“I just don’t see how a coffee companies’ position on something, can have anything to do with it’s product...??”
I agree. Unfortunately, many of the top execs at Starbucks are themselves somewhat social activists and some would like their employees and their customers to see themelves as a “community”, and the customer’s engagement with Starbucks as more than a mere purchase, but an experience.
My experience with Starbucks in my area lends me to believe that 90%+ of the staff and most of the customers do not see themselves as the “community” the Starbucks execs want to promote.
The staff, for the most part, does try to treat the customer well, but people either go for the coffee, or go somewhere else and the staff really just want to do a good job on their shift, and that alone fulfills their committment to the Starbucks “experience”.
I don’t really care about management. I just like the coffee and in most, the staff. Some of them are very busy with people using their free wi-fi, and I can put their app card on my phone so I don’t have to have my wallet with me. All in all, they’re ok by me.