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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Starbuck's article...is this shite true??? | ||||
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| tardfarm | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 12:57 PM |    | |||
| Hanger-On Registered: Jun. 01  | Here's the initial write-up: http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/jamieson/40164_robert25.shtml ...and Starbuck's damage control: http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/jamieson/40508_robert27.shtml -- Starbucks dropped the ball in New York Tuesday, September 25, 2001 By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST For Starbucks coffee mogul Howard Schultz, the terrorist attacks in New York City hit home. Schultz was born in Brooklyn. He lived in or near the Big Apple for more than two decades. He has opened more than 130 Starbucks stores in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, each one serving up java -- along with the company's hallmark customer service. So how then to explain what happened to the Midwood Ambulance Service, a company based near Schultz's old Brooklyn stomping grounds? On Sept. 11, after the horrific collapse of the World Trade Center, workers for the ambulance company rushed to get bottled water for patients. They went to a Starbucks store near "Ground Zero" and got, well, let's allow the ambulance company to spill the beans: "A great deal of people were in shock from the devastation," a representative of the family-owned ambulance company wrote in an e-mail to Starbucks. "Shock victims are supposed to drink a lot of water. When employees of Midwood Ambulance went to the Starbucks down the street to get bottles of water for the victims they were treating, can you believe Starbucks actually charged them for it!!!" Wait, there's more... "These men, heroes for what they were doing, paid the $130 for three cases of bottled water out of their own pockets. Now, I would think that in a crisis such as this, vendors in the area would be more than happy to lend a little help by donating water. Well, not Starbucks! As if this country hasn't given you people enough money already!" The e-mail continued: "I love Frappuccinos as much as anyone, but any company that would try to make a profit off of a crisis like this doesn't deserve the American public's hard-earned money." Now, let's give Starbucks the benefit of the doubt. Let's pretend for a moment that employees at the store in Battery Park were not motivated by callousness when they charged medical personnel for water in a time of need. Still, the store's unwillingness to donate water -- when many other people in New York and elsewhere freely gave supplies and labor -- came at the very same time when its corporate parent was all too willing to do something else: pat itself publicly on the back. In a press release, the Seattle-based coffee company publicized how it had temporarily closed its North American locations "so that our partners could return to be home with their families and friends." Gee, what Starbucks did for its "partners" -- that's Starbucks-ese for employees -- was nice, but certainly not something worthy of tooting its own horn about. Given the context of national suffering, such publicity came across as self-serving and something else: tasteless. If the mistreatment of the ambulance company resulted from one ill-guided employee at one Starbucks store, then the coffee giant, which fancies itself a good business neighbor, failed to do the right thing when the issue first reached the corporate level. Starbucks could have made nice when a representative from the ambulance company called up to complain about the H20 imbroglio. But that didn't happen. The ambulance company employee told Starbucks, "When I called...to inquire about this at your 'contact us' phone number from your Web site, I was told in a rather rude way that this could not have happened and abruptly thanked for my call and dismissed." Starbucks had the chance to turn this unfortunate incident into something positive and, it appears, shrugged it off. So the ambulance company eventually went to a higher level, writing a Dear Orin letter -- as in Starbucks President and CEO Orin Smith. That correspondence, dated Sept. 17, began: "Dear Orin, I have been a good customer of Starbucks for a number of years..." It went on to explain what had happened and expressed how the ambulance company felt: "I am completely and utterly disappointed in you and your company and would sooner have open heart surgery without anesthesia before I would give you another red cent of my hard-earned money." Neither Schultz, who is Starbucks chairman and chief global strategist, nor Smith could be reached. Audrey Lincoff, a company spokeswoman, confirmed that Starbucks had talked to Midwood Ambulance Service and had received its correspondences. Finally, last week, Smith spoke to the head of the ambulance company and expressed "his deep concern" over the incident, the coffee company said. Starbucks is now looking into how the faux pas occurred. But the coffee company has made amends, swallowing its pride and doing something to make up for the case of customer disservice: It reimbursed the ambulance company in Brooklyn. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com  | ||||
| Ken'sPen [Sarcasm] Doesn't Live Up To The Hype [/Sarcasm] I should have stayed OVER THERE | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:06 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 01 | Mike Calliendo voice: Here's a guy who posts a week old news story without seeing if the thread already exists.: Is it just me or is O-N-A becoming Opie Norton and Anthony. | ||||
| Cementbag | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:12 PM | | |||
| Hanger-On Registered: Sep. 01 | Point #2 Even i know it should be in off topic  Just add water Ill either get hard or my lunch will get wet | ||||
I Need An Old Priest And A Young Priest | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:15 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Tardfarm welcome to O&A.com. Would suggest to get adopted there is a thread started in GD already that would help you do this. Also being moved to OT.  opieanthony.com; Like a retarded yoyo, you will keep coming back. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" Charles Dickens | ||||
| hornygoatweed I've Got A Vagina With Teeth. G.O.O.F.B.A.H.G.S. Dragoon Battalion My friends call me Weed | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:15 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | Yes it's true. I work in One Battery Park Plaza, I know the store, I used to go there - but no longer. In fact, I mentioned what happened, and now my entire Department no longer goes there. There was also a letter going around regarding this, and I have to admit, it looks as though their business has been effected - they're not nearly as packed as they used to be. However, there aren't nearly as many people walking around either, so I'm not sure if that is more the effect. Either way, whether it was the result of one employee or not, the company could've done more than to just reimburse the $130.  I've got two open seats. Email me here or AIM me at Organic999 to apply!! | ||||
| WyzeGuy | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:15 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Oct. 00 | Mike Calliendo voice: Here's a guy who posts a week old news story without seeing if the thread already exists. You mean John Madden's been imitating him? ;) | ||||
| FoundryMusicHummercash | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:21 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: May. 00 | quote: who is this Mike Caliendo you speak of??? maybe he is related to the comic FRANK Caliendo ;) | ||||
Pompous, Arrogant, Enigmatic, Bitter, Quirky, Misanthrope with a Weird Sense of Humor and an Iron Clad Memory while flooding the board with my Stream of Consciousness UFC STRIKE 3 (I'm a dick and I like to ruin people's plans) | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 1:30 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 00 | quote: This is a quandary of mine... If I post this is being moved to another forum and then I move it there, how will the people in the previous forum know I posted the warning? I was thinking about specific time limits as to how long it will be left in the wrong forum before I move it, but then that is double work. Oh, and since this is TOP SECRET BTS info that I am asking, I am moving this to BTS ;)  Funny how ev'rything was roses When we held on to the guns Write To Me Here AIM: SmarterChild
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| danked Dankarella! | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 2:16 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 00 | quote: (shhhhhhhhhhhhh... everybody quiet! maybe we can all hide in here till slash moves it and we can finally find out what the fuck goes on in BTS. can you imagine all the chat threads and gratuitous pr0n they must have in there?)  | ||||
| MaynardGKrebs | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 2:26 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Jan. 01 | Did Slash just let the cat out of the bag? | ||||
| danked Dankarella! | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 2:48 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 00 | (i said shhhhhhhhhh!) | ||||
| Ken'sPen [Sarcasm] Doesn't Live Up To The Hype [/Sarcasm] I should have stayed OVER THERE | posted on 10-02-2001 @ 2:57 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 01 | *****FRANK Caliendo voice****** Here's a guy who tries to tool on someone and makes an ass out of himself. | ||||
Displaying 1-12 of 12 messages in this thread. |