As Starbucks is gearing up to to close its stores later this month for racial-bias training following an event that happened just a few weeks ago when two black men were unjustly arrested in one of their locations, it seems the company is back in the news for another case of discrimination.
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A man named Pedro, last name not disclosed, made his order at a Starbucks location in California and gave the barista his name. Upon receiving the order, he found the name on the cup did not belong to him. In fact, the name upon the cup was actually a racial slur for Mexicans: beaner.
Racism without even realising it
When he noticed what was written on his order, he decided to confront the barista. 'I asked him if he realized what they had put on his cup. He said no. So I was really upset about it, because that isn't OK', Pedro said.
The baristas chalked it up to a misunderstanding, claiming that they could not understand what Pedro was saying despite the fact that they heard well enough to understand his order.
Unfair compensation for discrimination
In response to the event, Pedro contacted Starbucks directly who offered him the paltry sum of in the form of a gift card. Since the outpour of attention on social media after the event, it seems Starbucks has since taken the event more seriously and has reached out to Pedro personally.
'We met with the customer this morning at one of our local stores in the area and he accepted our apology. This kind of mistake is unacceptable, and we will take additional steps to assess what happened here and how our partners can be better', says a Starbucks spokesperson. It seems like the racial-bias training couldn't come soon enough.
