Starbucks Issues Apology After California Deputies Refused Service

Starbucks Coffee Company has apologized after two sheriff’s deputies in Riverside County, California, said they were refused service.

The incident occurred Thursday night at the Starbucks on University Avenue when the officers said they were ignored for at least five minutes, a spokesperson from the company confirmed Saturday, according to KTLA.

The representative also said they believe it was a case of poor customer service.

“Two of our deputies were refused service at Starbucks,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco wrote on Twitter Friday, adding, “The anti police culture repeatedly displayed by Starbucks employees must end.”

Starbucks issued an apology that read:

There is simply no excuse for how two Riverside deputies were ignored for nearly 5 minutes at our store on Thursday evening. We are deeply sorry and reached out to apologize directly to them. We take full responsibility for any intentional or unintentional disrespect shown to law enforcement on whom we depend every day to keep our stores and communities safe. No customer, in or out of uniform, should ever have that experience at a Starbucks. The partners (employees) who worked that evening will not be scheduled to work while we investigate and take the appropriate steps.

In November, a police officer in Kiefer, Oklahoma, was given a coffee cup with “PIG” written on it, Breitbart News reported.

“This is what he gets for being nice,” Police Chief Johnny O’Mara said in a Facebook post regarding the incident.

He continued:

This cup of coffee for a ‘pig’ is just another little flag. It’s another tiny symptom and a nearly indiscernible shout from a contemptuous, roaring and riotous segment of a misanthropic society that vilifies those who stand for what’s right and glorifies the very people who would usher in the destruction of the social fabric. It’s another tiny pinprick into the heart of men and women who are asking themselves more often: ‘Why am I doing this?’

On Friday, Bianco said the deputies told him they were laughed at and ignored to the point that other patrons knew they were being targeted by store employees.

However, he noted that the two men handled the situation well and walked out the door to buy their coffee somewhere else.

“I’m very, very proud of them,” Bianco concluded.