A Starbucks racial slur is the latest controversy for the chain as a Latino man's drink was reportedly labeled "Beaner," a derogatory term.
The man, who only identified himself as Pedro, said he ordered two drinks from a Starbucks in the Los Angeles suburb of La Canada Flintridge and that both were labeled with the slur, KNBC-4 reported.
The slur was noticed by Pedro's co-worker, who called the store and was told that the employee didn't understand what Pedro told them and used that term instead, CNN reported. The co-worker then tweeted about the incident.
Pedro said that the barista called his name when the order was completed, USA Today reported. Starbucks has apologized and offered him a $50 gift card, but Pedro declined the offer and met with Starbucks officials on Thursday morning.
In an email, Starbucks said that the customer had accepted their apology, USA Today reported. "This kind of mistake is unacceptable and we will take additional steps to assess what happened here and how our partners can be better," Starbucks said in the email.
Starbucks already planned to close all of its more than 8,000 U.S. stores on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct racial bias training for employees after an April incident in which employees called police on two black men who were waiting for a business associate, asked to use the bathroom, and were told bathrooms were only for paying customers, USA Today reported.
Last week, Starbucks officially changed its bathroom policy to allow those who haven’t purchased anything to use restrooms, USA Today reported.
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