Starbucks: Philadelphia barista fired for mocking stuttering client

The barista then replied:, Sss-sam, "Lekwijit wrote.

And when the drink made its way to Sam, the label said" SSSAM "- an apparent reference to Sam's stuttering

Sam contacted Starbucks to complain about the incident.Lekwijit said that the coffee giant had "missed the shot." Employee awareness. "

" There are many people with speech disorders that are in a worse position than my friend's and struggle with self-esteem and self-confidence, "wrote Lekwijit. "Getting this kind of treatment from employees, especially service employees, just hurts them – and I ask Starbucks employees to have that in mind."

Nate Nesbitt, Starbucks spokesperson Nesbitt said the company was fired, although the company prefers to use the term "separate". Starbucks has not released the name of the employee.

L & # 39; incident occurred just one month after the closure of Starbucks 8,000 stores for sensitivity training stimulated by an incident in another place in Philadelphia. In this case, a manager asked the police to remove two black men from the store because they wanted to use the restroom but had not ordered a drink. Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, apologized for this "wrong result" and told employees that people were not forced to buy drinks before using Starbucks spaces [19659013]. as a stutter, but a guide and accompanying videos included a scenario on a client with "a thick accent" and asked employees to consider how they would have handled a similar situation.

Starbucks spokesman Nate Nesbitt told the Post: additional training on additional topics in the coming months. "

Stuttering affects about 3 million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.The NIH reports that 5 to 10 percent of all children will experience stuttering and while many will learn to speak without stuttering it will persist in adulthood for about 25 percent of affected children.

Experts say that stuttering – and the ridiculous surrounding stuttering – can be an isolating experience that deters people from speaking in public.

"The ridicule should stop," says Gerald Maguire of the University of California Rivierside, president of the National Stuttering Association, a group that conducts advocacy, research, and empowerment efforts on behalf of people

Maguire says it's time to get rid of jokes about stuttering and characters like Porky Pig. "Stuttering is a brain development disorder" says Maguire, and people who stutter deserve the same sensitivity and respect as people with visible disabilities.

Professor Wharton Maurice Schweitzer says that Starbucks employs about 175,000 people in the United States. States, faces an "extremely difficult" challenge as it seeks to train employees to treat customers for what they are, not how they appear.

"There is no way to respond effectively to prejudices," said Schweitzer, according to Schwitzer, the task is complicated by the fact that Starbucks, like other companies in the restaurant industry, has a "High turnover and a lot of interactions with clients."

Lekwijit could not be immediately contacted.A representative of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania stated at the Washington Post that neither Lekwijit nor Sam were available for an interview.Lekwijit's profile on Facebook indicates that he is a student at the Wharton School.Sam's last name and his affiliation with Wharton is unclear

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