Six Cops Eighty-Sixed, Starbux Spox Perplexed

 

TEMPE, AZ – Short and not-so-sweet: Six (in some stories five) Tempe police were drinking coffee at a Starbucks before going on shift to police July 4th festivities. An unidentified patron complained of feeling unsafe with the police officers there. The person in charge, who knew at least one of the officers, asked them to either move out of sight of the complainer or leave. Cops left.

The Police Union posted about it on Twitter, adding a ‘Dump Starbucks’ graphic. The Union also ‘reached out’ to Starbucks corporate, apparently as corporate was reaching out to them (I am imagining an accidental collision that looks like a glancing open-handed fist bump) with the kind of verbiage that only dedicated flacks can: “We know this is not a national policy at Starbucks Corporate and we look forward to working collaboratively with them on this important dialogue,” and “We have deep respect for the Tempe Police Department and its service to our community,” said the Starbucks statement. “We have reached out to understand better what may have happened in our store, and to apologize for any misunderstanding or inappropriate behavior that may have taken place.”

I suppose I should be happy about collaborative important dialogue work over inappropriate behavior that in fact did take place, but the whole affair is more confusing than anything else.

Who is training people to say, ‘I don’t feel safe’ and who is training business people to take them seriously when they do say it? Why did the person in charge not just inform the patron that he was probably safer now than he has ever been anywhere else?

Or just tell the patron, “no”.

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  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    The reason that I don’t feel safe when I see cops in the same restaurant as I am is due entirely to my RTF (Resting Thug Face).

    • #1
  2. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Interesting. I bet it never occurred to the manager to give the option of “move out of sight or leave” to the quaking customer.

    • #2
  3. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Most people feel uncomfortable with cops around.  So what?  Get over it.

    • #3
  4. DonG Coolidge
    DonG
    @DonG

    It used to be that wholesome restaurants would give cops free coffee just to have them around more often.  Times have changed.

    • #4
  5. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    I feel unsafe around people who claim to feel unsafe. 

    • #5
  6. Anamcara Inactive
    Anamcara
    @Anamcara

    If someone is planning to rob the store it’s a pretty good way to get rid of the cops. Has it been tried in a seven eleven?

    • #6
  7. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Most people feel uncomfortable with cops around. So what? Get over it.

    “It increases my paranoia,

    Like looking at my mirror and seeing a police car.”

    • #7
  8. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    The only reason I go into a Starbucks is to leave then a present in the rest room.

    • #8
  9. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    Another good reason for me to never even enter my very first Starbucks. Along with wildly overpriced coffee, I mean.  I don’t feel unsafe around police even though I’ve only known a few personally. My encounters with officers of the law have been, with one exception, very positive. Even including the one time I was issued a speeding ticket.  I keep my speed within reason, drive defensively and don’t worry that I’ll be caught. There are a few bad apples on police force, like everywhere else, but largely they do their best in a tough job. I feel safer when they are around   

    • #9
  10. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    TBA: Or just tell the patron, “no”.

    The sensible answer.

    What if I told a barista, “I don’t feel comfortable with those five black teenagers wearing hoodies.  Ask them to move or leave, please.”?

    My guess is I’d be told to get my bigoted butt out of their store.

    The bottom line with Starbucks is there’s always an incident and an apology afterwards.  Why doesn’t Starbucks corporate issue a once-and-for-all edict telling its employees cops with guns are always welcome?

    • #10
  11. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Stad (View Comment):
    Why doesn’t Starbucks corporate issue a once-and-for-all edict telling it’s employees cops with guns are always welcome?

    Probably because they aren’t.

    • #11
  12. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    “Barista” has almost become a shorthand joke for “woke 20-something activist who can’t keep a job elsewhere because they;re majoring in humanities”.  Obviously it doesn’t apply to all of them, or to all Starbucks locations. But the Tempe manager might want to swap places with the store manager in Philadelphia, who tried to kick the non-purchasing homeless person out of Starbucks and created a national crisis, became an Enemy of the People, and cause the company to change its entire policy towards homeless people using store restrooms (PR flack apology aside here, you can be sure Starbucks corporate is not going to tell all its stores not to kick police officers out, as it did with their homeless, because they care more about the left being mad at them then they do the right being angry).

    • #12
  13. J Ro Member
    J Ro
    @JRo

    Ooh, next time I’m getting a Starbucks in the US, I’m going to try telling the barista,

    “Your hairstyle, visible tattoos, and nose rings make me feel unsafe.”

    • #13
  14. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    My husband asked me, “If the cops had refused to leave, then what? Who would the barista have called to get rid of them??”

    • #14
  15. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Stad (View Comment):

    TBA: Or just tell the patron, “no”.

    The sensible answer.

    What if I told a barista, “I don’t feel comfortable with those five black teenagers wearing hoodies. Ask them to move or leave, please.”?

    My guess is I’d be told to get my bigoted butt out of their store.

    The bottom line with Starbucks is there’s always an incident and an apology afterwards. Why doesn’t Starbucks corporate issue a once-and-for-all edict telling it’s employees cops with guns are always welcome?

    The story does not give the race of the “snowflake” customer.  My guess would be a young, black person, because of the false “black lives matter” narrative into which such people have been indoctrinated.  

    Nobody, not even conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson, dares tell blacks the danger to them is not the police, as they are constantly told, but other black people. 

     

    • #15
  16. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    The only time we get Starbucks is when we’re on a toll road on cross country drives.  But I think I’ll even change that.  The last one I went into had unisex bathrooms, which of course were filthy because guys do that.   Are younger women just dirtier and don’t care, or is it that Starbucks doesn’t even understand the simplest basics about the difference between men and women?  Women sit for god’s sake.

    • #16
  17. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    The complainer probably had a warrant, or a kilo of pot in the trunk of their vehicle, of course it was strictly for personal use.

    The officer’s did the right thing by leaving. It’s best to work on this type of problem from some distance rather than in the store.

    • #17
  18. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Taras (View Comment):

    The story does not give the race of the “snowflake” customer. My guess would be a young, black person, because of the false “black lives matter” narrative into which such people have been indoctrinated.

    Nobody, not even conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson, dares tell blacks the danger to them is not the police, as they are constantly told, but other black people. 

    I’ll take that bet.  

    • #18
  19. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I think that the boldness of the barista comes out of the Leftist narrative. How hard would it have been to say to the customer that the officers had the right to be there, too? Too hard, I guess.

    • #19
  20. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    Enjoy this dailymail.co.uk headline:

    “#DumpStarbucks is trending after an Arizona store kicked out five cops because customer complained she ‘didn’t feel safe’ six months after officer from the same department shot dead an unarmed 14-year-old boy”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220911/DumpStarbucks-trending-Arizona-cops-kicked-customer-didnt-feel-safe.html

    And what about those of us who don’t feel safe around people who don’t feel safe around cops?

    • #20
  21. DonG Coolidge
    DonG
    @DonG

    So, what is the reputation for cops in the Phoenix area?  I found the Mesa “Simon says” shooting to be very disturbing, but Phoenix metro area is huge and sometimes bad things happen.  The Facebook scandal of disparaging posts doesn’t help the reputation.  Stats show the Phoenix police to be quicker on the trigger than other big cities, but per capita fatalities are not exceptional

    • #21
  22. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    J Ro (View Comment):

    Ooh, next time I’m getting a Starbucks in the US, I’m going to try telling the barista,

    “Your hairstyle, visible tattoos, and nose rings make me feel unsafe.”

    Based on the association between Hepatitis  and tattoos you have a valid concern.

    • #22
  23. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):
    Why doesn’t Starbucks corporate issue a once-and-for-all edict telling it’s employees cops with guns are always welcome?

    Probably because they aren’t.

    Exactly . . .

    • #23
  24. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    I don’t go into Starbucks.  I’m a man of the people, so I get coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.

    Large, hot, black, dark roast coffee with a turbo shot.

    Starbucks got anything that can compete with that?

    I think not.

    • #24
  25. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Dunkin’ Donuts, bitter and black — like my soul.

    • #25
  26. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    I Walton (View Comment):

    The only time we get Starbucks is when we’re on a toll road on cross country drives. But I think I’ll even change that. The last one I went into had unisex bathrooms, which of course were filthy because guys do that. Are younger women just dirtier and don’t care, or is it that Starbucks doesn’t even understand the simplest basics about the difference between men and women? Women sit for god’s sake.

    Well, if you were up on “woke” you’d know that properly “woke” anatomical males are supposed to always sit, too.  So those baristas and managers might not, in fact, understand the simplest basics.

    • #26
  27. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    I used to get a white choc mocha latte occasionally but I quit entirely when they had their full day of diversity training for all employees a couple of years ago. Got on my last nerve. 

    • #27
  28. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    I go to Starbucks so infrequently, but a memory just hit me.

    Almost always, I’d go to work Key Largo casual (i.e., beach bum chic) and change into uniform from my cage at work.  Frankly, I’m not squared away enough to go in wearing civvies (PT or beach bum) and pack a complete uniform.  Guaran-damn-tee I’d forget something:  socks, t-shirt, belt, whatever.  So all my kit was at the unit, except for one complete uniform I’d keep at home, in case I got a light-night call to go up to Miami to meet with the HQ or the JTTF and swinging by work for a quick Batman change was impractical–especially in time/distance calcs for commuting in Miami.

    About three times in eight years, I was in uniform when I swung into the local Starbucks (about a block from my house) right when they opened at 0600.

    Each time, I was told “your money’s no good here.”

    So, there’s that.

     

    • #28
  29. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    Each time, I was told “your money’s no good here.”

    Wait. Is that offering you a free coffee or a stick in the eye??!!

    • #29
  30. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):
    Well, if you were up on “woke” you’d know that properly “woke” anatomical males are supposed to always sit, too. So those baristas and managers might not, in fact, understand the simplest basics.

    You mean they’re “sitz-pinklers?”

    • #30
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