearly from other corporate policies Starbucks has. They have an explicit mission to push the idea of Starbucks being "the Third Place": the other two being Home and Work. You're supposed to be made to feel like Starbucks is the Third Place where you go as part of your day. It sounds benign, but when you're on the inside, this shit feels like a cult.I spoke with two managers at two locations I frequent...apparently this whole thing has been blown out of proportion...to jist of it appears to be that they "suggested" that if they felt comfortable enough doing so, they could engage the customers on racial issues. Other than that you don't have much. They made some stickers available and told the baristas they could write Race Together on the cups if they liked...and consensus appears to be that most of the baristas didn't really mind as the people tend to be regulars anyways...
There's no real familiarity, it's part of the Third Place stuff... you're supposed to learn customers' names and their regular drinks... you're also supposed to speak in such a way that the customer feels *thanked* for having chosen Starbucks, rather than the customer being thankful for receiving good service. Again, if this were just what happened in a particular coffee house it would probably be fine, but they mandate this shit, often in the most stupefyingly robotic way.I don't know about everywhere in the country but most of the ones I go to they're familiar enough with the customers to know their names and remember their regular drinks...so there's already a level of familiarity...I dunno I like the idea of people being encouraged to talk about racial issues (obviously) and one manager told me that many of the employees were ok with the idea and the press and backlash tended to come off like "a bunch of uptight white folks didn't want to talk about it, so they shut it down before it started"...she also added that at least in her experience there are many many college educated folks that work at SB's who were in her eyes more than capable of carrying on the conversation...I dunno...