I half jokingly said (as I’m sure others have as well) that Starbucks just opened public restrooms, homeless shelters, and mental institutions in nice places all over the country.

It’s a knee-jerk stupid policy that Starbucks will be forced to retract at some point in the not so distant future.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I suspect they will be employing this rule more often:

"Starbucks corporate communications said it's not the company's policy that they can't ask someone to leave. If a guest is not creating a “welcoming experience” for the rest of the customers then that person can be asked to leave by staff of the store, Starbucks told NBC10. "

I both feel the original incident and the reaction were wrong. Their local franchise acted wrong, but as a corporation the new policy was kind of stupid.

Perhaps an allowable amount of time to wait for your party would be better. After 15min, you are asked to wait outside for your party.

For the restroom thing, imagine having a location that happens to be at a point off the interstate where lots of travelers might need to use a restroom but not necessarily buy anything. Why should a company be paying to clean up after people not contributing?

FWIW, I'm "that guy" who will make a stink in a fast serve food place like a coffee shop if you sit down without ordering and I have my food/family ready to sit and there's nowhere to sit.

If a place is busy and there aren't other available seats for customers, it's rude as shit to take up seating if you're not actively eating.

This can include buying a $1 refillable cup of coffee and parking your ass in front of a laptop for 3 hours taking up a 4-top table.

When has applying logic and rational thought to a situation ever worked? Nope, once we decide to not arrest people just waiting on a guy we have to let the creepy guy hang out harassing people all day.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

This^^

Cue the idiot who will push "welcoming experience" to the max by deciding to polish his guns at Starbucks while sipping a Venti.

More likely, what if the peeping photog in the current case was black and the complainant was white (for the record, I don't know the actual races). After this complaint about an "unwelcoming experience", something tells me Starbucks will then be requiring future patrons to watch a 15-minute sensitivity training video before they can order.

All because everything is a "thing" today.

I agree. I'm not convinced the store manager asked them to leave out of racism but she didn't handle the situation well. The two men in question also acted poorly and escalated the situation. They cops gave them the option to leave or get arrested.

"East Norriton Township Police Detective Michael Hendricks told NBC10 that while the man’s actions were upsetting, they were not illegal. Hendricks said they’re still investigating, however, and have identified the man. They hoped to determine his motive."

This is how businesses die. I would never go back.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the man bought a coffee?

Because I fail to see how kicking out black people but not white people are haven't bought anything is at all related to a perv taking pictures of children. I mean, are pervs allergic to coffee? Are they too poor to buy a donut? I'm just trying to figure out the logic in how this would have been prevented by requiring people to be paying customers in order to hang around a Starbucks.



....and to get directly to the point, I don't think its a Starbucks policy that you can never kick anyone out of a Starbucks.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

I have very mixed feelings about this.

I think the general idea of a "third place" is great. And has a long history in other countries/cultures. I spent a summer working in a pub in London and there were some weird/mean/dirty/whatever folks that hung out there all day. But that was part of the charm. And there were some rich or locally famous folks that also hung out there. It was fine. They just ignored the weirdos. We're not used to that. I remember being told by the owner, "oh, Jerry's a pedophile. And never buys anything. Just ignore him." Although, I don't recall straight-up homeless folks hanging out there.

But we are REALLY REALLY not used to that here in the US. Took me a long time to get used to Jerry.

Andy