Starbucks worker fired after ‘PIG’ printed on Oklahoma cop’s cup, company says
An Oklahoma police officer patrolling on Thanksgiving day got an unwelcome surprise on a drink he ordered at Starbucks on the holiday, according to the town’s police chief.
Kiefer Police Chief Johnny O’Mara shared a photo on Facebook Thursday showing a Starbucks holiday cup with the word “PIG” — a derogatory term for police — printed on the label. O’Mara said the on-duty officer who ordered the beverage was buying it to do something nice for local dispatchers, who also worked the holiday.
“This is what he gets for being nice,” O’Mara wrote in the post, which has been shared more than 20,000 times in less than a day. “What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town.”
O’Mara said he called the Starbucks and was told the coffee shop would happily “replace the coffee with a correct label” — an offer that he said made him think of the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
The worker involved has been fired, according to Starbucks, with a company spokeperson saying in a statement Friday that the worker “who wrote this offensive word on a cup used poor judgment and is no longer a partner after this violation of company policy.”
According to the Tulsa World, a worker from the Starbucks location — which is in nearby Glenpool, just outside Tulsa — “could not comment on the incident and referred the Tulsa World to a corporate hotline, which could not be reached on Thanksgiving day.”
The verified Facebook account for the Seattle-based coffee chain responded to O’Mara’s viral post within hours.
“This is totally unacceptable and offensive to all law enforcement,” the company said in a comment. “We are deeply sorry and have apologized directly to the officer who experienced this. We have launched an internal investigation into this matter and our leaders would like to connect with you directly to apologize to you and the entire department. We invite you to send us a private message so that we may connect you with our leadership.”
The officer who received the offending cup alerted his chief, who then called the store — and the officer “says the employee has reached out to him personally and apologized, saying it was simply meant as a joke,” KTUL reported.
Starbucks and the Kiefer Police Department said in a joint statement Friday that the company and local authorities “are committed to using this regrettable incident as an opportunity to leverage our shared platforms to promote greater civility.”
There are plans for “a jointly hosted Coffee with a Cop event at Starbucks where local law enforcement can meet with baristas and members of the community to discuss the critical role dispatchers and police offers play in keeping our communities safe,” the statement said.
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Starbucks worker fired after ‘PIG’ printed on Oklahoma cop’s cup, company says."
