Starbucks won't allow "Laissez-faire" on a customized Starbucks card

Why should that be considered inappropriate? asks David Boaz. "The phrase itself is an imperative. It's French for 'leave us alone,' more or less." Boaz had a friend put "People Not Profits" on a customized card, and that was accepted. "If 'laissez-faire' is unacceptably political, how could the socialist slogan 'people not profits' be acceptable?" he wonders. (Read the Wall Street Journal opinion piece)

Comments

[embean]

they probably didn't know what it meant and just rejected it.

[Jean-Luc Picard]

someone should try a simple french phrase or term then, like comme ca va a'jourdhui (how are you, today).

[Pat Nerr]

The Seattle P-I ran an article about suggestions for improving Starbucks. I have none. I used to be a Starbucks fan. I'm quite sure my patronage helped drive up stock prices. Yet I haven't been in a Starbucks for years.
One Sunday, when my partner Tom and I were an hour early to University Village, the choice before the open stores was Starbucks, Starbucks or Starbucks.
After we'd ordered our coffees -- mine, short cappuccino; "We don't have shorts, only talls," the salesperson reminded me -- I began listing everything I hated about Starbucks. "They force you to buy a tall," I hissed.
I read that a Starbuck's executive said something like, "We don't sell coffee, we sell milk." Starbucks has taken the European concept of a café and milked it literally and figuratively to a milquetoast version of its self. More proof? The New York Times Magazine just ran a Starbucks "Got Milk?" ad.
The salesperson put lids on the coffees for the five seconds it would take us to walk to our table. I took off the pointless lid and tossed the wooden stirrer and sugar packet on the table. "Look at this," I said to Tom. "The cup's not even compostable."
The salesperson had asked me if I wanted an orange scone or something to eat with my coffee -- pushing the food, I noted to Tom. "We'll at least she didn't ask if you wanted to supersize it," Tom said. "They're not allowed to do that anymore," he added about McDonalds, "people hated it so much."
"I'll take my surly independent wait staff any day," I said, thinking of lattes and cappuccinos with the swirls of a leaf or a heart in the foam -- the sign of a masterful cup.
"Another thing I hate," I said as I looked around, "we're in a friggin' café in a bookstore (Barnes and Noble) and there's nothing to read -- not a single newspaper or magazine around."
Tom snorted.
I was afraid I was boring Tom with my litany of complaints. I know I was boring myself. He said he had to use the restroom; the coffee was too hot to drink anyway, he noted. That's another thing! I pointed out. He left.
He was gone so long that I began to wonder if he'd really left me. Everything of his was gone except for the Starbucks coffee cup he'd left to cool. My foamy hot milk was becoming cool enough to drink. Was my annoyance with Starbucks that annoying to him?
He finally came back, telling me it had taken him a while to find the bathroom. That reminded me of another thing: "I once went into a Starbucks in Pioneer Square," I said, "because I had to use the bathroom. As I was waiting in line, someone came up and told me I had to buy a coffee to use the bathroom."
Tom told me about a T-shirt he saw with the old Starbucks logo on it -- the bare-breasted mermaid. She was in a red circle with a line across it and had the expression of Mr. Yuk with the tongue sticking out.
Actually, I do have one suggestion for Starbucks; it comes from a cynical doormat I once saw. "Go Away."

The Starbucks in Barnes n' Noble in the U-Village just a "liscensed" store or whatever people call them? Plus, the bathroom is part of the bookstore, not Starbucks.

[Pat Nerr]

I guess there's a little "Pat Nerr" in all of us...

PatNerr, you didn't credit the author of that ramble: Judy Smith, columnist.

[B&N stole my soul]

Pat, You were at a B&N Cafe, not a Starbucks. I'm genuinely sorry you found your experience so irritating, but this is what happens when you have a retail book chain dabbling in food service. We don't carry talls for some reason, which we can all guess is probably purely economic. That barista had to "push the food". We are required to in order to stay employed. If you refuse to upsell a specific pastry item & a larger size beverage to EVERY customer, you are written up and without immediate improvement will be fired in very short order. As for her not asking you to "supersize it", my guess is that she was so humiliated & angry by your contempt over the short size debacle that she decided to gamble on being caught not doing her job rather than risk having you dehumanize her in what is already a soul killing robotic job. As for the lid, you can thank McDonalds & the moron who spilled coffee on herself, sued and won a ton-o-money. Yet again, we are required to put a lid on paper cups, required to put the cup down on the counter & let the customer pick it up to negate the possibility of a barista accidentally spilling coffee on someone. 95% of the interaction we have with customers is structured & scripted. As for the newspaper we have them over by the bookstore cash registers. Here's an inside tip. Just take one. Don't pay for it. Take it to the cafe read it, do the crossword, make a cute little fold-up paper hat with the business section, clip ALL the coupons. B&N CEO Steve Riggio doesn't care. He said in his blog that we provide newspapers for our customers convenience & not to hassle any customer to pay for the papers or to treat them like the unpaid merchandise they are. Steve doesn't care, so neither should you..I know I don't. I'm sorry for the rant, I do genuinely empathize with you, but I also know how unbelievably crappy it is to be that barista who waited on you. Just remember that the lack of a tall size, the pushy intrusive customer service questions are B&N Corporate, not that server standing in front of you. I hate B&N Cafe so much that I haven't bought anything from my own cafe in nearly a year. I will starve on my lunch break before I will put a dime of my money back into that place (even with the 50% discount on food & bev) Keep going to your local independent coffee houses, they deserve your support & money more than Steve Riggio does.

[B&N stole my soul]

Sorry, just saw that it wasn't Pat who ranted about the cafe. Oopsy! It still felt good to get that off my chest. Ahhhhhh...

LOL! PatNerr made it so easy for someone to be mislead and take the bait...but some of us KNOW when something is NOT the voice of PatNerr! And that's a compliment. ;)

[Itnev]

Here is the link to the article posted above:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/357799_firstperson07.html

Most of the comments posted here have already been said there as well.

Can we please get back on topic?

All Riagt Pat Nerr the Part Ner!

Yeah! Pat Nerr the Part Ner!

[Lor]

Boaz is making it overrated. who cares! It's just a stupid card! The amount of times it gets swiped on the machines will eventually damage his friend's card or wipe off the writing.

~lor ♥

[Lor]

oooh.

and that's also i hate going to licensed stores. such as B&N cafes. i never get what i ask for.

and for Judy Smith's article (that Pat Nerr had posted).. i hate it when customers come into a starbucks location (either licensed or company-operated) with a grudge or something in their ass giving the barista at the register a hard time. I HATE IT! LOL! can you tell i've had this problem so many times?

People still don't understand that we're still human beings.

i mean.. if i wasn't on the clock, thing's probably would've been different and i'd retaliated more better ;)

~lor ♥

[COFFEEISLIFE]

"As for the newspaper we have them over by the bookstore cash registers. Here's an inside tip. Just take one. Don't pay for it. Take it to the cafe read it, do the crossword, make a cute little fold-up paper hat with the business section, clip ALL the coupons. B&N CEO Steve Riggio doesn't care. He said in his blog that we provide newspapers for our customers convenience & not to hassle any customer to pay for the papers or to treat them like the unpaid merchandise they are. Steve doesn't care, so neither should you..I know I don't."

Here's another one for ya: I was once at a B&N being rung up by someone obviously in training... it was easy to tell cuz he had someone else hovering over him and he was second guessing himself on everything... anyway, he was demagnetizing the security device, or whatever they do and right in front of a customer (which I found rather funny) the more experienced employee told his trainee not to worry about doing it to magazines, because they never put the security thingy on the magazines... so apparently, the CEO doesn't care about those either...

[Mole]

Yeah, back on topic. "Laissez-faire," remember?

[peter]

Has anyone actually done a survey to see what is allowable on the customizable cards and what isn't? Does "Free Tibet" work? "Support our troops?" "Peace had a chance?" Who exactly is making the decision, and what are the criteria?

[Dan]

Even without a survey of all possible controversial phrases...the few attempts that this opinion writer used are damning enough. Why should laissez-faire, a phrase I learned in high school economics, be any more controversial or foriegn than Se Si Peude?

[Bob]

They probably thought it meant lezzie something or other.

[Me]

"People not Profits" was accepted? That's funny because we have a direct competitor (small chain) here in Canada who advertises with "people before profits". Sounds pretty similar to me. I should try to print "Just Us! Cafe rules" on my next card, he, he.

[Dan]

I just got my card approved for "sic semper tyrannis"...which is a state motto, but could be controversial, since John Wilkes Booth allegedly said it before his famous act.

[Donkey Cow]

1.

What's with all the hate for licensed stores? I love B&N starbucks, especially for a 'change' from the regular daily starbucks run.

Often (though not always - location matters) they will be less busy. I find the drink quality to be in line with Starbucks standards - which, by the way, Starbucks makes a concerted effort to maintain: I've seen regional teams doing shot timing on a monthly basis, inspecting machines, etc.

Moreover, the pastry selection is different (again, a nice change) and, arguably - though this may vary by region, SUPERIOR to Starbucks mishmosh of seasonals, favorites, standards, and oddities that constitute their 2008 pastry case - an area sorely in need of revamp.

Lastly, you get the additional benefit of being in a bookstore: for me (and, I'd be willing to bet, a good % of the demographic) coffee and books go hand in hand.

2. Laissez-faire rejection ... what's there to say? Why do companies do this? More corporate timidity. Enjoyably, this time, it's been combined with a dose of misunderstanding and noncomprehension. Oh, and don't forget the side order of irony: that a United States based business, a full flower of capitalism and free markets if ever there was one, rejects a laissez-faire slogan.

I'm glad bux is getting heat on this one.

Btw, Free Tibet. And Taiwan. And Turkestan. Hmm ... I'll try to make this a card:

"Tibet, Taiwan, Turkestan: Olympics 2008!"

[Alex]

Donkey cow- Shot timing is supposed to be done every hour. Just saying....

[Donkey Cow]

Alex:

What I mean is that they actually have quality control teams associated with the 'Mother Company' that come into the Barnes & Noble places both regularly and randomly to check that sort of stuff. I guess, meaning, in addition to the regular mandate of doing hourly shot timing by the employees.

I was pretty impressed. For all the flack we give sbux, I get the sense that they value their brand and its reputation, and make strong efforts (perhaps could be stronger) to achieve consistent quality control, whether in house or in a 'B&N' style setting

[Alex]

Ah, my mistake. I gotta admit, despite all the bad things I hear about them, the B&N Cafes I have been to were pretty good about all that. Sometimes people can be a little unfair towards the staff at those locations.

Starbucks now accepts "Laissez-faire"!

http://volokh.com/posts/1207848581.shtml

[Andrea]

Uh...Jean Luc? What you typed actually means "like this go [nonsense word]". I think you wanted "Comment ça va aujourd'hui?"

[Fiona]

How could Laissez-faire not be acceptable? We live in a capitalist globalist society, do we not?

The times are changing. What once was thought politically correct is done away with for being prudish. Back in the past, it was generation X concerned about being "politically correct" ... now it is generation Y concerned about making bold statementsBOLD.

[Fiona]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bold Audio Help /boʊld/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[bohld] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective, -er, -est.

1. not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and daring: a bold hero.

2. not hesitating to break the rules of propriety; forward; impudent: He apologized for being so bold as to speak to the emperor. (people)!

3. necessitating courage and daring; challenging: a bold adventure.

4. beyond the usual limits of conventional thought or action; imaginative: Einstein was a bold mathematician. a difficult problem needing a bold answer.

5. striking or conspicuous to the eye; flashy; showy: a bold pattern.

9. Obsolete. trusting; assured.
—Idiom

10. make bold, to presume or venture; dare: I made bold to offer my suggestion.

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP WEBMASTER]

Fiona -- If you read the messages, you'll see that it now HAS been accepted.

[Fiona]

OK. I'll actually read the messages from now on, before I get carried away...thank you.