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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
they likely did? more likely did not-- most small businesses, and i really mean most, offer 0 worker's benefits. i'm talking especially those that have only a handful of employees. notice that a 500-employee company is still considered a "small business", so coffee shops, small restaurants, etc,-- dream on. i've worked in all manner of independet retail establishments and i've never come across such a chimera as "employee benefits". about "probably" etc--
look at this:
http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/i...story=20050921
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You are making generalities about all companies, however, and I am speaking from my own experience in the area and with this particular company. Not enough on my part to know for sure, but I think they probably did offer benefits. Keep in mind, they were pretty big, and had to compete with Starbucks for employees. The people I knew who worked there seemed at least as happy as the people I've know who worked at Starbucks. Batdorf & Bronson in Olympia is smaller than Coffee People still, but they offer benefits. Your statistics are nationwide, and I'm talking about a specific, rather large, industry in the NW. Neither of us know for absolute sure though, so it's a pointless argument of conjectures.
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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
about treating their employees right, etc -- starfucks has something like 90% employee satisfaction-- unheard of in any industry. you know what the pro-union employees complain about? being sprinkled with hot milk. OHMYFUCKINGAWD!! THEMILKKK!!!! please... most people hate their jobs and here you have a company with 90% job satisfaction.
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I never said anything against employee satisfaction at Starbucks. Who cares? My beef with Starbucks was them buying all of the Coffee Peoples and closing them down, which really hurt the original culture of Portland. I'm sure many Starbucks employees are happy, just as most Microsoft employees are happy, and in fact most people who work for the Department of Homeland Security are also happy with their jobs. It says nothing about what a company does to the rest of the world (though I will agree that most small business people who are bastards treat their customers and their employees equally bad.)
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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
about tipping-- i tip, and generously, and never less than $2 regardless of the amount of my consumption (say, i buy a beer for a buck fifty, i tip two bucks). having once been a waiter for all of 2 months (wow, a record), my heart goes out to the poor fuckers who have to do a song and dance to asshole customers in order to make a living, so i tip around 25% in restaurants. but personally i would rather pay extra upfront and give all workers a living wage, rather than make them whore their smiles for change. but i guess you can't beat a system of incentives like that if you want good customer service. "be nice, or else..." sounds to me like you'd rather have pet monkeys that you can throw money at, you little prince of the petty-bourgeoisie.   |
Why does it sound to you that way? I'm pleased to hear that you actually tip people, because your rhetoric before read like you were making excuses for why you don't. Instead it seems you were just making false assumptions about me that I can't see anything I posted that justifies. All I said was something about throwing money in a tip jar, and you somehow read into it that I want the people handing me my tea to say "Massa" and flash me their tits. Since you do essentially the same thing I do, I can't see why you think that. I've probably worked in more service industry jobs than you have, so trust me, I tip, because I know how much it sucks to have to do that type of stuff, and for little other reason. True, if somebody is being an asshole to me, I probably wouldn't give them any extra money, but who would? I too hate the system and would rather people just got it up front, but while people are stuck in it, I'm one of the people who believes in supporting workers rather than blaming the victim. Statistically, tips seem to be higher from people with less money, which is another sign of how fucked up it all is.
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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
hey dont get me wrong. i like small independent well-run establishments too. i hate macdonalds, etc-- but crapping on starbucks just because they are good at what they do is dumb.
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This I just don't get. You go on about why this big corp is so wonderful and then you disclaim that you're actually a regular guy who doesn't like corps either. Mind, I don't doubt they do some good - witness the Sonic Youth disc in question, which I don't have any problem with at all (I'm sure it will expose the band to all sorts of people.) My issue with Starbucks has nothing to do with being "good" however, I'm pissed that they bought something that was unique to my town, just to have it removed from their presence. So now Portland looks just a little more like everytown USA where you see a Starbucks, then a McDonalds, then a Target, then an Applebees, and then you go a few feet and it all starts over again. I don't think creating more of that is "good" at all.