Starbucks dropped the ball in New York (Charged Rescue Workers For Water To Save Lives)

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | Tuesday, September 25, 2001 | ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.

[SES1066]

...made it easy to seperate the bad from good...

I'd have to say that this is wrong based on personal experience. This incident was a local NY Store with a totally stupid reaction to an active disaster, it most likely was NOT corporate policy.

I was a volunteer and donor at a local blood drive in Tampa, FL on Thursday 09/13. Late morning that day, a local Starbucks sent 2 employees with a large insulated dispenser of coffee and fixings to our site. They set it up and left a phone number for refills. Shortly after that Pizza Hut showed up with about 5 pizzas for lunch. I have no idea if this kind of donation was made in other places since I was only in this one place.

Frequently bad news makes better news than good news. In this case I am making known what I have personal knowledge of these 2 company's good corporate citizenship. I believe that at this place and time WE ALL have a responsibility to make GOOD NEWS known. This is my attempt to show another side of this story!

[katze]

"Selling the product at its regular price is not opportunism." from arunan

Of course you are correct in the above comment. Providing the water without cost might be called compassion for the victims, showing support and appreciation for the resccue workers, and sending a message to the terrorists, "by damn, we take care of our own", or someting to that effect.

I'm through with this, since I don't know where you're coming from, but let me tell you this--I hope death came quickly to those we lost, but the injured, and those who risk their lies by helping the injured, deserve far more than anything Starbucks has to offer.

Enjoy your next cup of Starbuck's, but don't try to rationalize why *I* should.

[JimRed]

Who needs to go into a hangout for left wing yuppies anyway? Most DINERS serve better coffee, cheaper!

[LantzALot]

Almost every little inn in France serves a pitcher of black coffee and a pitcher of steamed milk. My wife would have a cup of half coffee and half milk, and no more. I would have the same, and then drink the leftover milk and coffee each straight. GOOD!

At home, it's 100% Columbian. (Think: Juan Valdez.) Used to have to buy only Yuban, but most makers now produce it. Just be sure to make it strong. Then you get a rich taste without the Starbucks harshness.

[toupsie]

We are talking about human life. Not about a few windows that needed being covered. By your logic, no one should give out water to dying person because its not theirs but the shop owners. Call me crazy but no job is worth letting another person die right in front of your eyes.

I am sorry that there are people that think of the economic ramafications before human life. This was a store less than 1/2 mile from Ground Zero. You would think common sense would carry through. They knew what was going on outside. I live in Manhattan and was in Midtown at during the attack and I knew hell on earth was just 50 blocks below me.

[pray4liberty]

Bad form. Extremely bad form.

[Focault's Pendulum]

We are not amused.

Wasn't meant to be amusing. /Valid questionn, I thought.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I thought about it from the point of view that water is a primo ingredient for coffee, and hence there is a responsibility to make sure demand doesn't outstrip supply. However, somebody could have lost their life while the rescue workers were engaged in fishing for the checkbook or checking their wallets. Making a billing arrangement could have cost precious time as well. A boycott, in this case, is a very reasonable response...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

$3.00 a pop for tylenol from our health care system sounds like greed to me too.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, our health care system has its own greedheads to deal with: malpractice plaintiffs (some with a genuine grievance) and lawyers, power-greedy government regulators, and, of course, delinquent customers (some of which are NOT greedheads, of course).

[WomanofStandard]

I stand corrected on the part of the article that you corrected me on. I now see that it was the newspaper who got the message that the company president "could not be reached". But, I can't say that improves my opinion of them much. An executive who does not want to be held responsible often makes sure they cannot be reached. They use their secretaries as sheilds.

[grego]

I've noticed that Char Bucks just can't hang up the American flag; nope that would just be too darn patriotic. They are after all such a tolerant company. Prerequisite to work there: 4 nose rings and a multitude of tatoos. Char Bucks is just too cool to have a flag up; so Interntional & global.