Want to hear a neat trick: Tell the barista at Starbucks your name is “Merry Christmas”. They’ll write it down before even realizing what happened and then turn red with embarrassment at what they just did. And Starbucks will have lost the war on the holidays.
Give me a break.
What started as a simple design change has suddenly become a full fledged war, with Christian evangelist Josh Feuerstein calling for not a boycott, but a simple “trick” of using the words Merry Christmas when asked for your name at Starbucks.
Do people really go to Starbucks more during the holidays just to get their “Christmas” cups? Probably not, though I can’t say for certain. People have done stranger things. Like listening to Justin Bieber’s music or participating in a triathlon.
Donald Trump, billionaire celebrity, is also chiming in on the situation. He is actually taking it a step further and asking for a boycott of Starbucks. That’s what the new, hip Donald Trump does. He calls for boycotts. Well, either that or is continually on the lookout for his next debt settlement on his bankrupted holdings.
Normally, these sort of debates revolve around the using of the term “Happy Holidays” instead of the long favored “Merry Christmas”. Personally, I still favor the term “Merry Christmas”. I am a man ingrained with tradition. Many years of working in customer service, though, have helped teach me I need to be tolerant of many.
I understand that because of the country I live in, people are going to have all sorts of opinions and beliefs. If someone wishes me “Happy Holidays” am I going to be offended? No. I will wish them the same and go on my way. Why? Because in the end, the person is literally wishing me to be happy.
And that’s the true spirit of the season. Peace towards your fellow man and goodwill on earth. Instead of rallying against a corporate giant who most likely is revelling in this attention, why not use your time to volunteer at a shelter? Or maybe forego that daily cup of coffee for a few weeks and donate to your favorite charity? There are opportunities galore, especially around the holidays.
Starbucks shouldn’t even need to explain their decision. Maybe it was more than just an effort to not offend their non-Christian customers. Maybe by keeping the cups one solid color with minimal printing reduced the costs. Instead of sailing smoothly into the holidays, Starbucks now has to deal with this unexpected public relation controversy, which shouldn’t even be a controversy. Maybe next time, Starbucks should print posters at their locations stating, “Here’s our new cup. We come in peace.”
That’s the world we live in. Even when you try to win, you lose. Like the song says, “You can’t please everyone so you gotta please yourself.”
In the end, when everything is said and done and thousands of people presumably go by the name “Merry Christmas”, the fact remains that this special holiday red cup is exactly that. A cup. Nothing more. And nothing less, despite what the instigators of this situation try to tell you.
Now, if you’ll need anything else, I’ll be at Starbucks. I’ll be the guy with a red holiday cup, sporting the name Bing. ‘Tis the season, after all.
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