Democrats Thrown Out of Starbucks!

[Pryderi]

Dems get bum's rush
Staffers declare coffee café a politics-free zone
BY PATRICK CROWLEY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Northern Kentucky Democrats who gathered to talk party politics were given the boot from the Newport Starbucks Wednesday night.

According to people who were at the gathering, two Starbucks employees approached the group while Campbell County Democratic Party Chairman Ken Mullikin was speaking shortly before 6 p.m.

The employees, who were described as stern by some and rude by others, told the 15 to 20 Democrats they had to leave the shop because it would not play host to a political gathering.

Katie Henderson, president of the College Democrats at Northern Kentucky University, said she was "disappointed and upset" because a similar gathering had been held there a month earlier.

http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20060714/NEWS0103/607140388

[madeline_con]

1. Wow, finally! Something I don't have to STOP buying to boycott....

having never darkened the door of one. :woohoo:

[Pryderi]

2. Actually, the founder of Starbucks is a heavy dem donor.

[madeline_con]

5. Then he needs to tighten up. n/t

[formernaderite]

14. I actually understand this sort of policy

It's bad for business if a company mixes politics and customers preferences....I think any of us would be repulsed if they allowed repubs to hold an open meeting with speakers.

[treestar]

24. It doesn't sound like they had one though

If they were just meeting there to talk to each other, what's the beef?

[bluestateguy]

3. If I owned a coffee shop I wouldn't let Republicans have a meeting

I think this is more particular to the local area rather than company policy.

[MADem]

6. Ya know what? I WOULD....

I'd find a way to put up a room divider, and let the bastards spend their money and use the joint. I'd charge them a reasonable fee, say, twenty five bucks an hour, and expect them to order coffee to boot.

Hey, may as well make some dough. The trick is to segregate the people from your regulars, and that's not so hard to do.

[liberalitch]

12. ...keep your enemies closer.....

[mrreowwr_kittty]

18. Same here. Their money is green. Take it from them. n/t

[pepperbear]

4. I look forward to.....

Starbucks' response.

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[Pryderi]

7. Starbucks' Response:

I’d like to thank you both again for taking the time out today to speak with me.

I appreciated your candor and must agree that we had the opportunity to handle this situation in a much different way. Again for that, please accept my sincere apologies.

As regular Starbucks customers, I am sure that you both know that two important cornerstones support the Starbucks Experience; the highest quality coffee and an environment that’s welcoming and inviting. To be sure, we work hard to create an environment geared toward the sharing of conversations, ideas and experiences.

Let me again assure you that though Starbucks itself is an apolitical company, Starbucks does not have a policy prohibiting groups discussing political topics from meeting in our stores. Instead, our guidelines are geared toward creating an environment where people of diverse opinions feel welcome. In protection of that ideal, we may sometimes overreact to situations that seem to conflict with that notion.

We don’t take this issue lightly. Our district manager for the area spent most of the day clarifying our procedures involving large gatherings in our stores to ensure that this won’t happen in the future. Further, we are planning to communicate about these guidelines to our stores across the U.S. and Canada.

I certainly hope this unfortunate experience doesn’t affect your decision to meet at this or any other Starbucks location in the future. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly to set up a time to do that, if it’s convenient for you.

Warm regards,

Keith Stewart

[pepperbear]

9. I only got through a couple of handfuls of popcorn...

and there's the answer. Thanks Pryderi, and thank YOU DU!

:patriot:

[Aviation Pro]

8. Let's see...

...twenty paying customers at Fourbucks times $10 for their overpriced and burned coffee would equal $200. Nice going business savvy manager. (Hope that word of mouth doesn't bite you in your asshole, soon-to-be ex-employee).

[Pryderi]

10. I would recommend they go to a locally owned, independent coffeehouse

[NYCGirl]

11. BTW, Starbucks is a 100% blue company.

http://www.buyblue.org/node/1898/view/summary

[liberalitch]

13. It's possible that those particular employees saw "RED"....

or maybe some freak RW customer acted like a child and complained......

[MADem]

15. Yep, which is why I think, if a group wants to have an organized meeting

They should come up with a couple of shoji screens and give them a small corner of the joint to themselves (and make them pay a small fee for their fun).

That way, they've staked out their space, the rest of the customers don't have to deal with them, and the problem is solved.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MADem]

17. Either a customer, or one of those "managers" they have there

that get paid a salary so they don't have to pay them overtime.....

[oasis]

19. Dems should talk in code. Instead of saying "Bush is a jerk" they could

say "Chimpyboy is a jerk". Rightwingers would never imagine that their spiritual leader would be refered to as a chimp.

[RangerSmith]

20. or possibly

they are just a place that sells coffee and not a place that holds meetings.

[liberalitch]

21. There are many here among us who think that people....

organizations HAVE to pick a side. That's fine.
But I also think its okay to just sell coffee.... maybe I'm old.

[ellie]

22. God, I hate Starbucks

I used to go every day, spending $3 plus on coffee. Their rude employees ended that. Fuck them. And no amount of complaining to the corporate office does any good.

[pdxmike]

23. smart policy

Maybe poor execution-I wasn't there.

I can understand this policy. You don't want to drive away customers in a competitive business. I'm sure some knuckle draggers might take umbrage at seeing a gathering like this. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that this particular Starbucks endorses the Northern Ky Dems, if they allowed a meeting on their premises.
Having said that- if you're going to ask the Dems to leave, you don't have to be a jerk about it.