An Oklahoma police chief is urging Starbucks to reconsider after the coffee chain fired an employee for serving coffee to a police office with “PIG” written on the tag.
Kiefer police chief Johnny O’Mara appeared on Fox News on Friday to talk about the incident involving one of his officers. O’Mara said the incident should be a learning experience and called for greater civility.
“I just recently learned that the employee was terminated, and this may be a bit surprising, but I would like Starbucks to reconsider. It was a mistake,” O’Mara said. “I’m asking for civility.”
Fox News host Ed Henry contested O’Mara, saying that the employee may have just been suspended. Either way, O’Mara asserted he did not want the employee fired over the incident.
“We are hoping that we can take this moment where a mistake was made and turn it into something that highlights the ability to be civil with one another, that’s something that’s missing in a lot of society right now is the ability to just be civil,” O’Mara said.
Starbucks condemned the act in a statement.
“We are deeply sorry to the law enforcement officer who experienced this. We have also apologized directly to him and we are working to connect with the police chief as well as to express our remorse,” Starbucks spokesman Jory Mendes said. “This language is offensive to all law enforcement and is not representative of the deep appreciation we have for police officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.”
An officer had ordered Starbucks coffee for five dispatchers who were working over Thanksgiving. When the officer picked up the coffee, he found the word “PIG” written on the tag and called O’Mara.
O’Mara called the Starbucks to tell the manager about what happened, and the manager offered to reprint the tag if he brought the coffee back. In a Facebook post about the incident, O’Mara said he rejected the offer.
“I called the store and was told they’d be happy to ‘replace the coffee with a correct label.’ The proverb ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’ came to mind,” O’Mara wrote.
