A pair of female officers from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department stopped into a Starbucks during a nightshift to get a couple of coffees to aid them on their patrol. They quickly understood that they weren’t going to get the beverages they wanted after approaching the counter.
According to the department, the cops repeatedly inquired whether they would be served, only to have workers chuckle and dismiss them. According to the department, it was a matter of discrimination instead of bad service.
The deputies eventually departed and went to another coffee shop to have their coffee. Sheriff Bianco noted that it is just another example of the company’s anti-law enforcement bias. After his charges against Starbucks became public, the corporate office reacted quickly.
Despite its apology, Starbucks disputes that its staff discriminated against the cops, blaming the event on workers being busy at 11 p.m. The department, though, isn’t buying their story, claiming that Starbucks is simply attempting to cover up its involvement in anti-police hatred.
Starbucks claims that the female deputies were wrongly disregarded, resulting in substandard customer service. Sheriff Bianco, on the other hand, is supporting his staff, whom he claims were mocked and purposefully ignored.
Although Starbucks’ apparent apology for the event and acknowledgement that no cop should be treated in this manner, the company’s response has only fueled further criticism. Rather than putting out the fire, the coffee giant is now facing much more criticism than before its representative reacted.
Many people have pointed out that anti-law enforcement incidents continue to occur at Starbucks with little to no repercussions. Others have noted that when Starbucks has faced allegations of racism or prejudice from its workers in the past, the corporation has implemented company-wide sensitivity training. Nevertheless, no similar measures have been taken in the case of confirmed anti-police incidents.
Others, however, have pledged to boycott Starbucks, pushing police forces to refrain from visiting the location in order to send a message to the corporate headquarters. These same individuals have voiced surprise that cops continue to patronize Starbucks despite so many similar events.
Starbucks commits to conduct a probe into the event and not schedule the workers implicated for shifts until the investigation is completed. Yet, given the spokesperson’s remark that the scenario looked to be a simple example of bad customer service, the controversy appears to be doomed to die down like the others.
Sheriff Bianco would not back down from his criticism of the company’s treatment of the alleged prejudice. However, it’s unclear if he and his coworkers will continue to use the institution or take their money to a coffee shop that recognizes police personnel.
Riverside County Sheriff Deputies Ignored at Riverside Starbucks: Two Riverside County Sheriff Deputies visited a Starbucks location on University Ave in the City of Riverside to get a coffee when they stood there for an unreasonable amount of time to be served according to Starbucks Corporate, who obtained video surveillance footage of the store and reached out to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and local media outlets due to the social media negative attention. KSEQ was able to provide a statement from Starbucks that stated: “There is simply no excuse for how two Riverside deputies were ignored for nearly 5 minutes at our store on Thursday evening. We are deeply sorry and reached out to apologize directly to them. We take full responsibility for any intentional or unintentional disrespect shown to law enforcement on whom we depend every day to keep our stores and communities safe. No customer, in or out of uniform, should ever have that experience at a Starbucks. “ I was able to meet up tonight with Riverside County Sheriff, Chad Bianco, his lovely, amazing and supporting wife, Denise and the two Deputies at the focal point of this incident. All is good though, no one's feelings are seriously hurt enough about this incident that they will stop responding to a calls to assist the public, respond to calls to serve and protect the community in the utmost professional manner, etc… Although, change needs to be made at the top and make a statement that this type of behavior should not be tolerated…
Posted by Steve Johnson on Saturday, 14 December 2019
