Starbucks' racial bias training isn't coming soon enough it seems.
The Los Angeles Times reports (via Telemundo 52), a customer, Pedro, received his cup of coffee with a racial slur at a California location of the chain.
Pedro, who didn't want to disclose his last name, said he ordered two cups of coffee in La Cañada Flintridge when he noticed the word "beaner" printed on his cup instead of his name.
"It's something racist used to offend Latinos," explained Pedro said in the interview with Telemundo. Pedro said he was offered a $50 gift card by the location for the incident for the slur but did not take it. "I did not accept it because it's like an insult to everyone, that they want to buy you with a $50 card," he said.
Starbucks released a statement on the incident. "This is not the experience we want for our clients," the statement said. "We apologize and are working to correct this, and we are investigating the incident to ensure that this does not happen again."
This is hardly the first time the company's had troubles with racism. Last month, a Philadelphia Starbucks employee called the cops on two black men two minutes after they sat down in the coffee shop to wait for someone before buying anything. Shortly afterward, another man shared a video allegedly revealing an employee giving a bathroom key to a white man before denying him, a black man, with it. The men in Philadelphia, who were arrested, later settled with the city for $1 and a pledge to commit $200,000 to a youth program. Starbucks also vowed to close at least 8,000 of its cafes to provide racial bias training on May 29.
If there was ill intent with the slur, Starbucks definitely needs to make sure the location in La Cañada Flintridge is on the list to receive it.
