Starbucks employees create a shrine to a homeless customer who died

The chair at the Nyack, NY Starbucks where Fleming Taylor sat is cordoned off with black ribbon and filled with bouquets and notes announcing his death. Every day, the 62-year-old Taylor would walk into the Starbucks as the doors opened, sit in the same purple velvet chair, read and discuss what was in The Wall Street Journal with other regulars, and would leave only when the store closed in the evening. I suspect almost every Starbucks has a similar customer. || Read "Shrine created at Nyack Starbucks in honor of homeless customer"

Comments

[The ASM]

That is so sad.

[green_cup]

Awww...

Bet that when he was alive the baristas and customers thought he was a huge annoyance, though. Being there ***all*** day and trying to talk to people who just want to get their coffee and leave probably left many baristas and customers with a feeling of annoyance.

But since he's dead now, it's okay to think he was a great man and discuss how much we'll miss him.

[Deadtiredinla]

His name was Travis. Just Travis. I managed the Starbucks on the Sunset Strip for over two years. Travis came and went every day. He was always pleasant, but he did have a problem with alcohol. One evening he got in a fight on the street with some younger homeless people. He got beaten up pretty bad. He went to the emergency room, but since he had no insurance and was homeless, the just patched him up and sent him on his way. I saw him sitting on my patio, and he was all bloody and in a bad way. He would not take any help. The following day, I showed up to open the store around 5am. Travis was still there, except he was lying dead on the sidewalk. No human being, no matter what they have done in life, deserves to die lying on the sunset strip like some animal. For the next week our chalk board read simply "In memory of Travis, our customer and friend". That was sad.

"I suspect almost every Starbucks has a similar customer."

Never seen one in my Starbucks adventures. We do have a very irregular homeless guy who tries to abuse the "just say yes" system to get smoothies and pastries who then proceeds to bother our customers. Good times, good times.

[truth]

Yet another way in which Starbucks mimics the worst in American society: We bitch about the homeless until they die, they we get all teary-eyed.

Gimme a break.

[leanna jackson]

interesting.

very true about the way americans are... sadly. and i've never worked in a retail place where someone didn't complain about loitering. bleh.

[Jaymee]

We have a customer who comes in for coffee and the internet, who commutes between two places and has no home. He's the sweetest man alive, and is always up for a discussion on current events. We always send him home with something to eat, and he is always kind and polite. We heart him at my store!

[Darleen]

Green cup and whysoserious,
Are you seriously that callous? I wouldn't expect much less from truth, but to see you put this man down, when you didn't even know him is beyond me. Have we completely lost our compassion for people? These posts are quite disturbing. This man paid for his beverages, and it seems to me he was a welcome guest at the store. Grow a heart. Remember, one day it could be you and how would you feel? Not all homeless folks are bums. And before you spout off, yes, I've had some homeless people in my stores in the 8 years with Starbucks, and never once did I treat them like they were worth less in my eyes because they found themselves in a bad situation. Some of you seriously need some humanity classes.

[green_cup]

darleen:

i frankly don't care about this man. never met him, never knew him, don't care too much about him or his "story."

i'm just pointing out what tons of tons of tons of starbucks employees are infamous for. they typically always ask homeless people to leave after a while.

hell, the customers don't like the homeless people, especially chatty homeless people. i know, personally, i don't even want the barista talking to me past the point of getting my order. i'm there to get my coffee and head out. pretty simple.

the law defines the action of loitering so people and businesses can avoid people like this homeless guy. if he was there from open to close in the same chair (ps: get a new chair) that is loitering.

yes, yes. it's very sad that he died, but i can promise you that the baristas -and- customers in that store found him annoying when he was alive. they probably find it sad now, but this man had very little impact on the world. he's had his fifteen minutes, and starbucks won't change to start accepting homeless people in their stores open to close because of this, so let's all just move on.

has nothing to do with having a "heart" as much as it does with being realistic and knowing what real life is.

[Darleen]

green_cup,
I am being realistic, and believe me I live in the "real world" yet, I have compassion. It certainly does have to do with having a heart. Growing up in NYC I had to see homeless everywhere. Yet never once did I not give them change if they asked, we are all a part of this planet, you can close your eyes to the homeless if you choose to do so, but that will not make them disappear. I am not trying to pick a fight with you green_cups, I just have to wonder why some people have no compassion for others less fortunate then themselves. The remark about throwing the chair away was also pretty callous, in my opinion. Let's first realize that when we stereotype all homeless as lazy, stinky, bums we are losing our humanity. Nuff said.

[waltie]

Instead of building a shrine with that chair, they should fumigate and hose it off. It's sad he died and all, but I've had some homeless people come into my stores over the years to use the comfy chairs, and they always leaving them smelling terrible.

[anonymous]

Waltie, Green Cup and whysoserious,

How about this scenario where the governments swoops in to put you in concentration camps to be executed with extreme prejudice because you happen to have prejudiced attitudes without contributing anything to this country.

Rome Fell. And So Will America because of your piss-poor attitudes.

Your attitudes will be the death of America.

[FLA SM]

If bad attitudes contribute to the "death of America," then America would have been dead long ago. Fortunately, America is based on free enterprise and democracy. Those who work the hardest get the most rewards. Those who don't work get little other than charity. (Obviously, there are exceptions, but in general this holds true.) Why do I work? Not because I love to work. I have bills to pay so I work to earn the money to pay them. If I didn't work, I'd end up homeless too. I don't think it's a piss-poor attitude to think that I should get paid for my work and those who don't work don't get paid.

[Darleen]

Anonymous,
There will always be a select few that show little to no emotion, compassion, or kindness unfortunately. We see them everyday enjoying the world around them. They have no clue as to what someone's situation is, or what brought them to where they are. It saddens me to read these posts. Walk a mile in someone's shoes, see why they are in that situation. Living in Florida I see the many families that are losing or have lost their homes to foreclosure, they could be the next customers sitting in that chair very easily. Would you turn them away Green_cups, Waltie and Whysoserious? And to you Waltie, I ask, what about providing these folks with their third place? Are they now sub-human to you? Granted, any customer, homeless or not, that is disruptive to the store needs to go. This was NOT the case with this gentleman. He was a regular, a paying customer who yes, had some misfurtunes, but still deserves every respect another paying customer gets.

[Me]

I think you all are right here. Problem is, some of you refer to the really annoying, disturbing, smelling, agressiv homeless they see everywhere every day.
These are the kind every single store would like to get rid of as soon as they walk up to the store.
But once in a while you will see a really friendly person who will be thankful for anything you are willing to spare, since they were just really unfortunate and lost their home.
I believe the gentlemen in this report was one of the later.
I've seen them both around the stores I worked at.
The store where I started at had real issues with homeless. One guy was nice, just came in every morning, washed himself in the washroom and left. Sometimes with a cup of coffee from us. But at least once a week we had to call the cops because some guys drunk in our washrooms, yelled at customers or were likewise disturbing.
The store I work at right now is very fortunate to be in an area with hardly any homeless. But occasionally one will come in. There is this one regular who comes in all winter, sits in a corner, takes a little nap, never buys anything, but never disturbs anyone either. So people don't mind him. He doesn't smell, he doesn't bug anyone, so we let him sit there. I've seen him in other, independent stores as well, and everyone treats him nicely, since he treats everyone nicely. I've had one customer complaining about him in the last 2 years. The customer complained the homeless guy would take up a seat without buying anything. Immediately three other customers offered to buy him a cup of coffee so he could stay. No need to mention he got his short cup of coffee on us.
Would we do this for every homeless person? NO. Would we be able to hold this up if he would bring ten of his brothers in? NO. But right now, the way it is, we don't mind, our customers seem to not mind and we almost like him. Even though he hardly ever speaks to us. He is just part of the community. We would certainly miss seeing him in our store. We might not put up a shrine, but we would miss him.

[whysoserious]

Are you for real right now? I have worked in the stores for 6 years and sure there are respectful hobos but the majority are bums. I treat them like any other customer but they always want to take it to the next level. Once you are attacked by a hobo you try and be compassionate.

[Venti Urnex Latte]

I am amazed that this Starbucks still has soft chairs. Ours were taken away years ago.

To call a homeless man "dignified" is absurd. Nothing about homelessness is dignified. It is sad and unfortunate. I am glad this poor man had a welcoming place to spend his time.

[P.R.I.D.E.]

Time and time again, I am not surprised that this company is driving itself into the ground with ugly partners like this. I am absolutely shocked that people are willing to be this hateful, and yet not surprised that you are doing it online. Why don't you send an email to your manager, DM, RD, and HR rep stating the same thing, and signing your name. I'll bet you don't have the cajones to do that, but you'll sure hide behind a website and crack sick jokes about people who you don't even know.

Like I said, these types of statements would have NEVER been made when Sbux was on the right track, hiring the right people. We were the company that welcomed, when others shunned. We were the company that didn't stand for ugly, hateful treatment of anyone- homeless, whatever. We hired the ones that knew that capitalism might be our economic system, but that didn't mean the all mighty dollar was the only criteria we used in making decisions. Now, both from the top down, and the ground up, Starbucks has been infused with bad hires, and it definitely shows.

I guess I did make the right decision to leave, as my gumption continue to be proven true.

[Venti Urnex Latte]

According to the story, he lived beneath the stairwell at 80 1/2 Main Street. According to Google maps, 80 Main Street houses several businesses, including Starbucks. So it sounds as though he spent nights beneath the stairwell in the same commercial building, or maybe the one next door. Anyone know more about the geography of the Nyack location?

[FormerGaMgr]

I can't believe how much has changed over the years. WE conditioned people and made them believe that we were a company that cared. It saddens me to see what we've become. Sometimes we are the only family these guys have, homeless or not. Mr. Taylor obviously touched the hearts of the partners and customers at the store he called home and isn't that what this thread is about? I agree there are some homeless people who are annoying and do disturb others and need to move on but there are many rude paying customers that loiter around all day after purchasing their small drip feeling there owed something. I remember an older man that came in to my first store. We called him Mr. Jimmy. His wife had died and he had no family here. He came in everyday at 9am like clockwork and got his short bold in a for here mug. One day he didn't come in. One day turned into weeks. We thought he had died. Finally a month later, he came in at his usual 9am all happy to see us. He had went out of town to see his children and grandchildren. We told him of the scare he gave us. He didn't realize that by being so regular that we would notice his absence. I think it was then he realized he did have a family here, us. We used to mean so much more to people than just a cup of coffee. At least that's how it was and still is in some stores. The human connection over a cup of coffee. Wasn't that the foundation on which this company was built?

[Bonk]

Hehe...

Employees complain about how they're treated badly by their company and, in turn, treat others in their community the same way.

Seems this heartless company is hiring like-minded employees these days.

[green_cup]

Let's discuss:

How about this scenario where the governments swoops in to put you in concentration camps to be executed with extreme prejudice because you happen to have prejudiced attitudes without contributing anything to this country.

Rome Fell. And So Will America because of your piss-poor attitudes.

Your attitudes will be the death of America.

Posted by: anonymous | November 30, 2008 at 06:46 AM

Tin-foil hat, much? Wow. You go from Point A to Point Crazy without as much as a breath. Your point makes no sense, and neither does the methodology that got you there. Like others said, having a poor attitude has been existent since 1776 and will continue on forward.

Besides, I cannot imagine how telling you the honest truth regarding this homeless man (he was homeless) and how he was treated (million-to-one others found him a nuisance and wanted him out of the store) and the fact he loitered (he did) and expect a memorial service en masse is defined as having a poor attitude. It's just realism at this point. Welcome to it.

I think you all are right here. Problem is, some of you refer to the really annoying, disturbing, smelling, agressiv homeless they see everywhere every day. ...
Posted by: whysoserious | November 30, 2008 at 09:13 AM

Again, million-to-one there was SOMEONE OUT THERE who thought exactly this of this homeless man. Opinions are double-edged swords... you want yours, but never want to hear others.

Living in Florida I see the many families that are losing or have lost their homes to foreclosure, they could be the next customers sitting in that chair very easily. Would you turn them away Green_cups, Waltie and Whysoserious?
Posted by: Darleen | November 30, 2008 at 07:09 AM

Hold on, here. You're telling me that I should feel bad for someone who got foreclosed on?! Really? They decided they could afford a house and then something happened (they couldn't really pay, etc) and got booted out? They couldn't pay their bills and I should feel bad for them? Better yet, they decided to gamble (a much MUCH larger gamble with how the economic situation is shaping up then just on their personal level) with real estate prices (up, up, up!!!) and then it goes into the ground? No way! If they become homeless, I say they deserve it. If they have kids, the kids have CPS to help out. But, no, I do not feel at all bad. I have a roof over my head that I responsibly paid for and will NOT bail out (with cash or care) who is foolish. So, yes, I would turn them away. If you cannot pay for the coffee, the food, the whatever you're trying to get from me, then yes. You cannot afford it. Why should I comp something for you because you made bad decisions? Where do I get my bailout? Yeah, from no where. Call it stingy, but I call all of those people who decided they could speculate and lose all of their cash and then turn around and MILK others out of their hard-earned cash stingy. You CANNOT have yours unless you ***EARN*** it. Pretty easy.

[ian]

i think that transients/homeless people are a very sensitive subject for many coffee shops, *$ and independent.

It's bad enough that their families and friends have abandoned them but many of them have or have developed mental problems, which makes it difficult for them to get regular jobs. The non-profit infrastructure in place to help them isn't very good for the most part, which is unfortunate. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it is to live under those conditions.

I personally manage a shop near a homeless shelter and I've had to steel myself and my coworkers towards their plight.

True, there are some nice homeless people, but when it comes down to it, many of them try to use our bathroom as a shower, drink alcohol that they smuggle in the bathroom, and panhandle our paying customers. Not to mention they get smart with us when we politely ask them to leave.

Because you have to blow zeros on the breathalyzer to get into the shelter for the night, the homeless trying to use our cafe and facilities are the ones who obviously have an alcohol problem or the ones who just don't care enough to improve their lives.

What everyone should remember is that there are government and private organizations out there to help these people, but they have to first help themselves by getting there and admitting that they need to change their lives. I am not going to be an enabler by letting them stay in my cafe.

It's a sad problem that faces every city, but Starbucks and every other coffee shop should be run as for-profit businesses first, and never as shelters or charities out of personal guilt or sympathy.

i am amazed at how mean people are. sbux employees do something in their store - for a person that they cared about... and everyone is so bitter and mean about it. i have read blog postings about what happened at wal-mart and people cant feel symapthy for a dead person they just go on with one sided cold and calloused remarks. regardless of what problems i have had at my store with homeless people - which are a lot - including someone urinating on a chair and another chatting away with customers... i am not going to be judgemental about some guy across the country that i have never met.

[baristagirl]

green_cup: so you're saying it's okay to sit in the cafe all day from open to close so long as you are NOT homeless? because that's what it sounds like to me... my store is located in an affluent suburban community, so we never see any homeless coming through. me personally, i would have no problem with a homeless person coming in who was clean, didn't bother the other customers, and paid for their drink. however, i would gladly kick out any disruptive homeless person as quickly as i would kick out any disruptive RICH person. i don't care what your socioeconomic standing is. if you cause a scene and act up, you've gotta go! it wouldn't be fair to let a homeless person sit in there and act crazy while the businessman with the bluetooth and BMW is getting kicked out for calling a barista a REALLY unpleasant name that begins with a C and rhymes with "bunt". i have a soft-spot in my heart for homeless people and will always treat them with respect like i would someone who had a home to go to. Besides, isn't that one of our core values?! God, why does Starbucks continue hiring such heartless jerks?!

[I heart Clover]

Green Cup said..."If they become homeless, I say they deserve it. If they have kids, the kids have CPS to help out."
Green Cup, do you have any clue at all what you are talking about?? Like we don't already have enough kids rotting away in Foster Homes. The taking of a child by CPS, should only be utilized because of child abuse not because of homelessness or lack of wealth. Do you know what removing the child from a home does to that child??? What it does to that child's siblings?? To the parents of that child?? I have seen and experienced all sides of that coin, and it destroys the ENTIRE family. Green Cup,you do not deserve to belong to the human race. It is because of you and others like you that we no longer act as a village and care for one another. People are becoming too self absorbed with their Ipods,Coach bags,cell phones, and SUV's to care about their neighbors that are starving, or the poor homeless man who freezes to death on the streets his only crime being the crime of poverty. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction!

[FLA SM]

"Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction."

I say poverty is a result of self destruction. There's one easy solution to poverty: get a job. Find me one McDonald's in America that's not hiring. Sure, there are a few homeless who truly are victims of circumstance: mentally ill, disaster victims, those who fell through the cracks in the system, etc. However, as green cup says, those who were foreclosed on landed in that situation through their own choices. No one forced them to sign on the dotted line for a house they couldn't afford. Everyone in America has been affected by the bad economic time, but we haven't all become homeless. I don't "hate" homeless people (as P.R.I.D.E.) suggests, but I don't feel compelled to help them either. Why does that make me such a bad person? I have have my hands full already just trying to take care of myself.

"Time and time again, I am not surprised that this company is driving itself into the ground with ugly partners like this."

Maybe it's the company that is turning partners ugly. Unattainable goals, low wages, continually decreasing labor allowances, announcing closing stores without letting the partners know what their future holds. It's kind of hard to treat others with respect and dignity when you are not shown any by the company who promised it.

[Who's kidding who?]

Our District Mgr.(NYC) removed ALL of the comfortable seating from our store to deter the homeless from parking them selves for an extended period. She would also make the manager tap people on the shoulder and ask them to leave. Not all starbucks employees have a compassionate side for the less fortunate.

[Coffee Mistress]

Remember, you can't always tell who's well off or not by their appearance. I was homeless at one point in my life and very few people were aware of my situation. And, guess what... I even had a job and was paying my bills! Employment does not guarantee a home. Most wages aren't even close to a living wage. All of you who are on here trashing the homeless need to keep in mind that you may have regular customers who may not have a place to sleep at night other than their vehicle. They just choose to not share that info with you. After seeing the insensitive trash talk on here, I can't say that I blame them!

[Kim]

I know that NY has a adult protective division within your social services agency. Does anyone know if they were involved with him? I work for Adult Protective Services in Texas, and we actually would have tried to find out if he was receiving any social security benefits, or would have tried to apply for them for him. Also, we have senior communities which only charge 30% of the senior's income to rent an apartment. It is difficult to work with alcoholics, which may have been the problem with him accepting help.

Kudos to those of you who cared. I would remind others...most of us are only one paycheck away from being homeless, especially in this economy!

[I heart Clover]

Okay let's work at Starbucks and only make 8.00 an hour. That'll pay for the 800 dollar a month closet of an apartment,I need to get to this job so I need a car which includes insurance and gas, then I need heat at about 400 bucks a month, not to mention that I need to eat,brush mt teeth, wipe my ass, do my laundry,and wash my body. I'm sick so lets add a 150 dollar doctors bill and a 50 dollar prescription bill to the mix. My SM just cut me from 35 hours to 12 hours this week, and I'm so exhausted from being the only partner on the floor all morning that it is impossible to even consider working a second job...
Welcome to the world of the impoverished...

I'm not paid enough to kick people out of my store. Pay me 15 dollars an hour and I'll ask anyone to leave, paying or non-paying.

[spence]

I've had to ask homeless people that don't quite smell like roses to leave. (Although, I do send them off with coffee and a donut.)
What I find much more offensive than a homeless person; is a person who takes time to write nasty things about other people. It's mean.

[SadDaysAhead]

I honestly don't know what makes me more sad about this...the story, or the lack of compassion displayed by so many people.

[green_cup]

People are becoming too self absorbed with their Ipods,Coach bags,cell phones, and SUV's to care about their neighbors that are starving, or the poor homeless man who freezes to death on the streets his only crime being the crime of poverty. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction!

Posted by: I heart Clover | November 30, 2008 at 12:55 PM

I, for one, like my iPods, designer bags, cell phones (iPhone) and luxury cars over a homeless person. Sorry, but those things of which I've earned, are a much better thing in my life than a homeless person who I find smelly, unproductive and annoying.

Okay let's work at Starbucks and only make 8.00 an hour. That'll pay for the 800 dollar a month closet of an apartment,I need to get to this job so I need a car which includes insurance and gas, then I need heat at about 400 bucks a month, not to mention that I need to eat,brush mt teeth, wipe my ass, do my laundry,and wash my body. I'm sick so lets add a 150 dollar doctors bill and a 50 dollar prescription bill to the mix. My SM just cut me from 35 hours to 12 hours this week, and I'm so exhausted from being the only partner on the floor all morning that it is impossible to even consider working a second job...
Welcome to the world of the impoverished...

Posted by: I heart Clover | November 30, 2008 at 05:00 PM

Simple: go find a new job! This is not a hard concept. It's actually pretty easy. Go find a new job where you're respected, where you'll make a decent living. There are tons of jobs out there if you're qualified. It's even better if you know people. If you're not qualified or don't have a network of people, then I guess Starbucks is indeed your calling. At that point, stop complaining about it. You can complain or actually do something about it. I'm not here to subsidize your life with my cash because you can't figure out how to get out of a poor-paying service job into a real job.

I've had to ask homeless people that don't quite smell like roses to leave. (Although, I do send them off with coffee and a donut.)
What I find much more offensive than a homeless person; is a person who takes time to write nasty things about other people. It's mean.

Posted by: spence | November 30, 2008 at 05:46 PM

Why give him/ her a coffee and a donut? Why make it seem like you're doing anything beyond your job in asking a non-paying, loitering customer to leave a store he/ she has no business being in? Why subsidize his/ her life by giving away free food and drink that would equal sales for Starbucks of which investors have put cash into and expect a return? That makes no sense. It's not your food to give away, anyway. That's stealing...

---------------------------------

Basic point is this: it's sad the man died, but he had options. He had someone (if you believe the comment here) that offered to help. He had social services at his beck and call. He decided not to use them. It's unfortunate, but in the end, this man is a homeless man who was, by all intents and purposes, an unproductive member of society. I can PROMISE YOU when he was alive people thought him annoying. The same people who now want to mourn his death have no integrity.

[Andrew from MySpace]

I've been checking in on this site for a few years now, and I can say I have never been so disappointed in the conduct on display.

I saw the link and thought - how touching. I work for a homeless ministry through my church, so they are always close to my heart.

To my dismay, what do I read?

A bunch of baristas pissing and moaning.

Grow up guys, seriously.

A customer who was LOVED a his store died - and they paid tribute to him. Homeless or not, it's a great story.

What if your favorite customer died? What would you do? Would you do something touching and want to honor the dead, or go to a forum and piss and moan about the technicalities of the situation?

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.

Fellow partners and posters have never made me feel so sick.

[P.R.I.D.E.]

Andrew- I'll follow that up with reminding everyone that there are just a few posters on this thread who have reiterated their ugliness, but there are many now who have stood up and called them out on it. I appreciate all of you who have the sincerity to honor the tribute that this store put forth.

Partners in that store- please know that just a few bad apples can thread-crap and make it look worse than it is.

The rest of us applaud you for your efforts.

We have this one homeless woman who comes to my store often. She's so sweet and buys something every once in a while. We all know her name as well as her drink, and last Christmas we got her a little gift.
My store has this other guy that has come in every day and sits in our cafe. He takes a cup and makes chocolate milk for himself using all of the condiment bar milk and chocolate powder, leaving chocolate powder everywhere and the carafes empty. He locks himself in the bathroom for an hour and leaves a mess. He's stolen things in the past, and he's called one of our sweetest baristas racist because she told him he couldn't sleep here.
The story about the man in Nyack is a touching one, and I'm sure that the partners there deeply cared about him.
But I think it would be ignorant for us to group all homeless people together - just like how all baristas are not the same. Some are nice, some not so much. I think that the people who might have said a negative thing about homeless were thinking of mean bums more than the nice homeless guy that comes in.
I like to think that I'm a good person, but if someone is unkind and making my job a whole lot harder, I'm not going to give him a free beverage and offer him the big comfy to nap in

We had a sweet older man who sat in one of the comfortable chairs, every day. Sometimes he would buy something, most of the time he didn't, but we didn't mind him and the regular customers would all stop and chat with him. He wasn't homeless, but his caretaker (I believe she was his daughter but I never knew for sure) would just drop him off and leave him there all day. One day he wasn't there, and that day turned into months. I still wonder what happened to him.

This article reminded me of him because we actually joked around about putting a memorial sign on his chair- we were basically dealing with our discomfort by joking about it. We really didn't know if he had died, or they had simply found a better way to take care of him (maybe, god forbid, actually spending time with him). I hope it was the latter. I wish someone had bothered to tell us.

We didn't think he was a "huge annoyance".

[Darleen]

Green_Cups,
People fall into foreclosure for many reasons. Some went with the revolving mortgage rates that suddenly sky rocketed and now can not afford their payments. Some sleazy realtor or bank manager failed to inform them this could happen, or maybe they did not understand what they were signing, but saw the chance to finally own some property. These things happen all the time. I can not force anyone to have compassion. You do, or you don't. I can honestly say I treat all people the same, it was how I was raised, and for that I'm thankful. We all contribute to this planet, some positively, some not so much.....

[Darleen]

I, for one, like my iPods, designer bags, cell phones (iPhone) and luxury cars over a homeless person. Sorry, but those things of which I've earned, are a much better thing in my life than a homeless person who I find smelly, unproductive and annoying.

Again, with the stereotyping! To lump every single homeless person into this category of smelly and unproductive is ignorant. You seem intelligent enough to realize you are doing it, yet you continue. Hard to argue with someone who is not equipped with the means to make a sensible argument. You go ahead and enjoy your luxury vehicle and your iphone. You earned it.

[SPORK]

Well this is a shocking thread...
Darleen, I'm glad you can hold the fort down.
Although I do see both sides, I'm still shocked by some of the posts here...

in other news, I hope everyone makes World AIDS Day the success it NEEDS to be to help those in Africa. Please consider buying a beverage today, or even better, donating to the World AIDS fund by buying a ribbon.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

I'm no Mother Teresa but I don't mind homeless persons. They're like bacteria that live in your GI tract. You don't miss them till they're gone and every once in awhile you get like tape worms which suck away at you.

A better question is why is there still poverty in America?

[Darleen]

Spork,
You're right, there are always two sides. However, there is also right and wrong, and to stereotype all homeless people as bums, smelly, and unproductive is wrong, in my opinion. What about older folks who have worked all of their lives only to find out that their pensions are gone because the company closed down. Are they bums as well? Lunacy.

Boston Starbucks Rebel,
You crack me up! I'm no Mother Teresa myself, but I do have compassion for my fellow human beings. Do not judge unless you hgave walked in their shoes, that was my fathers favorite saying. It holds true for me.

[SPORK]

Totally agree Darleen.

Boston Starbucks Rebel... funniest comment I've seen in a while.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

If you have read Uncle Howie's book, his family wasn't exactly rich. It could be Uncle Howie sitting in the chair, homeless all day long. Some of the homeless people have made very poor life decisions while others are victims of circumstances beyond their own control. Starbucks isn't a welfare agency but if the homeless people don't cause trouble, they are welcome to stay as long as necessary.

I do like to know their story. Maybe he's an old soldier who fought somewhere along the steamy Mekong and saw all his buddies die.

You don't know, so don't judge.

[waltie]

"How about this scenario where the governments swoops in to put you in concentration camps to be executed with extreme prejudice because you happen to have prejudiced attitudes without contributing anything to this country."

Wait... what? Because I commented on how a lot of homeless people have made our chairs smell, I should be put in a concentration camp and killed? And this is from a point of view that was supposedly taking the moral high ground?

Not that it matters, but I'm a compassionate, kind, considerate guy. But that doesn't change the fact that we have a lot of homeless people who come in asking for free coffee, free food, and smelling up the store. These are facts. And, as an employee, it's annoying to deal with.

I don't think anybody should be put in concentration camps, not even assholes like me. And, frankly, as a person who has relatives who DIED in concentration camps, I'm saddened that somebody even thought that was an appropriate comment to make at all.

This website blows. I'm done.

[greed is bad]

Working hard will get you only as far as those who exploit your work will let you. Do not be a fool to think that simply putting forth your best effort will allow you to buy ipods and coach bags. You will have to brown nose, to lie, to cheat and to steal to get anywhere in this society. To believe otherwise is naive. Stop being greedy. Stop taking more than you NEED. Until this country can conquer its obsession with greed and the thought that it is ok to have excess we will fall. Consumerist capitalism is failing. Stop being greedy.

[Miss Lee]

Some of you need to go to college and take a basic sociology class. Not to mention, working as a Starbucks barista really isn't a far cry on the social ladder from homlessness. I don't say that to be rude, but just to be realistic, and a former barista myself.

[theSam!!]

it's nice that someone thought so much of this "regular" of theirs as to set up a shrine,

I can only picture one coffeeShop here in Anchorage, where my nonS-bux friends work. It's in downtownAnchorage and they get a few Homeless walking in and sitting down for a few hours too,

and along with that comes the inevitable problems too from such company,

but I'd say (and I Do) have a heart and be nice to everyone,

Since my shop is inside a stripMall, we have rovingSecurity in business suits come by every hour,

or else theMgrs quietly usher Our problem customers out,

granted, there are people who abuse theYes system, I find it easy to just give a cup of coffee (that we'll be dumping out in 30mins anyway) and then politely decline the next time they show up unless they pay full price,

it happens, just never lose hope in first; yourself and then in others.

always,
theSam!!
slflyinghorse
Anchorage, AK

AlaskaVillageTales