I don't think Starbuck is homophobic. You can read some of the comments below and read the other side of the story.
My thoughts when I first read the letter without reading the comments.
Jeffrey might have contributed this situation too. Maybe he was rather annoying and keep talking the same personal problem again and again and again and it annoyed his co-workers? Remember how one of the ladies said she listen to him at first?
But, no matter what, the manager handled this situation very badly (until the guy cried). She seem vindictive and fake (the part where she smiled and act kind after complaining about with in the other ladies). And she shouldn't have used his sexual orientation to attack him. This whole confrontation should be conducted behind close door and should be handled in a more professional manner.
One of the ladies seem pretty insensitive when she said Jeffrey shouldn't get upset about things said to him regarding his sexuality.
The readers comment gave me a different view of the incident.
Last edited by kidd; 06-15-11 at 05:21 AM.
什麼是朋友?朋友永遠是在你犯下不可原諒錯誤的時候,仍舊站在你那邊的笨蛋。~ 王亞瑟
和諧唔係一百個人講同一番話,係一百個人有一百句唔同嘅說話,而又互相尊重 ~ - 葉梓恩
This woman is an awful writer, so I could barely finish her entire rant. I mean seriously, if you are writing about a serious issue to a large corporation, make it concise and to the point.
Anyway, being homophobic is wrong and unfortunately, there are still a ton of places in the world that act like this. However, I don't think the actions of a group of employers at one Starbucks location is representative of the entire corporation. That said, homophobia is a serious problem and needs to be addressed wherever it comes up.
Last edited by xJadedx; 06-15-11 at 11:22 AM.
Because I'm somewhere in between,
My love and my agony.
That's the exact point of the letter. The writer did say she has no idea if he had any professional indiscretions/wrongdoing. What's wrong was that the entire thing was done in public (bad PR) and his sexuality was used as a weapon against him. The argument the writer heard wasn't about how poor of an employee Jeffrey was, but about how he was talking about his private life (even though other employees did the same) and how he's homosexual.
I thought it was gripping and detailed, which also showed how serious the writer is about the issue.
If the purpose of her letter was to write a short story, then it would have been apt. But for a letter of complaint to a corporation, it's too long-winded and had she sent this letter to Starbucks, it most likely wouldn't have been read at all because of the way she wrote. I get that she is obviously very passionate and serious about the issue, but there needs to be more tact.
Because I'm somewhere in between,
My love and my agony.
I agree the letter can use a little editing. There were parts where her thoughts trailed off, and she took a more than half a page to get to the point. If I was reading this letter I will read the first two sentences and have no idea it is a complaint. But all in all the letter is well written despite its issues.
Her voice and writing style trumps these technical issues. You can feel her passion for the issue, and she is able to bring you in with her words. You can edit a writing for conciseness and precision, but you can't create a good voice.
It is wrong to discriminate someone for their sexuality. And if this incident is true - I think Starbucks should address it and look at their policies and find out why these incidents happen. I am not blaming the victim here, but it is never recommended to talk too much about your personal life at work. They're your co-workers, not your friends, and definitely not your family.
You cannot be too harsh on Starbucks because United States as a whole is homophobic. The "don't ask don't tell" policy was repealed less than a year ago. If men and women that die for our country cannot talk about their sexual orientation, should we expect more for our baristas? (Although I do love my barista very very much.) Change takes time, and as long as Starbucks takes steps to correct this human resource error - I'll continue to be their loyal customer.