Sidebar

Discussing Race Relations In The Starbucks

ValuJet

ValuJet

Moderator
Sep 28, 2000
22,626
19
0
Appropriate? Inappropriate?

Can a meaningful conversation take place in 30 seconds while you're waiting for your coffee? If the person behind you is in a hurry and in no mood to yak it up, is that a good thing?

In line at a coffee shop?

I guess my thoughts on it are that for the most part, Starbucks customers probably have a slight edge on social issues awareness and there will be a lot of preaching to the choir between barista and latte sipper. But I'm not sure I want to be lectured by a 20 year old barista on much of anything.
 
crimsonaudio

crimsonaudio

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 9, 2002
63,469
67,429
462
crimsonaudio.net
Two patrons sitting in Starbucks enjoying a cup of their crappy coffee? Zero problem.

A Starbucks employee engaging in a discussion about race relations with ANYONE while on shift? Never appropriate.
 
92tide

92tide

TideFans Legend
May 9, 2000
58,312
45,164
287
54
East Point, Ga, USA
ValuJet said:
Appropriate? Inappropriate?

Can a meaningful conversation take place in 30 seconds while you're waiting for your coffee? If the person behind you is in a hurry and in no mood to yak it up, is that a good thing?

In line at a coffee shop?

I guess my thoughts on it are that for the most part, Starbucks customers probably have a slight edge on social issues awareness and there will be a lot of preaching to the choir between barista and latte sipper. But I'm not sure I want to be lectured by a 20 year old barista on much of anything.
Click to expand...
i think the real question is whether or not a meaningful cup of coffee can be gotten at starbucks.
 
ValuJet

ValuJet

Moderator
Sep 28, 2000
22,626
19
0
Dennis Miller said he ordered a black coffee and was immediately instructed that he would receive a "de-creamed" coffee.
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,625
39,853
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
Wasn't race, but I watched an employee there in Dresden lecture my daughter on her choice of coffee (admittedly, hers is pretty exotic). We sat down and I said "Only in Germany." Or maybe not...
 
GrayTide

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
18,831
6,313
187
Greenbow, Alabama
While visiting my daughter in NYC I finally learned how to order a regular cup of coffee in Starbucks. It is called a blonde, guess that is discriminatory, so I can no longer go to Starbucks. ​Damn.
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,625
39,853
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
I've never been to a Starbucks in the states. When I would go in with my daughter in Germany and order, they'd always ask "mit Rahm?" Now, "Rahm" is like whipped cream and they had a machine for that. My coffee always came out too "blond." Plain old cream is "Sahne," but that was no where on the menu. Eventually, I realized that they had heated milk over on the side table with the sugar (Zucker), although I hadn't had milk in my coffee since I was a kid. Finally, my daughter said "Dad, why don't you just order an 'Amerikaner?'" That came with heated milk. I'd like to go back and pay them now with the present exchange rate. The last few times I was over, it took anywhere from 1.35 to 1.40 to a Euro. Recently, it's been l.06. IOW, you go into a shop and an article with a Euro tag of 10, you had to translate to $14 in your mind. Now, it's almost an equivalent...
 
Tide1986

Tide1986

Suspended
Nov 22, 2008
15,670
2
0
Birmingham, AL
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/03/19/racial_trouble_on_starbucks_island_125981.html

What are we to make of this silliness? Certainly there are serious racial problems in America. But is all this upper-middle-class agonizing over peripheral topics—endless discussion about “co-opting” culture and “appropriating” language and struggling to determine who has what “privilege” when and where—really helping? Or is it creating more problems than it solves?

I tend to believe it’s the latter. It’s easy to talk about “racism” in a broad therapeutic sense. It’s a lot harder to actually come up with solutions to real-world problems: disparities in education, family structure, opportunity, and more. Unfortunately, that’s where we often disagree, not just on solutions, but on what our root problems really are. These are questions that go far beyond racism. The answers don’t usually fit on a coffee cup.
Click to expand...
 
Tidewater

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,480
13,327
287
Hooterville, Vir.
Race is just one of those topics that we can never have a civil conversation about. Americans have a limitless ability to misunderstand each other whenever the issue gets in the same area code as race. Nothing good can come from any public discussion on race in my view. I won't be participating in the Starbucks "conversation."
 
ValuJet

ValuJet

Moderator
Sep 28, 2000
22,626
19
0
lazlohollyfeld said:
Report from the Starbucks in Allen, TX. No attempt at engaging me, or anyone else, in meaningful conversation by the friendly baristas.
Click to expand...
Hopefully, most of them know better despite their CEO's marching orders.

I heard Dennis Miller last night piling on. He said after his visit to Starbucks, he went to a burger joint where the drive-in window attendant chatted him up on women's reproductive rights, then he went to the Death Penalty Symposium at Jiffy Lube. :biggrin:
 
A

AV8N

1st Team
Sep 18, 2013
751
0
35
If I want to be preached to about social issues whilst making a commercial transaction, I'll go to Whole Foods. At least they just use signage like passive-aggressive notes.

If I got a cup with #RaceTogether on it, I'd think they were wanting me to sign up for a 5K.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Posts

Latest threads

TideFans.shop - NEW Stuff!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a> <br /> <!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \--> <p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.

Top Bottom