@Finn dAbuzz,
That is not a very convincing article.
The fact that the other customers sided with the people being arrested is the most compelling fact. The other speculations don't change that.
@maxdancona,
There have been numerous incidents where bystanders have given false accounts of what happened. In any case, I didn't post it to convince you or anyone else of anything.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43981366
Quote:Two black men who were arrested at a Starbucks cafe by Philadelphia police last month have reached a financial settlement with the city.
Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson will each receive a symbolic $1 and a promise from officials to set up a programme for young entrepreneurs.
The arrest of the men, who had not yet ordered and were waiting for a friend, kicked off a row over racial profiling.
Quote:The settlement, which was confirmed to BBC News by a spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny, includes a vow from the city to contribute $200,000 (£147,000) to the new programme.
The grant money will go towards creating a pilot programme "for city public high school students with aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs, as envisioned by Robinson and Nelson, who will not receive any money from the grant", the city announced in a press release.
Quote:After spending hours in jail, they were released and no charges were filed.
The Philadelphia chief of police later apologised for his handling of the arrest.
Mayor Kenney said in a statement that he was "pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner".
"This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city," he continued.
"Rather than spending time, money, and resources to engage in a potentially adversarial process, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson approached the city and invited us to partner with them in an attempt to make something positive come of this.
"This agreement is the result of those conversations, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of this effort in the coming months and years."
Quote:Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson came to Philadelphia to personally apologise to the two men.
In a joint statement with Mr Nelson and Mr Robinson, Starbucks announced that it had reached a separate financial settlement with the men earlier this week.
That confidential settlement "will allow both sides to move forward and continue to talk and explore means of preventing similar occurrences at any Starbucks locations", the statement said.
Mr Johnson added that he wishes to "thank Donte and Rashon for their willingness to reconcile".
Mr Nelson and Mr Robinson jointly said they appreciate the effort to foster communication, and add "we will be measured by our action not words".
As part of the settlement both men have been offered university scholarships by Starbucks, and the opportunity to meet former US Attorney Eric Holder, who has been hired "as part of the company's long-term diversity and equity efforts".
The company plans to close more than 8,000 stores in the US on 29 May for anti-bias training.
BBC tagged it with Philadelphia/Starbucks/United States/US race relations
fox news borrowed AP's coverage and filed it under Crime
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/02/black-men-arrested-at-starbucks-settle-for-200k-program.html
**** that bullshit.
I have never been inside a Starbucks. It seems to me their training session will help a few employees be more mindful of their actions. Human nature being what it is, there are sure to be further such incidents. Maybe in lesser numbers -?
There's a fair amount of debate as to whether a half day training exercise will do any good. I think the focus on the training itself is misplaced. The benefit will be the statement management made about how they consider this. Now each barista will remember that corporate has certain expectations around customer service. Each manager will know that if you call the police on a customer you need a solid reason. Maybe they just never thought about it before, but now they have, if only briefly. Regardless of the content of the training, the challenge from management will move the balance from the expectation that managers be on the watch for undesirables hanging out and using the bathrooms more towards a balance of watchfulness and customer service.
There were several Navy ship mishaps in the Pacific last year. The watch officers and captains were held responsible and the senior officer in the Pacific was fired, but the Navy also held a one day stand-down to review safety. Did that stand-down really upgrade the continuous training that goes on every day throughout the Navy? I doubt it. What it did do is bring the issue to the forefront of everyone's attention. Every lookout, helmsman, watch officer, navigator, etc. spent a day thinking about it. I'm sure that the next time they went on watch, that awareness was there - I screw up and people die. Obviously, the stakes aren't as high at Starbucks, but when someone who doesn't look like the typical customer walks into a Starbucks and attracts the manager's attention, there will be a pause where the manager will test that gut reaction before jumping to conclusions. That pause is the purpose of the training and I think it will be very effective in doing that.
@engineer,
I worry that some people are going to use that pause to find a way to cause a problem for their non-standard/undesirable customer that is perhaps more subtle but just as damaging. Not feeling as optimistic about the training as I did a few weeks ago. Reading FB comments does that.
