When the great “being black in Starbucks” fiasco hit the national news, it flabbergasted me. If you missed it, two black dudes in Philly went to Starbucks for a business meeting and the barista called the cops on them for, according to some perspectives, “being black in Starbucks.” Details of the fiasco aside, I couldn’t understand how something like that could happen anywhere. When I go to Starbucks in Atlanta a third of the clientele are black, a majority of the baristas are black, and half the cops are black. I didn’t process that any place existed where black people in Starbucks were unusual. It took me a bit to understand that Atlanta may be a relatively unique place in the USA. The most violent Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were in Portland and Seattle, which begins to make sense when you realize that most of those protesters have probably never even seen a black person up close.
He's slamming Portland? I resent that remark. I've seen black people here and I've even seen them up close. Okay, not many. Maybe only one. But I've seen him.
As far as the BLM protests, I think we have more spoiled white kids looking for a cause, anything besides making money as a cog in a giant corporation. Can't say as I blame them. I like working, but the bullshit you have to put up with to get a job sucks big time. Interviews are never about the work, and they are never with anyone who knows anything about the work. They're always about some other nonsense.
He told the story wrong. As I recall the first black guy showed up for a meeting and didn't buy anything. They said he needed to buy something and he declined to do so. He was just sitting in the store and wasn't at that point a customer. That is what got the cops called.
ReplyDeleteI find Starbucks here in Yurp expensive. Is that true in US too ?
ReplyDeleteYes it is. Keeps the cheapskates, like me, out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, seeing Black people anywhere in Philly is normal. It had to be their behavior either looked like preparing to rob the place or refusing to buy anything like ambisinistral said.
ReplyDeletexoxoxoBruce