A popular coffee shop chain has responded to a viral post by a person with disability (PWD), who shared her and her husband’s “truly disappointing” experience at one of its branches.
On Tuesday, July 22, Marivic Cruz shared that she and her husband, Daniel Cruz, felt “humiliated” after receiving their Starbucks orders at Festival Mall with the name “Speech” written on their cups.
Marivic said that she has a psychosocial disability, while her husband has a speech disability.
“Really, Starbucks!? This is so disappointing. And then you even called out my husband based on the name written on the cup? This is truly disappointing,” she wrote on a Facebook post.
Marivic shared more details about the incident in the comments section, where she said that her husband handed their PWD IDs by saying, “Here po ‘yung ID, Daniel.”
“Yet ang nilagay pa rin na name sa cup is SPEECH,” she wrote.
Marivic also asked why the barista “kept on insisting” that they thought her husband’s name was “Speech.”
“The barista keep explaining to us and pinipilit nila na ang akala nila is SPEECH ang pangalan ng asawa ko. How come? First name: Speech, Middle name: Language, Surname: Impairment? Ganyan po ba dapat?” she wrote, referring to the PWD ID details.
“For PWD Discounts, nilalagay po nila sa POS [Point of Sale] ang name and PWD [number],” Marivic added, referring to the POS system in stores, which is used by businesses to facilitate sales.
“So meaning, nabasa po nila ang name sa ID, how come na SPEECH parin ang nilagay sa cup?” she said.
“Hindi po ba kung ano ang nakalagay sa PWD Card, ‘yun din ang ilalagay na pangalan sa cup? Per transaction ang name ng cup. Nasa IDs na ang name, Hot for Marivic, Cold for Daniel. As easy as that. Yet, SPEECH pa rin ang nilagay?” Marivic added.
The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) condemned the incident and urged the coffee shop chain to take corrective action and train its staff on disability rights and sensitivity.
“This practice was deemed insensitive and discriminatory, constituting a violation of Republic Acts (RA) 7277 and (9442), also known as the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities,” the council said in a statement on July 22.
“The NCDA’s concern is significant because it emphasizes that organizations like Starbucks, as public establishments, must uphold the rights of all individuals, irrespective of their abilities. It is essential that businesses not only understand the legal implications of discrimination but also foster a culture of respect and inclusion among their staff,” the NCDA added.
Coffee shop acknowledges mistake
Meanwhile, Starbucks Philippines pledged to improve staff training following the incident.
“We have reached out to Mr. [and] Mrs. Cruz to sincerely apologize for this incident and for the distress it caused them,” it said in a statement sent to SPOT.ph.
“Our investigation has confirmed that when our employee was shown the customer’s ID card, to access a discount for disabled customers, he mistook the disability listed as being the customer’s name,” the coffee shop chain added.
“We fully acknowledge our mistake and will reinforce with our teams the values and service standards that we expect. This will include further enhancing the training which we provide aimed at fostering a strong culture of inclusion and treating everyone in our stores with dignity, respect, and care,” Starbucks said.
Starbucks is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee worldwide, with over 30,000 stores in more than 75 countries.
