The decision by Starbucks to let everyone know that anyone is now welcome to not only use their bathrooms but also hang out in their shops and patios even if they don’t buy anything is getting some praise from some and lots of criticism from others.
Starbucks says person who walks into a Starbucks is now considered a customer and they don’t have to buy anything.
The new policy is the result of the incident a month ago or so when two black men were told by a Starbucks manager in Philadelphia to leave because they were sitting in the store without ordering anything. The cops were called but no charges were filed.
The new policy does give employees a procedure to follow for dealing with anyone who behaves in a disruptive or dangerous manner, such as that guy at an L-A area Starbucks caught on video yelling a Muslim woman the other day who was asked to leave.
But now that Starbucks has made it known to the world that anyone who wants to come and hang out at any of their coffee stores, for as long as they want, and use their bathrooms as many times as they want, they are welcome to do so. Anyone who walks in and sits down is now considered a customer.
Problem is, a lot of regular customers at Starbucks are not happy about it.
They worry about it being a place where people now just hang out to hang out and a place where homeless people can spend their day.
Starbucks stores could end up having so many customers not buying anything there won’t be enough room for the traditional customers who actually do buy something and may decide they want to start buying their coffee somewhere else.
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