You guys, we need to have a national conversation about race. But do we really need to have it at Starbucks -- with the baristas? Next time you order a latte you could get a whole lot more than you asked for.
Starbucks has just announced their new "Race Together" program. Here's how it works, as explained by CEO Howard Schultz: Baristas will write "race together" on your cup if they're interested in having a conversation about race with you. You'll pick up your cup and run the hell away. Or maybe you won't even notice!
Either way, I wish I were joking, but I'm not. This is really a thing -- apparently it's already been happening at locations including New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
You can see they have good intentions, I guess. They mean so well! Supposedly this came out through a series of conversations Starbucks had with its employees. And I agree that we DO need to have frank and honest conversations about race. But not this way. Sounds more like a fresh order of awkward to me.
When was the last time Schultz was in line at Starbucks, anyway? It's crowded in there. People just want to grab their drinks and go. Because. We have things to do. That's why we need the coffee.
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Well, good luck to them. Frankly, I can't see any Starbucks employees in New York City actually participating in this exercise. They're way too busy keeping that long line moving! Except maybe that one guy who took pains to inform me that heating up the chocolate chewy cookie isn't in the manual, so he couldn't do it -- I bet he'd write "Race Together" on a cup. And then he'd argue with me.
What would you do if you received a "Race Together" cup at Starbucks?
Image via Starbucks