More Than One Third of Black Tellwut Survey Respondents Say They Have Been Discriminated Against at a QSR

40% of Black Tellwut respondents feel that they have been discriminated against at a quick service restaurant. The next largest ethnic minority to feel this form of mistreatment are those who identify as Asian, as 21% of Asian Tellwut respondents say they felt discriminated against while at a similar type of establishment.   The discrimination reported by visible minorities are more than twice the amount of discrimination that has been reported by White Tellwut respondents as only 10% of those who identify as White say that they have faced discrimination at a quick service restaurant. When examined by gender 17% of men say they have been unfairly treated, and only 12% of women say this has occurred. Discrimination   On April 12 2018 at a Philadelphia Starbucks two Black men were unjustly asked to leave the café and when they refused they were arrested. The Starbucks employee called the police because the two men sat down without purchasing anything, one of them also asked to use the washroom and was refused; Several White patrons were also seated without purchases – they were not disturbed by police or Starbucks employees. According to a poll conducted in the days after the incident (April 18 2018) 65% of White respondents were familiar with this incident, and almost 10% more of Black respondents (74%) said that they were familiar with the events that unfolded at a Philadelphia location of the global chain. One Tellwut member said, “Starbucks promotes an image of a neighborhood hangout where everyone is welcome. That obviously didn't happen in this situation.” This echoes a similar sentiment from an April 16th Time Magazine article, “Starbucks‘s reputation for being a place where people can hang out — whether for a few minutes between appointments or for hours while they finish up a project — is at the center of public outrage.”   One Starbucks visitor recorded the men’s arrest and questioned police officers while the camera rolled. A White Tellwut member said, “Unless I had heard and seen an entire interaction, I would not interfere. It is possible the angle I saw something at or the snip of conversation I heard gave the total wrong impression.” 49% of White respondents said they would question or confront an authority figure committing an act of racial injustice, that number increases for Black respondents to 65%. The lowest number of interveners by race were those who identify as Asian with only 32% saying that they would question an authority figure.   Tellwut panel member Jesther said, “I think this whole issue is shameful. It is clear that the men arrested did nothing wrong other than not informing the Starbucks employee that they were meeting someone for a meeting and would probably order when that person arrived. Every year when I worked for a major health care system the leadership took diversity training which was very helpful to me to understand how persons from different cultures view work attitudes.” As a result of the incident that took place last month, Starbucks is closing its stores on May 29 for anti-discrimination instruction that is "designed to address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a store feels safe and welcome.” We asked the Tellwut online survey takers if they felt that this type of training was necessary for all customer service workers of quick service restaurants, 82% of Black respondents supported this notion and 72% of Whites did. When broken down by gender, more women, specifically 76 % than men at 62% supported this type of training. Flomo1993 says,” Our company will be going through this type of training this fall. I work for a very large company and if only one employee is being in any way biased it affects all of us. Our company is very global and we have a large minority work force including myself.”