Starbucks Encouraging Baristas To Talk Race With Customers
DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) - A major coffee house chain is looking to do more than sell lattes.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced this week that they will encourage their employees to start conversations with customers about race.
Harold McCormick of Plymouth was picking his hazelnut latte at the Starbucks in Southfield. "It's not really what I go to Starbucks for - and I think they are going to run into a situation where people in line may be unhappy these conversations are going on, and the barista's are busy."
"I think it's a great idea, and their heart, I think, is in the right place. It's just the wrong venue - other than making people think about it they are not going to accomplish a lot from the two-minute conversation you might have," said McCormick.
One Starbucks customer tells WWJ he is glad the corporation is stepping forward on this issue.
"I think it's a good thing," he said.
Andrew Melhuse of Southfield talking about racial issues with his Starbucks barista could go either way.
"I feel like there could be good sides to it and there could also be a lot of negatives - I mean we have a lot of tension about race now-a-days, I can say because I'm in an inner-racial relationship that there are still a lot of people these days that look at you - point fingers and say 'why are they together.'"
Starbucks employees will be able to opt out of the campaign.