After famously closing its stores last spring for a company-wide unconscious bias training, Starbucks is back in the news for another race-related incident. Customer Nur Ashour claims she was harassed by another customer for wearing a hijab at a Starbucks in Dallas, Texas. She posted about her encounter on Twitter. Ashour described how the Starbucks employees stood by and watched as the woman yelled and threw coffee accessories at her. Ashours’ tweetstorm eventually caught the attention of a Starbucks customer service representative who replied saying they would contact her directly for more details.
Starbucks is just the latest store to be caught by the “reputational radar gun.” Just recently, Sephora came under fire after Grammy-nominated singer, SZA, tweeted that she was racially-profiled by an employee who thought the performer was shoplifting. Likely using Starbucks as an example, Sephora closed all US stores for a one-hour all-hands inclusion and diversity training.
Did Starbucks make the right decision to follow up with Ashour directly or is more employee training in their future? Here’s what CEO Andy Gilman told PR News in the article, “Is Starbucks’ Complex History with Racism Slowing Its Reaction Time?”
Says Andy Gilman, president/CEO, CommCore Consulting Group, “Brands can’t control what customers say or do to each other.” On the other hand, “real or perceived bad behavior on the store floor” will hurt the brand…”If employee training is having an impact, employees should know what to do when it’s between customers,” Gilman says.