'Color brave,' furious customers, and 'eye-opening' interactions: Starbucks baristas reveal what it was like to attend the chain's massive racial-bias training
- Starbucks closed 8,000 locations across the United States on Tuesday afternoon so that employees could undergo a racial-bias training.
- Baristas are speaking out about the training on social media.
- While some Starbucks workers feel the chain is trying too hard to be "woke," most employees seem to be happy that the chain is trying to address issues related to racism in the US.
Starbucks closed stores across the United States on Tuesday afternoon to train employees on issues related to racial bias.
The training comes after two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks after they tried to use the bathroom without ordering anything. Footage of the arrests went viral, sparking boycott threats.
Leading up to the training, baristas and customers alike expressed a mix of skepticism and optimism.
Now that the training has been completed, Starbucks employees have a lot to say. Many let off steam on social media following the training Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
While Business Insider can't confirm all of these accounts are from people who actually work at Starbucks, they spoke on topics that were discussed in the training, which is now public. Here is what Starbucks baristas actually thought about the racial-bias training.
Many employees spoke out in support of the training on social media
"I am really glad to have this training," one apparent partner wrote in r/Starbucks. "Not because of Starbucks, because this was an obvious PR stunt, but because I was able to become closer to my fellow baristas and have deep discussions on what it means to just be human."
Others had less positive experiences
Many of the snarkier takes on the event came out on Reddit, where the r/Starbucks community was extremely active during and after the training.
"4 hours of filler with no substance, a bread sandwich if you will," one Reddit commenter wrote.
"The actual content was pretty shallow," wrote another. "All the real learning moments came from talking with other partners, which is how we learn to grow anyway."
Starbucks' attempts to be "woke" received mixed feedback
Even among people who thought the program was beneficial, some thought a few references made Starbucks seem to be trying too hard to be a "woke" social justice advocate.
"Truthfully, it was a lot less cringey than I thought it would be," one Reddit commenter wrote. "Now don't get me wrong there was definitely some cringe; e.g. executives talking about Starbucks being woke, 'dirty sweatpants' apparently being some sort of signal for degeneracy, and the term 'color brave.' But it ended up being a platform to communicate with our coworkers about our upbringing and biases, and how to apply that same understanding to customers."
The term "color brave," coined by Starbucks board member Mellody Hobson in 2015, is meant to refer to the practice of actively addressing race and diversity, instead of ignoring bias. While Starbucks employees may have agreed with the theory, the term raised a few eyebrows.
"Suddenly, it's 'brave' to interact with customers who are of another race?" one person wrote on Reddit. "What the f---ery, did someone forget that we live in 2018?"
There were also practical concerns
Some customers simply did not realize that Starbucks was closed, with a number of people sharing stories of customers attempting to order at the drive-thru or enter a location despite signage about the training.
In the words of one Reddit comment: "we had about 30 cars go through the drive thru during the meeting, our store manager cried."
"Our store doors are messed up, and they were locked," wrote another. "Three different customers ripped open our locked doors during the training today."
The closures also caused problems for licensed stores - which were open.
"I work in the barnes and noble Starbucks, which wasnt closed as it's not owned by Starbucks," one Redditor wrote. "It was horrible, hundreds of people crowded in screaming about how the others were closed."
Despite critiques, most Starbucks workers seem to feel the coffee chain's mission was meaningful - even if it wasn't perfectly executed
"Props to Starbucks for taking the bull by the horns, and for setting a precedent that says that large businesses can't really ignore what happens in their stores," one person wrote on Reddit.
And, others managed to find a less meaningful purpose in the day
As one barista wrote on Reddit: "I made $48 and ate some good free food just for watching some videos so I'm not complaining too much, also I am now #colorbrave."