This week we see a video of a woman in Plano driving a white Mercedes (with purple interior ambient lighting) arguing with a Starbucks barista in the drive-through. Both the customer and barista use their phones to record the duel. Words were exchanged, and the driver threw her drinks at the barista before driving off.
The drinks were cold and only half full, perhaps, as some commenters pointed out, because the customer asked for no ice. See, that's a trick. People think if they request no ice at a Starbucks they get that much more drink. Listen, Starbucks didn't make $36 billion last year getting bamboozled with the old "no-ice" trick. Alas, she paid full price for half orders and then chucked them all.
Starbucks declined to comment on the incident, including whether online reports that the barista was fired are true or not. Their only statement was to emphasize that "Starbucks takes pride in creating a warm and welcoming Third Place environment – it’s core to who we are as a company. We expect all of our customers and partners to treat each other with dignity and respect."
"Third place environment" refers to places outside of home (first place) and work (second place) that facilitate public interaction and relaxation.
A quick survey of the comments shows that most people are surprised the employee got fired (supposedly), or at least don't think she should be, and find the driver entitled and out of line, even if she wasn't treated with "the customer's always right" service, an ideology that in itself is criticized.
Power Dynamics and the Service Industry
Hannah Devlin, a science correspondent with The Guardian, looked at the dynamics at play in restaurants after comedian James Corden was banned from a restaurant for alleged abusive behavior. Dr. Daniel Redhead, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, told Devlin that social hierarchy plays a big role in whether individuals are rude to others. He sums up our bad behavior, which might be the most on-point thing we've read this year:
“Waiters may be thought of as taking a subservient role and where clientele may have power over them,” said Redhead. “These asymmetries in power can lead certain people to act more dominantly – behaving more rudely or selfishly, and being manipulative – because they believe that this clear hierarchical structure legitimises such behaviour and do not believe that they will face any repercussions for their actions.”
The sense of this "hierarchical" imbalance is so severe that even being recorded by a cellphone doesn't deter some and perhaps even escalates the situation.
Christine Porath, a psychologist at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, told Devlin that while fame or money can further embolden someone, a small percentage of the population is just rude.
"In our studies, about 4% say being rude is fun and they can get away with it,” Porath told The Guardian. “There may be an element of narcissism — it’s almost a sport. They’re on a power trip and it makes them feel bigger and that someone else is smaller.”
This holiday season while you're out grabbing your burrito bowls or thrice whipped frappes shaken and strained through filtered ice, don't be a 4-percenter. Or a toddler.
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