The customer Monique Pugh believes the Nov. 19th incident was racially motivated.
A Starbucks employee from Maryland has been suspended after the word “monkey” was reportedly printed as the name on a Black customer’s drink label.
Customer Monique Pugh believes the Nov. 19 incident was racially motivated. She says she was the only Black woman at the Starbucks store in Maryland’s Annapolis Mall when an employee reportedly entered “monkey” where her name should have been.
“If you didn’t hear my name, you should have said, ‘Excuse me, can you repeat yourself?’ Not once did she do that. She labeled me what she wanted to label me,” Pugh said.
Impeccable Brands, the company that operates that Starbucks store involved in the incident, says that the “label was made in error.” Nonetheless, in a letter to Pugh, they apologized and said the employee involved has been suspended, pending further investigation.
The company also wrote that with additional training, they will work to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Pugh says she feels the apology and letter were “bogus.”
“To say you’re taking the necessary steps to make sure that word isn’t put on any more customers’ drinks, it’s like, ‘What were you doing before?’” she said. “And the fact that they keep saying it was an honest mistake. So, now, it’s an honest mistake and a labeling error?”
A Starbucks spokesperson made sure to differentiate between a Starbucks-operated store and a licensed store, such as the one at Annapolis Mall, but Pugh says there should not be a difference in how customers are treated.
“It’s triggering because it’s basically like, ‘OK, this occurred in our store, but we’re wiping our hands clean.’ Maybe [Starbucks] corporate does need to get involved,” she said.
The company that runs the Starbucks store involved in the episode, Impeccable Brands, stated the “label was made in error.” However, they wrote a letter to Pugh in which they apologized. Impeccable Brands also shared that the employee accused has been suspended and an investigation will take place.
In addition, the company confirmed that training will take place so something like this doesn’t happen again. But Pugh believes these claims are “bogus.” She further stated:
“To say you’re taking the necessary steps to make sure that word isn’t put on any more customers’ drinks, it’s like, ‘What were you doing before?’ And the fact that they keep saying it was an honest mistake. So, now, it’s an honest mistake and a labeling error?”
A spokesperson for Starbucks clarified that there are Starbucks-operated stores and licensed stores (the Annapolis store is a licensed store). However, Pugh said that should be irrelevant.
“It’s triggering because it’s basically like, ‘OK, this occurred in our store, but we’re wiping our hands clean.’ Maybe [Starbucks] corporate does need to get involved,” she remarked.
This isn’t the first time Starbucks was accused of racism. Last year, a Starbucks in California received backlash for asking a Black customer to wait outside for his order. In 2020, they banned their employees from wearing Black Lives Matter attire but quickly reversed their decision.
In 2018, there was a national outcry for justice after two men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks for merely sitting quietly inside the establishment.
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