Starbucks Charged WTC Rescuers for water !

b20uvkft6m5xwg

heres a link:


http://www.sky.com/skynews/storytemplate/storytoppic/0,,30000-1030517,00.html

Heres the full text:
Starbucks Billed Rescuers For Water





Coffee giant Starbucks charged rescue workers in New York $88 for water to treat victims of the World Trade Centre attacks.

One of the franchises close to the World Trade Centre forced an ambulance crew to hand over the equivalent of £60 when they asked for three cases of water to help treat victims of shock after the towers collapsed.


The president of the Seattle-based coffee chain, Orin Smith, said he had sent a refund and free coffee to the ambulance workers after he learned of the incident.

Scramble

"It's totally inconsistent with the kind of behaviour we would have expected from our people, so it has been very upsetting to learn of this," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith also said he had no idea why workers in the Starbucks outlet in Battery Park Plaza, near the scene of the devastation, had charged the workers, who were forced to scramble in their pockets for cash.

Misunderstanding

The president of Midwood Ambulance Service, Al Rapisarda, whose workers had to come up with the cash, said Mr Smith had called him to offer a personal apology.

"It was a misunderstanding with Starbucks," Mr Rapisarda said. "It's not a big deal anymore."

Starbucks has donated $1m to an appeal for victims of the terrorist strikes and several premises close to the World Trade Centre and New York hospitals served coffee and water to rescue workers for free.


Corporate Amercia Shows its true colours once again?

ConUladh

Bunch of minimum wage workers more like, prob didn't know what to do and reckoned their wages would be docked if they gave it away

WhiteWashMan

id be more of the opinion that some over zelous employee wanted to make himself look good.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

I'd agree w/ you there lads but I'd say the overall corporate philosphy drilled into some of this poor drones is what influenced their decision to charge fo the water in the end.

Whatever the case may be...
its a major blow to $tarbucks corporate personna in the eyes of the average Amercian, already under fire from their agressive tactics in the market place over the last couple of years- ie the belief they must have a shop on every corner of Manhattan.

Belisarius

I actually had a talk about this to an American friend over ICQ , he seemed quite distressed at the whole thing though hadnt heard of it till I posted him the url . AS 80p stated it was Fairly Cold , but TBH I doubt itll have any sort of affect anyways Western society is well aquainted with the Idea of the Evil Corporation , and Starbucks is undoubtedly up there with Fastfood chains and Oil Companies for lacking the "human"element yet we keep going for our Big macs and of SuperDuper Premium Unleaded , and any *if any* sort of Consumer action against Starbucks will be negligible ,and when people start craving thier fix of o mocca . In the end Peoples Outrage pales in thies devotion to the god that is Consumerism ..I know It does for me anyhow

Hobbes

Doesn't Dr Evil run Starbucks?

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Yeeehhhh:)


He seems to conduct all his important meetings there anyway.

"I'm going to hold the world ransom for ONE milllion dollars ";)

Alis

Starbucks must have some moron employees :rolleyes:

I'm suprised that they got the money in the first place. I hope the rescue workers didn't waste too much time scrambling together the cash.

In a situation like that I'd have no problem telling the Starbucks morons to whistle for their $88 bucks and helping myself.

Alis

JustHalf

Alis, leave them alone.

You don't know anything about them.

Belisarius

Well itd be looting right ?, theres always one isnt there , Its quite possible of course the Employees didnt actually know what had happened yet , It is a rather odd request *especially in the 50cc bottles they come in Starbucks* I cant imagine anyone being that coldhearted , acting under the corperate yoke or not ...

-RaY-

ok that is seriously sad charging ppl who are trying to save lives for some poxy water ?!?!:mad:

chernobyl

but this is not out of character for starbux$$ as i am learning now.
its sad, but forget it, its worthless news space.

Shinji

They do however make very nice chocolate suicide cheesecake and pretty damn leet coffee, so we'll forgive them this once

Alis

JustHalf wrote:

Alis, leave them alone.

Ok, I'll rephrase. In my opinion, from what I know, they acted like morons on this occassion.
Belisarius wrote:

Well itd be looting right ?, theres always one isnt there

Perhaps, but if so, in my opinion looting is OK in some situations.

It is not like stealing a TV because you can get away with it due to a chaotic situation.

People can die of shock. Water helps. In this case I'd have no problem looting to get it, if that saved valuable time.

(Obviously if I had the $88 bucks handy I would hand it over. I'd do whichever was quicker.)

If someone was trying to kill me, I wouldn't think twice about breaking a window to get to a phone so I could dial 999, does that make me a vandal?

It is OK to break the law in some situations if you have a lawful excuse for doing so.

(I'm not a lawyer so I'm not going to say whether the situation we are talking about here is one of them.)

Alis

Magwitch

As a comparible act, a telephone interview with an Irish guy on the news comes to mind. He and his friend had been leaving NewYork, but all flights were of course cancelled. He informed the news caster that they were out on the street now as their hotel and many others had doubled or trebled their prices mere hours after the WTC bombing. I do not know what the origional hotel cost was but he siad it was now (the day of the bombing) $400 per room.

Lets hope they get prosecuted.

Is there a Starbucks in Dublin?

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Originally posted by Magwitch


Is there a Starbucks in Dublin?

thank Gawd NO!
Theres already enough coffee shop clones around the place-

Ranelagh has been transformed by the scourge of the coffee bean it seams. Every second shop is now full of ponces drinking their moka laté blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah- who gives a fúck!
Instant Maxwell House or Nescafe does me grand:)

JustHalf

There is a difference between that instant crap and real coffee, 80project.com ... though that doesn't stop me drinking it