Radiating grandiosity and condescension, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is asking the company’s 200,000 employees to write “Race Together” on every coffee cup they serve, and to use those cups to open a conversation about race with customers.
Who in need of a caffeine fix hasn’t hoped to engage in a spirited conversation about race with the person bringing her that coffee?
And what barista isn’t eager to share his surely well-considered feelings on the topic with the people he serves — you know, the ones who don’t respond when asked, “How are you today?”
Surely, other workers and customers in line won’t object if a spirited talk does ensue.
Schultz has described a dream that a CEO can make his employees engage in talk that will help heal America:
“I think we’re so much better as a people than are showing up in so many cities across America. So what if we were to write ‘Race Together’ on every Starbucks cup and that facilitated a conversation between you and our customers? And what if our customers as a result of that had a renewed level of understanding and sensitivity about the issue, and they themselves would spread that to their own sphere of influence?”
Well, Howard, what if you just got us coffee, we paid you money and left things there?
Then again, the Internet has exploded with hilarious suggestions for #NewStarbucksDrinks. A small sampling: Some of My Best Friends Are Black Coffee, Flat White Supremacy, By Any Beans Necessary. Malcolm Xpresso, Chocolate Lattes Matter and Tea Shall Overcome.
All you can do is laugh.
![In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]](https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1820955015.jpg?w=490 "In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]")
