RaceTogether

Discussion relating to current events, politics, religion, etc
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SR
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RaceTogether

#1 Post by SR » Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:46 am

http://news.starbucks.com/news/what-rac ... -customers

I think it's brilliant. A gathering place to the masses.....where there's inherant commonality. Love it

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Artemis
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Re: RaceTogether

#2 Post by Artemis » Thu Mar 19, 2015 1:59 pm

Personally,I don't like the idea of the staff engaging customers in a conversation about race. I think that goes way beyond the scope of the individual's job as a barista/server. When I go into a coffee shop I go in to buy coffee. I don't want the staff to discuss race, religion, or any other political issues with me. All I expect in a Starbucks' type of establishment is prompt, friendly and efficient service. Some customers may like it, and that's fine, but not for me.

I would rather read about Starbuck's paying their staff better wages and paying corporate taxes in all the countries they operate in.

For sure it's great marketing to sell more product and show that the company is trying to be a good "corporate citizen".

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mockbee
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Re: RaceTogether

#3 Post by mockbee » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:18 pm

Artemis wrote:. When I go into a coffee shop I go in to buy coffee.
That's expecting a lot of your local Starbucks. :lol:

It's been about 20 years since I've had what I consider coffee at a Starbucks. :noclue:

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Re: RaceTogether

#4 Post by creep » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:35 pm

how awesome would it be while there are 20 people in line and the 18 year old starbucks cashier is discussing race relations with the old guy in front of you. :conf:

this idea is silly

by the way i've only had coffee maybe two or three times in my life.

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perkana
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Re: RaceTogether

#5 Post by perkana » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:39 pm

I hate it when they mispell my name :conf:
And yes, I'm not interested either.

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crater
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Re: RaceTogether

#6 Post by crater » Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:08 pm

I've never been in or ever had anything from Starbucks :wiggle:

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farrellgirl99
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Re: RaceTogether

#7 Post by farrellgirl99 » Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:34 pm

I think we obviously need to have continued and more substantial conversations about race. I don't think we need to have them through/because of a clumsy corporate marketing idea.

i only go to starbucks during the summer to get the passion fruit iced tea. overall, its just too expensive to frequent.

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SR
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Re: RaceTogether

#8 Post by SR » Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:19 am

Yup. Formal times and places with the educated in suits addressing this doesn't work. This won't either....alone. But it's a great way to introduce the concept of equality in a benign way, first thing in the morning. No baristas are lecturing. :crazy:

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Re: RaceTogether

#9 Post by Hype » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:19 am

The Starbucks corporation is a creepy brainwashing cult that exploits pretense for profit. They're evil and should be boycotted. This isn't a good thing, it's a bullshit opportunistic marketing ploy for the Whole Foods soccer mom set. :jasper:

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Re: RaceTogether

#10 Post by SR » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:48 pm

Evil corporate demon is another thread. Oh well.

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mockbee
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Re: RaceTogether

#11 Post by mockbee » Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:03 pm

SR wrote:Evil corporate demon is another thread. Oh well.

amazon is another evil corporate demon asshole corporation.....if we are going to start another thread about that.......... :hehe:

but i love amazon....... :neutral: :conf:

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Essence_Smith
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Re: RaceTogether

#12 Post by Essence_Smith » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:42 pm

Regardless of what anyone here thinks of Starbucks or any other big corporation I think the idea regardless of intent and motivations in and of itself is a bold one and I like it in theory. At least one big company was brave enough to say we would like to encourage our employees to talk about this with our customers. How to get that conversation started in that environment is a whole other issue and easier said than done obviously. I go to Starbucks pretty much 5 days a week and one of the main reasons I go is because the baristas do a great job of making me feel welcome. Familiarity with what I typically order is something I love...but those poor people in NYC SB's are too busy to possibly have that conversation...so now the running joke for me is going in each day and asking the staff at the one I go to (who are mostly black) why we're not sitting around talking about "The Struggle"... :lol:

I don't necessarily think big companies should be trying to implement this kind of thing, but even if it was a misguided idea, at least it started people talking about talking... :hehe:

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Re: RaceTogether

#13 Post by blackcoffee » Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:43 pm

I was recently at an event at the VA and heard from Starbucks higher ups who are implementing a campaign to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses. I was very impressed with their approach. Given what else Starbucks has done recently: money for college, superior health insurance, their stance on marriage equality, giving employees a year off with pay after working their for ten years, etc. I'm very impressed with how they've managed to align being a for profit company with social responsibility.

Now If only they'd make decent coffee.

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Re: RaceTogether

#14 Post by Hype » Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:56 pm

blackcoffee wrote:I was recently at an event at the VA and heard from Starbucks higher ups who are implementing a campaign to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses. I was very impressed with their approach. Given what else Starbucks has done recently: money for college, superior health insurance, their stance on marriage equality, giving employees a year off with pay after working their for ten years, etc. I'm very impressed with how they've managed to align being a for profit company with social responsibility.

Now If only they'd make decent coffee.
Their college thing is a scam too. They're trying to make people *think* they're doing socially responsible things. It looks like that's working. :jasper:

The one thing they could do to make people's lives immediately better, they do the literal opposite of: allow their goddamned employees to unionize.
Last edited by Hype on Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: RaceTogether

#15 Post by creep » Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:57 pm

blackcoffee wrote:I was recently at an event at the VA and heard from Starbucks higher ups who are implementing a campaign to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses. I was very impressed with their approach. Given what else Starbucks has done recently: money for college, superior health insurance, their stance on marriage equality, giving employees a year off with pay after working their for ten years, etc. I'm very impressed with how they've managed to align being a for profit company with social responsibility.

Now If only they'd make decent coffee.
and paid decent wages

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Re: RaceTogether

#16 Post by blackcoffee » Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:28 pm

Adurentibus Spina wrote:
blackcoffee wrote:I was recently at an event at the VA and heard from Starbucks higher ups who are implementing a campaign to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses. I was very impressed with their approach. Given what else Starbucks has done recently: money for college, superior health insurance, their stance on marriage equality, giving employees a year off with pay after working their for ten years, etc. I'm very impressed with how they've managed to align being a for profit company with social responsibility.

Now If only they'd make decent coffee.
Their college thing is a scam too. They're trying to make people *think* they're doing socially responsible things. It looks like that's working. :jasper:

The one thing they could do to make people's lives immediately better, they do the literal opposite of: allow their goddamned employees to unionize.
How is the college thing a "scam" ? I'm as skeptical as the next person, but I think that what they're doing is far more legit/sincere than Bill and Melinda Gates...

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Re: RaceTogether

#17 Post by Hype » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:24 pm

blackcoffee wrote:
Adurentibus Spina wrote:
blackcoffee wrote:I was recently at an event at the VA and heard from Starbucks higher ups who are implementing a campaign to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses. I was very impressed with their approach. Given what else Starbucks has done recently: money for college, superior health insurance, their stance on marriage equality, giving employees a year off with pay after working their for ten years, etc. I'm very impressed with how they've managed to align being a for profit company with social responsibility.

Now If only they'd make decent coffee.
Their college thing is a scam too. They're trying to make people *think* they're doing socially responsible things. It looks like that's working. :jasper:

The one thing they could do to make people's lives immediately better, they do the literal opposite of: allow their goddamned employees to unionize.
How is the college thing a "scam" ? I'm as skeptical as the next person, but I think that what they're doing is far more legit/sincere than Bill and Melinda Gates...
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014 ... ine-print/
But the public relations fanfare about the new program buried a key reality about the Starbucks announcement. The new system means the end of an older one that was less generous but more flexible, and it’s difficult to say if the trade-offs that result from that transition will produce a net improvement for the company’s workers. Critics warn that details of the new Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP) indicate it may not be a real improvement for the 15,000 to 20,000 workers the school expects to enroll.
The new plan is open to any Starbucks worker who averages at least 20 hours per week, and will reimburse all tuition costs beyond what ASU and federal financial aid covers for juniors and seniors. Workers who successfully enroll at ASU Online will be able to study any of 40 different degrees without any expectation that their studies will relate to their work for the coffee giant. The old tuition reimbursement system that is ending required that employees work toward degrees that “directly prepare you for a job at Starbucks,” and provided less money (between $500 and $1,000 per calendar year depending on an employee’s tenure).
But it allowed workers to enroll in any accredited college or university based on what made the most sense for them, including in-person classes that experts say are especially critical for low-income workers to succeed in their education. While Starbucks workers are still getting a benefit that is very uncommon for the food service industry, the new program means some stark changes for the 135,000 “partners” who staff the company’s stores.
“We’ll make sure we can get you through this year,” a Starbucks representative said on Monday when a worker named Jess asked about the current tuition reimbursements, “but at that point, they’ll begin to conclude and we hope that maybe you might be able to explore this as a different way.” Students like Jess will have to finish their degrees this year, or transfer to ASU Online in order to continue getting help from Starbucks.
Despite being more generous in dollar terms and subsidizing employees’ education without requiring that they commit to staying at Starbucks after graduation, the restrictive nature of the new Starbucks plan compares unfavorably with other tuition assistance plans American companies offer, according to Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan, the Robertson Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and a commentator on online education models.
Note that it requires employees to *average* a minimum of 20 hrs a week. Starbucks, like so many other non-union shit-jobs, is very good at manipulating hours to minimize costs.

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Re: RaceTogether

#18 Post by creep » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:28 pm

give them a break. they only made over two billion dollars in profit last year.

they are now the #2 food chain in sales behind mcdonalds which i think is incredible. i bought a muffin there once.

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Re: RaceTogether

#19 Post by Hype » Mon Mar 23, 2015 6:32 pm

creep wrote:give them a break. they only made over two billion dollars in profit last year.

they are now the #2 food chain in sales behind mcdonalds which i think is incredible. i bought a muffin there once.
It's because they sell eight cents of english muffin and pseudo-egg and quasi-cheez for $7, and three cents of coffee for $5. It's the perfect crime. It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be a giant money laundering scheme.

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Re: RaceTogether

#20 Post by clickie » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:33 pm

Damn Hype, you sound like someone who used to earn a living from being a cashier at the local gas station.

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Re: RaceTogether

#21 Post by chaos » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:34 pm


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Hype
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Re: RaceTogether

#22 Post by Hype » Tue Mar 24, 2015 3:51 am

clickie wrote:Damn Hype, you sound like someone who used to earn a living from being a cashier at the local gas station.
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?

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Re: RaceTogether

#23 Post by clickie » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:08 am

My point was it was interesting to see that side of your personality.

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Re: RaceTogether

#24 Post by clickie » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:18 am

All I knew about you was youre an intellectual philosopher. I didnt realise you have some blue-collar experience to go along with it.

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Re: RaceTogether

#25 Post by Hype » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:25 am

I see. Well, I am blue collar. I grew up in subsidized housing. I can only afford to go to graduate school because I have a scholarship.

But anyway, my personal disgust at the front-line inner workings of Starbucks, and the literally insane brain-washy corporate culture they promote, does play a role in my view of the company as a whole. In fact, just watching their standard scheduling practices was enough to make me contemplate joining the Wobblies. They're not the only corporation that does the sick shit they do to people, but they're particularly strongly opposed to attempts to unionize, and their aggressive expansionism has turned entire cities into shitty coffee wastelands full of people who pay way too much for poorly made coffee. The beans are fine, if mostly over-roasted, but they're also way over-priced.

Howard Schultz can say he wants his front-line employees to write the same shit on every cup and start up a conversation if prompted, but that will get interpreted by psychopathic mentally deficient managers as a mechanism for disciplining employees who don't adhere to a robotic bullshit script.

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