I walked into my local Starbucks yesterday morning with a certain foreboding. As everyone must know, the chief executive officer of Starbucks, one Howard Schultz, had commanded that Starbucks employees (“baristas,” in corporate parlance) write this phrase — #RaceTogether — on the coffee cups they hand to customers; and that if customers asked about it, offer to engage them in a discussion of race in America.

So far as I can tell, and it is no particular surprise, the initiative has been a failure. During the five minutes that I was inside my neighborhood Starbucks, there was no evidence of #RaceTogether scrawled on cups, and I overheard no discussions about race in America – especially among the baristas, who seemed especially harried. This was a great relief, from my perspective: My inclination to shoot the breeze with Starbucks employees (admittedly never very strong) is usually thwarted by the knowledge that several people are standing behind me waiting, impatiently, in line.