Why All the Hating on Starbucks?

[wolf]

I mean, I know they make crappy overpriced coffee and all that. But what it is about Starbucks that makes protesters destroy and loot their stores? Everytime there's a protest that turns into a riot, you're guaranteed to see a newsbox or a trash can go through the front window of a Starbucks?

Doesn't matter what the riot's about ... global warming, economics, sports team victories ... Starbucks takes the brunt. You almost don't want to be in or near a Starbucks for fear that a riot will break out in the vicinity and the store will get trashed while you're waiting for your Venti Mocha Half-Caf Skim Latte Frappacino with a little hint of cinnamon.

Starbucks is even run by the kind of West Coast Hippies that would support whatever it is that the protesters are protesting, I mean, shouldn't they be trashing things like Gucci stores, or someplace that sells sneakers made by half-blind, crippled, Indonesian, orphaned toddlers?

[Trilby]

Simple:

In South Park episode #217, "Gnomes", Tweek's parents' coffee shop almost went out of business because 'Harbucks', a parody of the Starbucks coffee shop chain, opened a shop in South Park.

Hippies watch South Park.

LOGIC! I does it!

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by Brianna

LOGIC! I does it!

I didn't know they taught that kind of thinking in English classes... obviously they haven't finished beating it out of you yet.

Starbucks? They're large, they're profitable, and they're everywhere. Easy target.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by wolf

I mean, I know they make crappy overpriced coffee and all that. But what it is about Starbucks that makes protesters destroy and loot their stores? Everytime there's a protest that turns into a riot, you're guaranteed to see a newsbox or a trash can go through the front window of a Starbucks?

Because half of all storefronts are Starbucks? They'd have to work hard to avoid trashing one! :p

[Trilby]

Doesn't Lewis Black equate two Starbucks across the street from each other with the End Times?

[SteveDallas]

Yes. End of the universe, I believe. When I shared this with Mrs. Dallas, she told me (based on a book about the history of Starbucks that she had read) that they do this is places (heavy traffic, median, etc.) where a single building is likely to not attract customers driving both directions. So they just put one on each side of the street.

[Pie]

Starbuck's represent "high-end" obnoxious america. McD's or other fast-food joint is too common-man to really draw their ire directed at The Man.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Gucci stores are for the idle rich that have always been with us but are an insignificant percentage of the population.

Starbucks are for the pretentious, it's-all-about me, loud-cellphone-yapping. earth-polluting, oppressor-man-supporting, Hummer/SUV-driving, spotted owl-killing, whale-eating, not-nice-niks. The ultimate symbol of earth killing excess.

[capnhowdy]

Why does everyone in Starbucks sopping up the free WIFI? Around here it looks more like a computer class. Sipping on the expensive lattes etc. while staring at their substandard laptops. Sheesh

[TheMercenary]

wolf, I see it as a typical response between "have's" and "have not's". They see a corporate icon that represents success and they despise it. You can see it among many aspects of our society, including those who support the Obama redistribution plans.

[Cloud]

Posted by a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta:

Quite close to where I work there is a Starbucks next to an Einstein's Bagels. This is also just down the street from the Israeli consulate. This week, a US-based Hamas terrorist group (for want of a better term - that's what it's being described as) attacked the Starbucks (where a friend of mine works), vandalizing it and writing: Hamas all over it. Starbucks is run by a well-known Jewish man. The Department of Homeland Security had to be called to investigate. Later in the week, a large black car with black tinted windows placed itself in the Starbucks' parking lot. The police were called but it left. The next morning, when the opener went to open the bagel shop (not sure if it's technically Jewish, but being bagels...), that same car pulled up, and the girl was attacked and stabbed three times. She's in intensive care.

Starbucks has been sending out notices that in no way are they sending money to support Israel.

Now, we've had peaceful protesting for the past couple of weeks in this area, being a massive business district and close to the Israeli embassy. But this is just...insane.

[Aliantha]

I had a bad coffee from starbucks once and felt like throwing a chair through the window, but I'd been on anger management for a while, so I was able to restrain myself.

[classicman]

That is so effed up, cloud. I dislike starbucks - got coffee there a couple times - didn't think much of it either. Certainly not worth the price.

[Elspode]

No one has the right to destroy someone else's property. That said, I rarely go to a Starbucks. Six bucks for a fuckin' cup of coffee? C'mon.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Elspode

No one has the right to destroy someone else's property. That said, I rarely go to a Starbucks. Six bucks for a fuckin' cup of coffee? C'mon.

Yikes! I like Starbucks coffee but that's a lot of money. I usually drink Dunkin but drink SB if I'm at Barnes and Noble. I wonder how much regional difference there is in pricing? I don't think it's anywhere near$6 here.