“Starbucks doesn’t want to be America’s public bathroom anymore.” Starbucks ends its ‘open-door’ policies.
“Starbucks doesn’t want to be America’s public bathroom anymore.” Starbucks ends its ‘open-door’ policies.
by HappyHappyJoyJoy44
48 Comments
HappyHappyJoyJoy44
Are you for or against this change?
unccl
I wish we were afforded the ability to be nice to homeless people but time after time they over step their bounds and ruin it
exploradorobservador
Starbucks is dead. The only draw of starbucks was outlets and bathrooms in urban areas lol. I’d spend like 10-15 bucks over a few hours to camp out.
20 years ago, they had novel drinks, but people in the US are finally acquiring a taste for real coffee and there are so many better options than burnt roast starbucks.
Not to mention their bastardization of coffee culture with stupid naming conventions
mj8077
So happy I worked in a kiosk, the Sbux in the Red Light district just kept on breaking the toilet, can’t blâme them
Icy_Buddy_6779
It’s sad that they did this, but my thoughts go to the workers there that were probably having to deal with a lot of shit (figuratively and literally). And from what I know about starbucks working situations, they really didn’t deserve to have to be bathroom police on top of everything else.
Eijin
i know this opinion might feel like i’m everywhere at once, but homeless people deserve a place to be without being harassed. they deserve to be able to keep warm and to be able to use the bathroom. but it is not underpaid service workers’ jobs to provide all of these things.
i appreciate these policies. however, i’m also never going to kick out a homeless person in my shop minding their own business.
Eijin
i don’t know about the rest of you, but there are a lot of homeless people in my city. however, in my coffee shop, it’s rich entitled college students who expect to be able sit for hours and use the bathroom without ever buying anything.
the homeless people almost always try to pay me.
Dat_guykelly
I personally work at a location with a lot of incidents and sadly it is a lot of the homeless/ non paying customers Coming in drunk, strung out, expecting us to drop everything to grab them a water. Some are great people and genuine but more are looking for ways to take advantage of the hospitality. Making up stories, excuses, panhandling, trying to sell hand goods, stealing. I do think customers should invest in their paying customers because many run a mile when you give them an inch and ruin it for everyone sadly. We should be developing relief centers and rehabilitation centers not using low wage employees to take on the responsibility of being someone’s emotional support, emergency intervention, and public enforcers. Many of these employees are just kids people
OutlawNagori
Honestly it sucks but I understand, when I worked at Papa Murphy’s we had to stop letting anyone use our bathroom because it would just be people from the next door liquor store coming in to take a sink shower or get drunk in there.
There should really be more standalone public restrooms with access to clean water kinda like how truck stops function.
MrAllora
Fairly standard in other parts of the world. Im all for Starbucks tightening up and hopefully be coming more of a cafe
Powerful-Ant1988
Fake corporate coffee shop reduces the few benefits they provide the local communities they invade further. Color me shocked.
Mike5055
I’m okay with this. I have no problem if someone just needs to use the bathroom, but more often than not, they seem to just destroy the place.
spytez
I hated Starbucks doing this because it meant that every place else is supposed to also allow it and it caused nothing but problems.
How about the cities make more public bathrooms for the homeless? Solves the problem in so many ways. Having business’s pay for the costs of maintaining bathroom services for the homeless is just stupid. Make more public bathrooms and it’s a non-issue.
puppyluv2012
good. sorry but after living in 2 major cities, i have very limited empathy.
my first few months in nyc, i was extremely sad and shocked seeing homeless people and was empathic towards their struggles. after months of continuously being harassed, shouted at and even followed (as an 18 year old girl alone in the city, this was fucking terrifying), i learned very very quickly that a large majority of the people who are permanently on the street are addicts who have usually exhausted every avenue assistance and do not want to help themselves.
i’ve nearly stabbed myself on needles in the bathroom trash, i’ve called EMS for drug overdoses. a man died from an overdose in one of our bathrooms. i’m fucking tired
omglia
I literally only go there on road trips to use the bathroom and then get a drink and snack while I’m there
terrymr
Cities need public bathrooms, and if they need staff to keep them clean / prevent vandalism then so be it.
TheAllNewiPhone
Gotta pay for that CEO’s private jet commute somehow.
wet_nib811
This is the downfall of Starbucks. It’s one of the Top 3 core tenets of Schulz when he was building the brand.
itsyaboisknnypen1s
Where’s my IBS having ass supposed to go for emergencies now? 😭😭😭
Wattabadmon
Where should people go to the bathroom in public?
Zestyclose_Object639
as a homeless person (i was a barista) i hate these policies. i agree that baristas shouldn’t have to deal with other people’s mental illness but there’s thousands of silent homeless. i live in my car, i have a job, i shower every day etc etc. but sometimes i gotta pee ya know
I5I75I96I40I70Me696
Not a barista, this just came up in my feed. I’m visibly non-binary and I’ve road-tripped in 49 US states.
Starbucks has always been my go-to for a safe, comfortable bathroom. The vast majority are non-gendered, single-user restrooms in places where such restrooms are few and far between.
I’ve always bought something, so I don’t think this policy change will personally affect me much, but I’m still kinda’ sad about it.
I really benefited from Sbux being America’s public non-gendered restroom.
I live in Portland, OR, where there’s no shortage of non-gendered restrooms or better coffee shops and this feels like just one more reason to stay away from Starbucks.
[deleted]
[deleted]
CoffeeonMarket
Interesting as coffeeshop owner this is much more difficult to monitor than you realize, we’ll see what happens.
Reasonable-Nebula-49
No issues. I am a salesperson. I will pay $4.00 for a coffee to use a clean restroom.
Opening-Ad-8793
I work at a SB and the paying customers are awful at cleaning up after themselves. I’m regularly disgusted by how paying customers leave the bathrooms.
Gabaloo
Junkies ruin it for everyone.
I’ve lived in Portland my whole life and came into a bathroom with someone passed out or overdosed multiple times.
It’s a pretty shocking experience. Who can blame Starbucks, or anyone for not wanting that?
Amasin_Spoderman
Ah, capitalist America, where we’ve eliminated 3rd spaces and most public restrooms, but also complain about people defecating on the street as if they have an alternative. What a time to be alive!
Woodit
Good, it’s a cafe it should be for customers and not act as a day shelter
iambkatl
They blamed it on a growing mental health problem in 2022- when will this country start to care about its citizens ? I guess when they all have purchasing power.
Otherwise-Gas1467
Why does the convo immediately turn to the unhomed population? In our Starbucks, it is bratty and entitled teenagers swarming the place after school. 20 or more will just come in to hang out as if it’s their right. As a regular customer, you just can’t get near the place let alone find a seat or hear yourself think!
GirlWithOnei
I haven’t been able to access a starbucks bathroom without a receipt for at least a decade. They trade in a product that makes people gave to use the bathroom. Boohoo. Sell pepto then.
Sparky_kitkat
As a fellow barista and someone with IBD I’m so 50/50 on this. It is absolutely not in our job description to deal with all the horrifying disgusting things that come along with having mentally unwell/drug users setting up camp in our shop. Its extremely hazardous to us and we just *simply* do not get paid enough do deal with that.
However sbux is my safe haven when I feel sudden urgency and I have t-minus 2 mins TOPS to get to a washroom. I sure as hell don’t have time to wait in line, and order something just to have access. I’ve also explained that I have a medical condition and been met with “too bad it’s policy”.
I guess it all boils down to not enough government funding for mental health/ clean public facilities. But this new rule just makes going out that much more stressful for me and my IBD.
FantomexLive
I don’t work there anymore but this such a good thing for the community and the culture. People shouldn’t have to feel unsafe about others who choose to do drugs attacking them. They shouldn’t have to worry about theft of their property if they walk to the bathroom to pee.
secret_aardvark_420
I worked at a Starbucks in downtown Portland for three years in the mid 2010s before things were as bad as they are now. I totally get it. It’s a huge safety hazard for employees and customers alike when the bathrooms are abused the way they are.
nat-the-sag
Well thank GOD
VioEnvy
Nice
ZealousidealDonut978
It’s not even the homeless people, it’s regular ass everyday people who know better and just don’t care.
The Starbucks location I worked at was off the highway, so a lot of tourists and travelers came in to use our restrooms.
You’d think these people lived a barn with how they left the bathrooms. Everyday I’d see wads of used toilet paper all over the floor, splashes of piss, shit, and pubic hair all over the fucking toilet seat, etc etc from people who can buy an overpriced coffee but can’t clean up after themselves. I understand wanting to tighten up on bathroom access because of assholes who ruin it for everyone else.
c1h9
Everyone reading this please take note: Home Depot and Lowes are your best options. The world should know! They don’t get as much traffic in the women’s rooms as Starbucks and they clean both bathrooms every hour.
When you poop in public make it a DIY, home improvement, kind of poop.
Tex-Rob
As someone with Ulcerative Colitis for 26 years, diagnosed while serving, a huge middle finger to Starbucks and all companies moving towards this. I look forward to the day I have an emergency so I can shit in a Starbucks lobby.
Vinifera1978
What kind of world are we living in!?!
Great_Huckleberry709
Tbh I thought this was already common policy. There’s been a couple Starbucks I’ve tried to run in to use the restroom real fast, but the door was locked, so I had to stand in line to buy a $4 muffin I really don’t want.
I get it from the business side, but it’s also very inconvenient lol.
Storkman1007
R.I.P. I had some of the best craps of my life in a Starbucks bathroom.
lost_vault_hunter
Last week I went to a Starbucks for the first time in years and it was more homeless people than paying customers. The guy next to me asked me for food, which I gave to him because the barista made me the wrong sandwich, and then five minutes later he asked if I was Christian and asked for money to get himself to Louisiana. After I said no he started yelling and playing something loudly from his phone. I moved across the cafe to another seat and sat near another homeless person who randomly dumped their entire backpack on the floor, and then spilled their drink onto the fabric seats (a long row like a couch).
Starbucks is a hot mess.
DontDrinkTooMuch
If only Starbucks supported policy makers who would expand public bathrooms…
mpdity
As someone with IBD, I’d LOVE to chat with however came up with this bright idea. Glad my illness is able to be swept under the rug not only by my Insurance and the healthcare CEOs, but now also shitty store managers for the brand that makes arguably the most “meh” espresso or coffee you can get.
Nothing shouts warm, welcoming, and inclusive/disability friendly like of not being allowed to use the bathroom of a “coffee” shop…
Ya know. The drink that FAMEOUSLY makes you piss like a Russian race horse and goes through your gut quicker than a bullet train?
The irony… This country just REALLY hates poor/disabled people, doesn’t it?
rodrigomorr
Yaaay, more antihomeless latestage capitalist decisions for our beautiful totally walkable cities
mollynatorrr
I don’t think the onus should be on Starbucks to provide free public use bathrooms, or any coffee shop or local business for that matter. The local government should provide more free public bathrooms for folks that need them. Truck stop style maybe.
48 Comments
Are you for or against this change?
I wish we were afforded the ability to be nice to homeless people but time after time they over step their bounds and ruin it
Starbucks is dead. The only draw of starbucks was outlets and bathrooms in urban areas lol. I’d spend like 10-15 bucks over a few hours to camp out.
20 years ago, they had novel drinks, but people in the US are finally acquiring a taste for real coffee and there are so many better options than burnt roast starbucks.
Not to mention their bastardization of coffee culture with stupid naming conventions
So happy I worked in a kiosk, the Sbux in the Red Light district just kept on breaking the toilet, can’t blâme them
It’s sad that they did this, but my thoughts go to the workers there that were probably having to deal with a lot of shit (figuratively and literally). And from what I know about starbucks working situations, they really didn’t deserve to have to be bathroom police on top of everything else.
i know this opinion might feel like i’m everywhere at once, but homeless people deserve a place to be without being harassed. they deserve to be able to keep warm and to be able to use the bathroom. but it is not underpaid service workers’ jobs to provide all of these things.
i appreciate these policies. however, i’m also never going to kick out a homeless person in my shop minding their own business.
i don’t know about the rest of you, but there are a lot of homeless people in my city. however, in my coffee shop, it’s rich entitled college students who expect to be able sit for hours and use the bathroom without ever buying anything.
the homeless people almost always try to pay me.
I personally work at a location with a lot of incidents and sadly it is a lot of the homeless/ non paying customers Coming in drunk, strung out, expecting us to drop everything to grab them a water. Some are great people and genuine but more are looking for ways to take advantage of the hospitality. Making up stories, excuses, panhandling, trying to sell hand goods, stealing. I do think customers should invest in their paying customers because many run a mile when you give them an inch and ruin it for everyone sadly. We should be developing relief centers and rehabilitation centers not using low wage employees to take on the responsibility of being someone’s emotional support, emergency intervention, and public enforcers. Many of these employees are just kids people
Honestly it sucks but I understand, when I worked at Papa Murphy’s we had to stop letting anyone use our bathroom because it would just be people from the next door liquor store coming in to take a sink shower or get drunk in there.
There should really be more standalone public restrooms with access to clean water kinda like how truck stops function.
Fairly standard in other parts of the world. Im all for Starbucks tightening up and hopefully be coming more of a cafe
Fake corporate coffee shop reduces the few benefits they provide the local communities they invade further. Color me shocked.
I’m okay with this. I have no problem if someone just needs to use the bathroom, but more often than not, they seem to just destroy the place.
I hated Starbucks doing this because it meant that every place else is supposed to also allow it and it caused nothing but problems.
How about the cities make more public bathrooms for the homeless? Solves the problem in so many ways. Having business’s pay for the costs of maintaining bathroom services for the homeless is just stupid. Make more public bathrooms and it’s a non-issue.
good. sorry but after living in 2 major cities, i have very limited empathy.
my first few months in nyc, i was extremely sad and shocked seeing homeless people and was empathic towards their struggles. after months of continuously being harassed, shouted at and even followed (as an 18 year old girl alone in the city, this was fucking terrifying), i learned very very quickly that a large majority of the people who are permanently on the street are addicts who have usually exhausted every avenue assistance and do not want to help themselves.
i’ve nearly stabbed myself on needles in the bathroom trash, i’ve called EMS for drug overdoses. a man died from an overdose in one of our bathrooms. i’m fucking tired
I literally only go there on road trips to use the bathroom and then get a drink and snack while I’m there
Cities need public bathrooms, and if they need staff to keep them clean / prevent vandalism then so be it.
Gotta pay for that CEO’s private jet commute somehow.
This is the downfall of Starbucks. It’s one of the Top 3 core tenets of Schulz when he was building the brand.
Where’s my IBS having ass supposed to go for emergencies now? 😭😭😭
Where should people go to the bathroom in public?
as a homeless person (i was a barista) i hate these policies. i agree that baristas shouldn’t have to deal with other people’s mental illness but there’s thousands of silent homeless. i live in my car, i have a job, i shower every day etc etc. but sometimes i gotta pee ya know
Not a barista, this just came up in my feed. I’m visibly non-binary and I’ve road-tripped in 49 US states.
Starbucks has always been my go-to for a safe, comfortable bathroom. The vast majority are non-gendered, single-user restrooms in places where such restrooms are few and far between.
I’ve always bought something, so I don’t think this policy change will personally affect me much, but I’m still kinda’ sad about it.
I really benefited from Sbux being America’s public non-gendered restroom.
I live in Portland, OR, where there’s no shortage of non-gendered restrooms or better coffee shops and this feels like just one more reason to stay away from Starbucks.
[deleted]
Interesting as coffeeshop owner this is much more difficult to monitor than you realize, we’ll see what happens.
No issues. I am a salesperson. I will pay $4.00 for a coffee to use a clean restroom.
I work at a SB and the paying customers are awful at cleaning up after themselves. I’m regularly disgusted by how paying customers leave the bathrooms.
Junkies ruin it for everyone.
I’ve lived in Portland my whole life and came into a bathroom with someone passed out or overdosed multiple times.
It’s a pretty shocking experience. Who can blame Starbucks, or anyone for not wanting that?
Ah, capitalist America, where we’ve eliminated 3rd spaces and most public restrooms, but also complain about people defecating on the street as if they have an alternative. What a time to be alive!
Good, it’s a cafe it should be for customers and not act as a day shelter
They blamed it on a growing mental health problem in 2022- when will this country start to care about its citizens ? I guess when they all have purchasing power.
Why does the convo immediately turn to the unhomed population? In our Starbucks, it is bratty and entitled teenagers swarming the place after school. 20 or more will just come in to hang out as if it’s their right. As a regular customer, you just can’t get near the place let alone find a seat or hear yourself think!
I haven’t been able to access a starbucks bathroom without a receipt for at least a decade. They trade in a product that makes people gave to use the bathroom. Boohoo. Sell pepto then.
As a fellow barista and someone with IBD I’m so 50/50 on this. It is absolutely not in our job description to deal with all the horrifying disgusting things that come along with having mentally unwell/drug users setting up camp in our shop. Its extremely hazardous to us and we just *simply* do not get paid enough do deal with that.
However sbux is my safe haven when I feel sudden urgency and I have t-minus 2 mins TOPS to get to a washroom. I sure as hell don’t have time to wait in line, and order something just to have access. I’ve also explained that I have a medical condition and been met with “too bad it’s policy”.
I guess it all boils down to not enough government funding for mental health/ clean public facilities. But this new rule just makes going out that much more stressful for me and my IBD.
I don’t work there anymore but this such a good thing for the community and the culture. People shouldn’t have to feel unsafe about others who choose to do drugs attacking them. They shouldn’t have to worry about theft of their property if they walk to the bathroom to pee.
I worked at a Starbucks in downtown Portland for three years in the mid 2010s before things were as bad as they are now. I totally get it. It’s a huge safety hazard for employees and customers alike when the bathrooms are abused the way they are.
Well thank GOD
Nice
It’s not even the homeless people, it’s regular ass everyday people who know better and just don’t care.
The Starbucks location I worked at was off the highway, so a lot of tourists and travelers came in to use our restrooms.
You’d think these people lived a barn with how they left the bathrooms. Everyday I’d see wads of used toilet paper all over the floor, splashes of piss, shit, and pubic hair all over the fucking toilet seat, etc etc from people who can buy an overpriced coffee but can’t clean up after themselves. I understand wanting to tighten up on bathroom access because of assholes who ruin it for everyone else.
Everyone reading this please take note: Home Depot and Lowes are your best options. The world should know! They don’t get as much traffic in the women’s rooms as Starbucks and they clean both bathrooms every hour.
When you poop in public make it a DIY, home improvement, kind of poop.
As someone with Ulcerative Colitis for 26 years, diagnosed while serving, a huge middle finger to Starbucks and all companies moving towards this. I look forward to the day I have an emergency so I can shit in a Starbucks lobby.
What kind of world are we living in!?!
Tbh I thought this was already common policy. There’s been a couple Starbucks I’ve tried to run in to use the restroom real fast, but the door was locked, so I had to stand in line to buy a $4 muffin I really don’t want.
I get it from the business side, but it’s also very inconvenient lol.
R.I.P. I had some of the best craps of my life in a Starbucks bathroom.
Last week I went to a Starbucks for the first time in years and it was more homeless people than paying customers. The guy next to me asked me for food, which I gave to him because the barista made me the wrong sandwich, and then five minutes later he asked if I was Christian and asked for money to get himself to Louisiana. After I said no he started yelling and playing something loudly from his phone. I moved across the cafe to another seat and sat near another homeless person who randomly dumped their entire backpack on the floor, and then spilled their drink onto the fabric seats (a long row like a couch).
Starbucks is a hot mess.
If only Starbucks supported policy makers who would expand public bathrooms…
As someone with IBD, I’d LOVE to chat with however came up with this bright idea. Glad my illness is able to be swept under the rug not only by my Insurance and the healthcare CEOs, but now also shitty store managers for the brand that makes arguably the most “meh” espresso or coffee you can get.
Nothing shouts warm, welcoming, and inclusive/disability friendly like of not being allowed to use the bathroom of a “coffee” shop…
Ya know. The drink that FAMEOUSLY makes you piss like a Russian race horse and goes through your gut quicker than a bullet train?
The irony… This country just REALLY hates poor/disabled people, doesn’t it?
Yaaay, more antihomeless latestage capitalist decisions for our beautiful totally walkable cities
I don’t think the onus should be on Starbucks to provide free public use bathrooms, or any coffee shop or local business for that matter. The local government should provide more free public bathrooms for folks that need them. Truck stop style maybe.