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The ‘Starbucks Pig Cup Scandal’ proves it’s better to chase your passion

Bruh December 3, 2019
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Nearly every retail or food service job employee will tell you about the disrespect they face erryday, how they feel used, and get paid pennies on the dollar.

Even on good days you still have to act as therapist, consultant, personal assistant to overbearing customers. For at least one Starbucks employee, who lost her customer service job at the hands of a scandal, it might be the last straw.

Lola Price, former Starbucks manager at the location of the scandal told local news,

“I was terminated from my position because, Starbucks was looking for someone to take the blame for this and to save some face from their company…”

The Context

After a spiral of events, Twitter proved to be the ultimate fact-checker in what is now known as the Starbucks Pig Cup Scandal. The story begins with a cop alleging that a Starbucks employee printed the word “pig” as the identifier name on the Starbucks order he put in for himself and his colleagues on Thanksgiving.

The story quickly spread to local and then national news outlets which prompted Starbucks Corporate to terminate employees. Twitter took it from there.

Several former and current baristas claimed that it was impossible for employees to type in the word “Pig” due to a new company-wide filter on the registers. Employees explained that the only way to have the word printed on a Starbucks label is if the customer changed their name on their Starbucks app to “Pig” and transacted the order using their Starbucks account.

Others pointed out the irony of a police officer claiming discrimination when the stats of officers as abusers are proven to be far more pressing. The stats on cops being domestic abusers are at 41 percent.

Nearly one in two cops has abused their family at some point. What’s more is that shortly after these discussions on Twitter, the daughter of the officer in question called him out for his abusive behavior and stated that he is “absolutely a pig.”

Outside of the blatant societal and corporate support for racist and/or abusive cops, let’s look at another angle. Customer service sucks.

Some of us get stuck doing these jobs like millions of people because we need a paycheck, or maybe we’ve settled. But for those of us that KNOW we have way more to offer than fake giggles at sexist and racist behavior towards us, it’s time to make a change.

Commit to getting out of the cycle of underpaid labor capitalism. Follow your passion.

Make a plan

Do y’all remember the guy who went viral for shitting on Bestbuy becausee he was tired of the bullsh*t? Don’t wait until you get fed up. And if do decide to dip, dip with a plan and a vision in sight.

If you’re a creative, put more time into honing your craft. Take that angst, exhaustion, and pain from your day job and pour it into a project. Create a plan for a project and stick to it.

Write out your goals, large and small. Use deadlines to keep on top of things. Create lists. Organize yourself.

Keep ya head up

Keeping your head down makes seeing where you can go difficult. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities around you. The internet is a godsend for freelancing, and side hustles to turn into full-time careers.

Make a profile for all the job sites. Even if you haven’t created something in a while, start small and build a foundation. It’s never too late. Plus you can always just join our community!

Use your resources and become the sauce

There’s actually so much out there that can help you achieve your dreams. Use free trials for building skills like our own collab with Skillshare. Read up on how to finance, how to stay mentally and emotionally healthy on your path and how to use social media to the fullest.

It may feel lonely now but if you look hard enough you can find the community you need to build. Find creative communities like REC Philly, activist organizations like Gathering for Justice, whatever your passion is there’s a group of like-minded individuals organizing.

Or if you can’t find this group, make your own.

Use your network

Use the network you’ve built over your time as an employee. The people you work with can be your primary contact for collaboration.

There’s potential all around you; musicians, artists, business majors, community leaders. Tap into that network and start your plan to get out.

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