Starbucks Appreciation Day

Starbucks Appreciation Day is Sunday February 21st. If you're a coffee fan go support Starbucks for their decision not to cave to anti-gun pressure and engage in discrimination. Personally I don't like anything at Starbucks, though I'd drink Brew-Haha lattes daily if I could afford it.

I'm going to make a suggestion for those of you planning to hit up Starbucks on the 21st, and it falls in line with what Breda said here. Don't bother the baristas. Their job is hard enough, they have to get up early and deal with people all day long. Most of them don't really want to chat with you about gun rights, politics, your kids projectile vomit, or what you had for lunch. I'm not saying we shouldn't engage people, only that sometimes best course of action is more targeted activism.

I've worked at jobs where I had to serve customers all day, and while at times I didn't necessarily mind chit-chat and small talk I can't say I enjoyed it either. The last thing I wanted to do when things were busy and we had a line halfway through the parking lot was have a superfluous discussion with a customer. I want to get everyone served so I can have a bit of downtime before the next rush where I'll have to run around a mile a minute again. It's a slightly different situation if the place is dead, but even then I have things to get done that I couldn't do while there was a rush of customers.

Furthermore, the barista really has no relation to Starbucks Corporate. Unless said barista is a fellow gunnie it's more than likely they're going to be unaware of Starbucks decision to allow people open carrying guns to patronize their establishments. There's really not much benefit to bringing this up directly with your barista, although if you annoy them enough you're likely to get subpar service.

Obviously I'm not saying you shouldn't mention it to the baristas. That's entirely up to you if you choose to do so, but I really think we should focus our praise towards the right people. Ask for the store manager and tell him why you've decided to give him your business. Write to Starbucks Corporate or e-mail them. Those are the folks who told the Brady Campaign to stuff it and they're the ones we need to be sure and thank.

UPDATE - Read Stingray's take here. Hilarious and yet there's quite a bit of truth to it.