Starbucks ordered to pay customer €12,000 because of drawing on cup

Gaoth Laidir

It just gets better and better. Now Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer of Thai origin €12,000 because they drew "slanty eyes" on her cup instead of writing her name. She was offended.

Ok, they should have written her name but really? €12,000 for that? More compo culture Ireland at play.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0119/1190689-starbucks-ordered-to-pay-compensation/

BRYAN Is Ainm Dom

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

It just gets better and better. Now Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer of Thai origin €12,000 because they drew "slanty eyes" on her cup instead of writing her name. She was offended.

Ok, they should have written her name but really? €12,000 for that? More compo culture Ireland at play.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0119/1190689-starbucks-ordered-to-pay-compensation/

Good to see you are more outraged at the compensation rather than racist behavior of ****bucks.

MarkY91

BRYAN Is Ainm Dom wrote: »

Good to see you are more outraged at the compensation rather than racist behavior of ****bucks.

Yes. Starbucks are horrible because 1 employee from hundreds of thousands around the world drew slanty eyes on a cup.

Boycott ****bucks ...

KevRossi

If someone in London wrote 'Paddywhacker' on your Starbucks cup, I suppose you'd laugh it off?

They were right to take them to task on it. Doesn't affect their insurance, nor yours as it's defamation, not injury. Stupid thing to do, they should pay out. As to whether it should be €12,000 or not is another point.

FHFM50

BRYAN Is Ainm Dom wrote: »

Good to see you are more outraged at the compensation rather than racist behavior of ****bucks.

Racist behavior of an employee, not Starbucks.

sameoldname

FHFM50 wrote: »

Racist behavior of an employee, not Starbucks.

An employee of Starbucks, working in Starbucks at the time, representing Starbucks, serving a customer of Starbucks. That's the way it works and it works both ways.

mikhail

This sends a message: pull this **** and you will be fired. I'm okay with that message.

A perfectly fine ruling.

Compo-culture me arse.

.anon.

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

I think 12K is apt, maybe even a few grand more. A shocking display of racism, imo. There is no place for behaviour like that in Irish society.

Sounds like the employee might have been very, very innocent and genuinely didn't understand how offensive it was.

Starbucks' defence was bizarre, to say the least:

"A legal representatives for the Starbucks outlet put it to Ms Foley that an American band called 'Slants' had sought to re-appropriate the depiction of eyes in the same way that 'queer' had been re-appropriated by the LGBT community."

Mitch Connor

a representative of starbucks was racist to a customer.

and the customer got a ruling against the starbucks as a result.

Don't see the issue here, at all. I'm surprised it wasn't more.

Annasopra

FHFM50 wrote: »

Racist behavior of an employee, not Starbucks.

The judgement was against Starbucks

irishgrover

mikhail wrote: »

This sends a message: pull this **** and you will be fired. I'm okay with that message.

except nobody was fired
but yeah, appropriate resolution.

The fact that the person that did the drawing was an immigrant themselves, will send all the closet racists and far-right boardies into an existential crisis.....

AMKC

I don't get why they wrote or drew anything on her cup. Is this what they do when you buy a coffee or whatever in Starbucks and if so why? Never been in one myself as hate coffee. It's just horrible stuff.

Tacitus Kilgore

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

It just gets better and better. Now Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer of Thai origin €12,000 because they drew "slanty eyes" on her cup instead of writing her name. She was offended.

Ok, they should have written her name but really? €12,000 for that? More compo culture Ireland at play.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0119/1190689-starbucks-ordered-to-pay-compensation/

No, compo culture at play would be a person spilling coffee on themselves and suing a restaurant for burning them


Drawing an asian person as slanty eyed, is as good as drawing a minstrel on the cup for a black person.

I see no issue with this ruling...

KevRossi

.anon. wrote: »

Sounds like the employee might have been very, very innocent and genuinely didn't understand how offensive it was.

[/I]

Might be an excuse if the employee was 6 years old. But not a teenager or adult.

They knew what they were doing. Starbucks paid up, person possibly lost their job.

TheMilkyPirate

I hate the PC/offended at everything culture but tbf this was a complete dick move on the part of the starbucks employee. Just write the name on the cup like everyone else. They hardly thought the customer was going to find it funny.

fmpisces

AMKC wrote: »

I don't get why they wrote or drew anything on her cup. Is this what they do when you buy a coffee or whatever in Starbucks and if so why? Never been in one myself as hate coffee. It's just horrible stuff.

I've only ever been to Starbucks once in my life, and that was last year.
Yes, they do write your name on the cup. They have one person taking the order/your money then another person makes up the drinks. I think it's supposed to avoid confusion?....they do be very busy.

They spelled my son's name wrong, twice, (in fairness it's Portuguese). We just laughed it off but I get that what was done in this case was quite different.

humberklog

AMKC wrote: »

I don't get why they wrote or drew anything on her cup. Is this what they do when you buy a coffee or whatever in Starbucks and if so why? Never been in one myself as hate coffee. It's just horrible stuff.

They write your name on the cup and then call you when it's ready, even when they're standing right beside you at the counter. But it's funny watching them try to pronounce Aloysius (that's the name I give when on the rare times I go in).

Rodin

Writing names on cups is weird anyway.
Would never go to Starbucks.

Ubbquittious

How do they arrive at the princely sum of €12k?


Is there any reason why €1,200 wouldn't have done them or any possibility the victim may need €24,000 to wash away this particular grievance?

Rodin

Rodin wrote: »

Writing names on cups is weird anyway.
Would never go to Starbucks.

Pure scutter, the overpriced rank coffee, bizarre rituals, all of it. Starbucks is a blight on the landscape, no sympathy for them here.

Tacitus Kilgore

Ubbquittious wrote: »

How do they arrive at the princely sum of €12k?


Is there any reason why €1,200 wouldn't have done them or any possibility the victim may need €24,000 to wash away this particular grievance?

As miniscule of a sum €24k would be to starbucks®, I think they'll be fine. You could donate though I suppose - if you're worried about them.


Perhaps the difference between 1200 & 24000 might make them point out to their staff - not to be racist, maybe?




Otherwise, perhaps we should make a big deal about the complainants ethnicity, as to why 1200 wouldn't do

TheValeyard

It seems the South American lady who did the drawing ws some sort of artist and was doing sketches of lots of different people. Was probably abit risky to be fair with someone bound to get offended

Your Face

Storm in a coffee cup.

Reckless Abandonment

The employee should be made to fork up a few grand too. I understand employers are ultimately responsible. But no amount of training takes all the gob****e out of people

sporina

Q - i read in an article that she employee said she thought the customer was "glamorous"... hence she drew the picture.. but no mention of glamour being depicted in the drawing? only referred to the slanty eyes.. ?

In any event - from what I gather, I don't think the employee was being racist - ignorant and naive perhaps..

Fair ruling - the customer may have experienced racism in the past - hence she took it as an offence..

Get the impression that the employee didn't get the sack though - if so, thats good

Cole

.anon. wrote: »

Starbucks' defence was bizarre, to say the least:

"A legal representatives for the Starbucks outlet put it to Ms Foley that an American band called 'Slants' had sought to re-appropriate the depiction of eyes in the same way that 'queer' had been re-appropriated by the LGBT community."

Talk about completely misunderstanding the concept of re-appropriation.

0ph0rce0

I'd love to see the actual drawing, I bet you the picture looked something like an emoji smiley face.




Big racist emoji bastards

Homelander

I would actually also like to see the drawing out of interest. Articles imply that it was some sort of crude, offensive stereotype caricature when in reality I would say it was more an attempt to drawn an emoji with asian eyes or similar.

It seems the employee involved genuinely was attempting to make a cute and innocent tribute to the appearance of the customer, all parties were in agreement that there was no intent to offend behind the action, nor malice.

I do think context is fairly important. I mean already some people on the thread are comparing it to someone writing "paddywhacker" on the cup when it's clear from the actual reports that it was not really like this at all, even if it did cause offence ultimately.

PCeeeee

TheValeyard wrote: »

It seems the South American lady who did the drawing ws some sort of artist and was doing sketches of lots of different people. Was probably abit risky to be fair with someone bound to get offended

When it pays to get offended, people will get offended more often.

46 Long

In her evidence, Ms Foley told the WRC hearing that she was "shocked and nervous" after the Starbucks employee showed her the latte cup with the drawing as a way of identifying her for the collection of her latte.

Ms Foley told the hearing that she was too uncomfortable to collect the cup and her boyfriend returned to the counter to collect it for her.

Ms Foley told the hearing that she felt offended as this incident demeaned her. She stated that she had been racially abused

:rolleyes:

Bobblehats

sporina wrote: »

Q - i read in an article that she employee said she thought the customer was "glamorous"... hence she drew the picture.. but no mention of glamour being depicted in the drawing? only referred to the slanty eyes.. ?

What’s she gona do sign off with glamourpuss?! .. I love my girls slanty eyes, I tell her from time to time. She calls me droopy eyes, cave man; whatever one thing leads to another... let’s just say it’s all very complimentary. No offence taken, did she really write slant on there?

Its a ridiculous ruling

0ph0rce0

46 Long wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Chancer

Hellotonever

She's right to complain. Maybe 12k is too much. But she was dead right to speak out about this happening.

Dont give me this 'snowflake generation' crap either. If some English lad drew some paddy sh*t on my cup id slam his head on the counter and pour boiling coffee over his head.

SineadSpears

Ubbquittious wrote: »

How do they arrive at the princely sum of €12k?


Is there any reason why €1,200

I think €1,200 would have been fair for someone getting their feelings hurt.

You probably wouldn't get 12k if you got battered by somebody.


Very stupid thing to do from the staff member. I think it would be fair to let her go after the company being fined because of her actions. Whether she claims she meant it or not.

Bobblehats

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Yeah that’s it smiley eyes! beautiful, just beautiful.

Or happy, at least...

cannotlogin

I hate compensation culture and people who are offended at everything but given the limit information I don't have an issue with this, what occurred is offensive and wrong.

Can't help but wonder how Starbucks handled it initially, a genuine apology and a €500 voucher surely would have helped rather than it getting to court. If there was an evidence they did this, then my opinion would be different.

sporina

Bobblehats wrote: »

What’s she gona do sign off with glamourpuss?! .. I love my girls slanty eyes, I tell her from time to time. She calls me droopy eyes, cave man; whatever one thing leads to another... let’s just say it’s all very complimentary. No offence taken, did she really write slant on there?

i dunno... her nice ear rings or what ever it was that seemed glamorous to her?? do slanty eyes equate glamour?

anyway, starbucks defended the use of the word slanty...

"A legal representatives for the Starbucks outlet put it to Ms Foley that an American band called “Slants” had sought to re-appropriate the depiction of eyes in the same way that “queer” had been re-appropriated by the LGBT community."

era the employee just seems a bit thick - but not racist i'd say..

sure she's an immigrant herself

still think it was a fair outcome

pgj2015

if I was in china and ordered a coffee in starbucks and they drew a pale red headed man with freckles on the cup, is that racist?

CtevenSrowder

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

It just gets better and better. Now Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer of Thai origin €12,000 because they drew "slanty eyes" on her cup instead of writing her name. She was offended.

Ok, they should have written her name but really? €12,000 for that? More compo culture Ireland at play.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0119/1190689-starbucks-ordered-to-pay-compensation/

Fair play to her. A good judgement.

lawred2

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

It just gets better and better. Now Starbucks was ordered to pay a customer of Thai origin €12,000 because they drew "slanty eyes" on her cup instead of writing her name. She was offended.

Ok, they should have written her name but really? €12,000 for that? More compo culture Ireland at play.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0119/1190689-starbucks-ordered-to-pay-compensation/

wrong

next!

James Brown

MarkY91 wrote: »

Yes. Starbucks are horrible because 1 employee from hundreds of thousands around the world drew slanty eyes on a cup.

Boycott ****bucks ...

The employee was a ****wit. The company got dinged for it. Sounds fair.

riffmongous

Bobblehats wrote: »

What’s she gona do sign off with glamourpuss?! .. I love my girls slanty eyes, I tell her from time to time. She calls me droopy eyes, cave man; whatever one thing leads to another... let’s just say it’s all very complimentary. No offence taken, did she really write slant on there?

Radical idea maybe, but she could have just signed off with the woman's name

Overheal

Thinly veiled reasons for this particular OP.

46 Long

Hellotonever wrote: »

She's right to complain. Maybe 12k is too much. But she was dead right to speak out about this happening.

Dont give me this 'snowflake generation' crap either. If some English lad drew some paddy sh*t on my cup id slam his head on the counter and pour boiling coffee over his head.

I think you need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror if you feel that assaulting someone with boiling coffee is a proportionate response to a mildly politically incorrect drawing on a coffee cup.

Rodin

pgj2015 wrote: »

if I was in china and ordered a coffee in starbucks and they drew a pale red headed man with freckles on the cup, is that racist?

In Irish law or Chinese law?
I'd say the Chinese couldn't give a MaoTseTung about your rights

gmisk

Tbh I am intrigued to see what was drawn on the cup.
It seems like a huge amount of money

Bobblehats

riffmongous wrote: »

Radical idea maybe, but she could have just signed off with the woman's name

Yea what happened there did she forget it?

Regardless, happy time. Nice hot cup of coffee, no complaints....

gmisk wrote: »

Tbh I am intrigued to see what was drawn on the cup.
It seems like a huge amount of money

- I suppose you might find offence if you know there’s 12k in it right?

elperello

cannotlogin wrote: »

I hate compensation culture and people who are offended at everything but given the limit information I don't have an issue with this, what occurred is offensive and wrong.

Can't help but wonder how Starbucks handled it initially, a genuine apology and a €500 voucher surely would have helped rather than it getting to court. If there was an evidence they did this, then my opinion would be different.

If it had been an independent coffee shop and the customer could have taken up the issue with the owner directly it's likely the matter would never have ended up as it did.

A bit of humanity, recognition of the the upset of the customer and a simple genuine apology most likely would have defused the situation.

There's a lesson there for when you need a coffee

Hellotonever

46 Long wrote: »

I think you need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror if you feel that assaulting someone with boiling coffee is a proportionate response to a mildly politically incorrect drawing on a coffee cup.

So either you take them to court and get called a snowflake

Or

You take direct action solving the problem then and there and get called insane.

You just cant win.