Starbucks has fired an employee who wrote “Pig” on an Oklahoma police officer’s venti hot chocolate.
An on-duty police officer from the Kiefer Police Department in Kiefer, Oklahoma, went to a local Starbucks on Thanksgiving morning to get beverages for the dispatchers, who were also working on the holiday. When the officer received the orders, one of the labels had the derogatory law enforcement language written on it, according to a Facebook post by Kiefer Police Department Chief Johnny O’Mara.
O’Mara took to social media after reportedly calling the Starbucks location and receiving an unsatisfactory response. “As a side note, 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,” wrote O’Mara on the post that was removed from the chief’s page on Saturday.
Starbucks issued an apology for the “regrettable incident” and fired the barista, according to statements from Kiefer Police Department and a Starbucks spokesperson.
“In the coming days, Starbucks will be meeting with the Kiefer Police Department to begin discussing ways to work together, including a jointly hosted Coffee with a Cop event at Starbucks where local law enforcement can meet with baristas and members of the community to discuss the critical role dispatchers and police officers play in keeping our communities safe,” the Starbucks statement read. “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.”
