- Joined
- Jul 17, 2019
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- 2,074
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- Chicago suburbs
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The Little Arrow That Could
<small rant into the void>
Starbucks passed a new rule that says that if you're not going to buy something then you're not entitled to use their space or their amenities. Remarkably, this is considered controversial in some metropolitan areas and has been covered in nearly all international news sources: from WSJ to BBC to FT to you name it. Critics are calling it the "buy something or get out" policy. Starbucks has even required special 3 hour training sessions about how to ask someone to leave. An alliance representing homeless people is petitioning for them to change tack.
... And here's where I have to briefly vent.
Personally, I think it's absurd that it took them 7 years to reach that conclusion after initially changing their policy, and required them hiring a CEO who got paid $96mil for 4 months of work to adopt a "no duh" policy. But I guess 96mil for 4 months of labor is really the going rate for common sense these days?
As someone who lived downtown Chicago for more than a decade and frequented SBUX/Peets/Caribou for both business/personal meetings, I have more experiences than I can possibly count where I'd go in to get a coffee with a boss/colleague/friend/by myself and then, lo-and-behold 25% of the spots are occupied by strung out hobos mumbling to themselves, and the bathroom will be tied up for 30 minutes at a time by an ignorant crazy person. Over time the inmates just sort of started to run the prison, demanding free stuff, bathroom keys, and sprawling out on the sofas to sleep, and occasionally even devolving into violence and fighting amongst each other or arguing with real customers. I saw police remove them from the SBUX on more than 1 occasion. And I don't know how but over time this sort of just got accepted as a normal state of affairs. But it isn't and it never was and everyone knew it, it just wasn't polite to point it out.
I mean... I can't just walk into a restaurant and take up a table without ordering. I can't go to a hotel and ask for a free room because it's empty at the moment. I can't go into Costco and sit on the display furniture for 6 hours and sleep. So what am I missing? Why is it so bad to kick someone out of a SBUX if they just want to take up space and treat it like their living room without giving the business a dollar?
I'm not saying we need to kick people to the curb in Chicago when it's -10 F out and they need a place to warm up for a little bit (I do have a soul after all). But at the same time I'm glad to see Starbucks (where I've gone everyday for coffee for the last 20 years) is finally adopting common sense.
Curious about other folks in metro areas and their experiences and views on this.
Starbucks passed a new rule that says that if you're not going to buy something then you're not entitled to use their space or their amenities. Remarkably, this is considered controversial in some metropolitan areas and has been covered in nearly all international news sources: from WSJ to BBC to FT to you name it. Critics are calling it the "buy something or get out" policy. Starbucks has even required special 3 hour training sessions about how to ask someone to leave. An alliance representing homeless people is petitioning for them to change tack.
... And here's where I have to briefly vent.
Personally, I think it's absurd that it took them 7 years to reach that conclusion after initially changing their policy, and required them hiring a CEO who got paid $96mil for 4 months of work to adopt a "no duh" policy. But I guess 96mil for 4 months of labor is really the going rate for common sense these days?
As someone who lived downtown Chicago for more than a decade and frequented SBUX/Peets/Caribou for both business/personal meetings, I have more experiences than I can possibly count where I'd go in to get a coffee with a boss/colleague/friend/by myself and then, lo-and-behold 25% of the spots are occupied by strung out hobos mumbling to themselves, and the bathroom will be tied up for 30 minutes at a time by an ignorant crazy person. Over time the inmates just sort of started to run the prison, demanding free stuff, bathroom keys, and sprawling out on the sofas to sleep, and occasionally even devolving into violence and fighting amongst each other or arguing with real customers. I saw police remove them from the SBUX on more than 1 occasion. And I don't know how but over time this sort of just got accepted as a normal state of affairs. But it isn't and it never was and everyone knew it, it just wasn't polite to point it out.
I mean... I can't just walk into a restaurant and take up a table without ordering. I can't go to a hotel and ask for a free room because it's empty at the moment. I can't go into Costco and sit on the display furniture for 6 hours and sleep. So what am I missing? Why is it so bad to kick someone out of a SBUX if they just want to take up space and treat it like their living room without giving the business a dollar?
I'm not saying we need to kick people to the curb in Chicago when it's -10 F out and they need a place to warm up for a little bit (I do have a soul after all). But at the same time I'm glad to see Starbucks (where I've gone everyday for coffee for the last 20 years) is finally adopting common sense.
Curious about other folks in metro areas and their experiences and views on this.
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