Add a little compassion to the coffee for stock market-rattled customers, Starbucks workers are being advised by the chain's billionaire CEO Howard Schultz.
"Let’s be very sensitive to the pressures our customers may be feeling, and do everything we can to individually and collectively exceed their expectations," Schultz writes in his "Message from Howard" morning email,
the Washington Post reports.
"Today’s financial market volatility, combined with great political uncertainty both at home and abroad, will undoubtedly have an effect on consumer confidence and … our customers are likely to experience an increased level of anxiety and concern," he writes.
"Please recognize this and – as you always have – remember that our success is not an entitlement, but something we need to earn, every day."
"Our growth plans for the future of our company will not be impacted by the turmoil of the financial markets," Schultz declared. "We will positively manage through today’s challenging environment just as we have positively navigated through challenging moments in the past. … I believe in you and have never been prouder to be your partner."
The touchy-feely missive is not out of character for the 62-year-old executive, the Post reports; he also was behind the coffee chain's much-criticized
"Race Together" campaign to encourage servers to write the phrase on paper cups and talk about racial tensions with customers.
The campaign was quickly dropped.
The chain also launched a
"Come Together" campaign in 2012 to urge Washington lawmakers to steer clear of the fiscal cliff, an idea that triggered some skepticism from experts who thought it showed Schultz
was economically confused.
And in 2006,
Schultz confessed to "60 Minutes," "We’re not in the business of filling bellies. We’re in the business of filling souls."
"Our growth plans for the future of our company will not be impacted by the turmoil of the financial markets," Schultz declared. "We will positively manage through today’s challenging environment just as we have positively navigated through challenging moments in the past. … I believe in you and have never been prouder to be your partner."