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

ILoveYourVibes

OscarMIlde wrote: »

I have a three letter Irish name, which I spell out, and they still get it wrong. They'll never master Tadhgh.

Dicks. :mad:

nullzero

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Should be a million.

Why should I care what a billion dollar company has to pay?

What is the OP expecting from me? Sympathy for the poor racist? For the poor little rich company for whom 12k is a sneeze?

Sorry.

They should be punished more.

I feel nothing but coldness toward them.

Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? Weird.

Such a nuanced response.

noodler

It's really not clear how our awards are calculated.

walshb

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Should be a million.

Why should I care what a billion dollar company has to pay?

What is the OP expecting from me? Sympathy for the poor racist? For the poor little rich company for whom 12k is a sneeze?

Sorry.

They should be punished more.

I feel nothing but coldness toward them.

Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? Weird.

So you think one moment in time of silliness and childishness, and immaturity which is what reads to me should see a whole global company have its name down as being involved and complicit in racism?

This was a ridiculous overreaction that was pursued out of making a quick buck. Nothing more.

agoodpunt

I know lots of taximen whom brought many a thai girl + a sibling or 2 back to ireland because they are generally more attractive than our natives so I have been told
I suspect this is home grown compo culture google surname lol
Compo culture is not free

Annasopra

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

And an apology and gesture would have sufficed, which is exactly what was offered, but she refused. You really think 12K is a reasonable outcome? This will set the scene for many more such claims, clogging up the courts from putting away some actual criminals.

Its not a court though.

Ash.J.Williams

agoodpunt wrote: »

I know lots of taximen whom brought many a thai girl + a sibling or 2 back to ireland because they are generally more attractive than our natives so I have been told
I suspect this is home grown compo culture google surname lol
Compo culture is not free

wha?

Ash.J.Williams

OMM 0000 wrote: »

That's not a good comparison. A drawing of an Asian is not the same as calling a gay a "queer".

Perhaps a better comparison would be if they drew a rainbow flag on a gay customer's cup. Is that bigotry? I don't think so. You could argue it's annoying or stupid, but I think we need to stop lumping anything uncomfortable into the bigotry category.

no, it would be the same as drawing a stereotype "jewish nose" on a cup which would also result in a payout

Stark

OMM 0000 wrote: »

That's not a good comparison. A drawing of an Asian is not the same as calling a gay a "queer".

It's exactly the comparison Starbucks used in their defence (ironically digging themselves a deeper hole rather than exonerating themselves).

OMM 0000

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

no, it would be the same as drawing a stereotype "jewish nose" on a cup which would also result in a payout

Not a good comparison either, as in Asia they use slanty eyes when drawing themselves. Most Starbucks drinks I get will have a drawing of a face with slanty eyes on it.

I asked my friends and wife about it here (all Japanese), and none of them thought it was racism. They do think it is stupid though.

I don't think Jewish people draw themselves with a big nose.

Again, I'm not saying it's without offence, I just think we should stop lumping everything into the racism basket.

pgj2015

it would be like a Swedish woman drawing a person with black hair for an Italian customer in a Swedish starbucks.

Ash.J.Williams

pgj2015 wrote: »

it would be like a Swedish woman drawing a person with black hair for an Italian customer in a Swedish starbucks.

No it isn’t

pgj2015

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

No it isn’t

it is. why is slanty eyes an insult?

agoodpunt

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

No it isn’t

It is when you have irish compo culture
Am sure her family in thailand are on the backs laughing at stupid farangs

ohnonotgmail

pgj2015 wrote: »

it is. why is slanty eyes an insult?

Is that a genuine question? you really don't know the history behind it?

lawred2

pgj2015 wrote: »

it is. why is slanty eyes an insult?

ah here

ohnonotgmail

agoodpunt wrote: »

I know lots of taximen whom brought many a thai girl + a sibling or 2 back to ireland because they are generally more attractive than our natives so I have been told
I suspect this is home grown compo culture google surname lol
Compo culture is not free

their surname is Foley. what exactly should we be looking for when we google that surname?

Its a disgrace Joe, foreigners coming over here racially abusing us Irish.

conorhal

Stark wrote: »

That was very bizarre.

Like imagine a gay person walked in and an employee wrote "Queer" on their cup. "Oh I heard you guys had re-appropriated the term".

Nonsense.

In the context of what happened, your example would be more akin to a barista drawing a rainbow on someones cup.

Context matters, and in the context of what happened you have to ask the question, 'was offence or distress intended'?
IMO, no it was not. There seems to have certiantly been a determined effort to take offence however.


Personally I loathe those whole cutsey 'para-social' attempts by corporate entities to present the appearence of a 'personal relationship with the customer' that scrawling smiley faces and such on your frickin' takeaway coffee constitutes.

It's abnoxiously American and very fake.

ohnonotgmail

conorhal wrote: »

Nonsense.

In the context of what happened, your example would be more akin to a barista drawing a rainbow on someones cup.

Context matters, and in the context of what happened you have to ask the question, 'was offence or distress intended'?
IMO, no it was not. There seems to have certiantly been a determined effort to take offence however.


Personally I loathe those whole cutsey 'para-social' attempts by corporate entities to present the appearence of a 'personal relationship with the customer' that scrawling smiley faces and such on your frickin' takeaway coffee constitutes.

It's abnoxiously American and very fake.

you are really bad at analogies. it is nothing like that at all.

conorhal

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

you are really bad at analogies. it is nothing like that at all.

Well that makes two of us then and a lot of self righteous huffing over a storm in a coffee cup.
It was a barista consciously drawing attention to a characteristic of a customer in a rather odd way in which no offence was intended.
IMO the manager acted appropriately and that should have been the end of it.

fantaiscool

conorhal wrote: »

Well that makes two of us then and a lot of self righteous huffing over a storm in a coffee cup.
It was a barista consciously drawing attention to a characteristic of a customer in a rather odd way in which no offence was intended.
IMO the manager acted appropriately and that should have been the end of it.

Thankfully the courts didn't see it this way and acted in a manner that has made an example out of the situation.

conorhal

fantaiscool wrote: »

Thankfully the courts didn't see it this way and acted in a manner that has made an example out of the situation.

The law is an ass.

Gaoth Laidir

fantaiscool wrote: »

Thankfully the courts didn't see it this way and acted in a manner that has made an example out of the situation.

conorhal wrote: »

The law is an ass.

For the umpteenth time, this was not in the courts.

pgj2015

if the plaintiff thought it was done as an insult then she was right to bring the matter further but from the sounds of it, she didnt, so she should have just let it go.

OMM 0000

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I don't get how this is racist.

I live in Japan and Asians literally have slanty eyes.

I can understand how the drawing might be a bit annoying for her, but I don't understand how it is racist.

As an example, I've probably received Starbucks coffees here where they drew a smiley face with big eyes (to suggest the coffee is for the white guy), but I don't get how that's racist either. If anything it's kind of amusing.

I feel the meaning of racism has changed to include things like "a little bit annoying".

Ditto. In China, they won't be able to write my name, so usually they write 'foreigner' on the cup in Chinese characters.

And since Asia is the epicenter for all things "cute", I could easily see them drawing a stick insect to represent me. (Being tall/Thin). The anime aspect is strong throughout Asia, and most Asians are themselves represented by other Asians as having slanted/small eyes.

As for all Asians having slanted eyes, not so much. Round eyes are very common in China and Korea... added to the massive cosmetic surgery industry which will alter them. Admittedly, from my experiences, slanted eyes tends to be far more common in Thailand than other countries. Although, they're not really slanted, it's just the case of the eyes being covered more. My ex was so cute when she smiled or laughed because her eyes would close every time.

In any case, I don't really see the racism here either. It's not like the cup was being shown to all the other customers, with everyone laughing over the image. It was a single drawing shown to the customer.. of a physical feature she probably had.

Yup. I'd consider this to be compo culture.. Something that definitely wouldn't be considered offensive in her own culture, but seeks to make it offensive in ours.

Bobblehats

Deleted User wrote: »

As for all Asians having slanted eyes, not so much. Round eyes are very common in China and Korea... added to the massive cosmetic surgery industry which will alter them. Admittedly, from my experiences, slanted eyes tends to be far more common in Thailand than other countries. Although, they're not really slanted, it's just the case of the eyes being covered more. My ex was so cute when she smiled or laughed because her eyes would close every time.

Yeh that's the Siam crowd a lot of Chinese have large, rounded eyes moreso than most my missus is classic oriental albeit naga she asks why you like my chinky eyes! I tell her that's why; honey then it gets awkward hah. But usually resolved

walshb

Spring is Here wrote: »

12k isn't really a lot of money so it's not unreasonable that she get's that payout. Nonetheless, I'm not bothered by name calling or similar discrimination as I have healthy self esteem so I'd happily be discriminated against every day if it meant I could get 12k a pop.

It’s a whole lot of money for a whole lot of nothing. That is the point..

Reading the details here, this, for me was nothing more than a cash-grab..

And they got away with it..

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I don’t class this as a normal BS compo claim. What that employee did was racist and this sends a message. And it’s not a small, struggling business. This is a slap on the wrist for Starbucks but probably just enough of an amount for them to take notice.

The ‘writing on cups’ thing in Starbucks is open to abuse by arsehole employees. I’ve seen other examples of them writing “funny” things on cups that are actually just mean.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

.anon. wrote: »

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."

Anyone who is old enough to hold employment should know better. I mean, I learned and understood as a young child why the old version of the “Eeny meeny miney mo” rhyme was not okay. There’s no excuse.