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Fired from Starbucks for Responding to a Death Threat

Starbucks Workers Union News - March 27, 2005

My name is Sherry Brown and I would like to share with you the humiliation I experienced at the hands of Starbucks. While I know people are wrongly fired from their jobs every day in this country, I am not going to take this lying down and I am asking for your help.

First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 56 year-old African-American resident of Washington D.C. and I have been working on community issues for over 30 years. When I was 21 years old I was feeding 300 kids a day in the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast Program in Baltimore. Since my days as a college activist in the sixties, I have worked on various projects including training young people to advocate for the hungry and forming a coalition to oppose the closing of Washington's only public hospital.

Because of the gentrification taking place in Washington D.C. and the loss of my job at the Capitol Hill Starbucks (serving politicians and lobbyists), I am currently being displaced from my modest apartment. I have lived there for 11 years and now it is being converted into a high-priced luxury condominium.

Starbucks fired me because I asserted myself to a customer who was threatening my life. On a Sunday last December, a customer I was serving became extremely belligerent with me because I was not sure what drink he had ordered. I asked the shift supervisor to help the customer so that I could wait on other guests and avoid any further problems. The customer began yelling names and accused me of being "retarded". He also said I was the kind of person who makes other people go postal and that "he was always right." I told the customer his comments were offensive and that I did not have to tolerate verbal abuse.

I left my cash register twice and walked to the back of the store to try to disengage and diffuse the incident. The customer, however, seemed intent on causing trouble. The man yelled, "He doesn't know who I am or what I do and if we take this outside I will kill him." Fearful that this irate individual would physically attack me, I told him he was lucky this happened when I was working because had this happened on the street I would have invited him to a back alley or a parking lot. The man desisted after my statement. Although my choice of words may have been poor, I firmly believe I had a right to respond firmly to protect myself from a death threat.

The next day I got a call from the assistant manager. The assistant manager said he heard that I told a customer that I was going to kick the customer's ass. I told him that was not what I said and then explained exactly what had happened the day before. Starbucks' regional director Felice Torre then assured me there would be a thorough investigation of the incident. He also promised that my written statement about the incident would be considered.

Two days later no investigation had taken place and I was called into a meeting with the assistant manager and promptly terminated. I protested that Felice Torre promised a fair investigation of the incident. The assistant manager said that Mr. Torre had signed off on the termination. Neither Mr. Torre nor my store manager, Jen Arnold, have returned any of my calls. I appealed my termination through Starbucks' internal mechanism but have not had success. Before this incident, I had never had a single performance issue during my time with the company.

I recently learned about the Starbucks Workers Union of the IWW and reached out to them with my problem. They immediately committed to support me in trying to get my job back. After three months of feeling dejected, I can tell you it sure was nice to know there were folks at the union who cared.

Please lend us a hand so Starbucks does not get away with this injustice:

  • Please call Regional Director, Felice Torre at 202-332-5973 or send an e-mail to [email protected] and cc: [email protected]. Let him know that you think it is wrong to fire me for standing up to a death threat at work and demand that I be rehired.

  • If you live in or around Washington, D.C. and would like to get involved with pickets in front of my store please call me at 202-396-1021 (until the phone is disconnected) or email me at [email protected]

  • Download this leaflet and distribute it to workers and customers at the Starbucks nearest you!