Like Paul Newman’s chain gang in Cool Hand Luke, Starbucks is suffering from a failure to communicate. First, of course, was the Philadelphia branch manager who had two African-American men arrested on the grounds they were loitering (they weren’t). Then, in a burst of enthusiasm and contrition, the company’s executive chairman, Howard Schultz, announced that from now on all Starbucks bathrooms would be open to everyone, even if they haven’t paid for a Frappuccino or some other sugar bomb.
“[W]e’re going to make the right decision 100 percent of the time and give people the key,” Schultz said at a gathering in Washington, D.C., according to NPR. “Because we don’t want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to the bathroom because you are ‘less than.’ We want you to be ‘more than.’ ”
