Skip to Content
Everything Else

Oklahoma Becomes Epicenter of Latest Media-Manufactured Starbucks Controversy…

2:55 PM EST on December 2, 2019

On Thanksgiving Day, while you were carving turkey, pouring wine and holding in gas, Oklahoma became the epicenter of the latest media-manufactured Starbucks outrage controversy, when Kiefer Police Chief Johnny O'Mara hopped on Facebook to whine about a ballsy, disrespectful and rebellious Starbucks barista, who labeled one of his officer's coffee orders "PIG."

Here's the Facebook post:

Should you write PIG on a cop's order at Starbucks? No, but is it really that big of a deal? As Officer Koharski reminded us in Wayne's World, people have been calling cops that for years. Hell, back when I waited tables at Applebee's, we'd call tables with uniformed cops "Pig Tops." Fortunately, we weren't dumb enough to actually write that on their ticket.

Anyway, before you could say "Pass the gravy," the story blew up like a frozen turkey dropped in a bucket of hot peanut oil. It quickly circulated amongst the right-wing snowflakes in the never-question law enforcement echo chamber, and then launched full throttle into the national outrage media circuit.

Naturally, this includes Fox News. Always on the lookout for a good piece of propaganda about disrespected cops and / or Starbucks cups – much less one about both – to feed to their delirious following, they interviewed Chief O'Mara:

No strangers to controversy ignited by dumb employees, Starbucks acted promptly and followed the doctrine in their PR playbook. They apologized for the incident and, as Chief O'Mara mentioned, fired people. That's usually enough to sweep the issue under the rug, but one employee they fired claims they weren't the person who typed “PIG” into the computer.

Via Tulsa KTUL Channel 8:

Lola Price, a former manager at the Glenpool Starbucks, told Tulsa's Channel 8 she was called Thursday evening by her supervisors.

They fired her after five cups with the word “PIG" printed on them were handed to a Kiefer police officer...

After nine months as a manger, Price said she was fired for something she didn't do and explained that she wasn't the one who printed "PIG" on the label.

That was done, she says, by one of the baristas.

"They, to make it seem like they were right on top of everything, which they are, but they terminated me from my position with no cause," she said.

Price said she tried to make it right when she found out about the labels.

The KTUL report definitely makes Lola appear like a victim here, and it does suck that she lost her job because of the actions of another employee, but – friendly reminder – this is how she "tried to make it right” ...

Chief O’Mara called the coffee shop and employees there offered to “replace the coffee with a correct label.” But the chief wasn’t buying it.

“The proverb ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’ came to mind,” O’Mara wrote.

Really? She offered to replace the coffee with the correct label? Even a Braum's manager would know that's the wrong way to handle things! She should have just offered them some free donuts, danishes and cake pops. Then the cops would have been happy!

Nine out of 10 times, this is usually how outrage stories like this end – innocent people lose jobs, disrespected cops get much-needed affirmation and attention, and Starbucks PR people earn their income. But this edition of manufactured outrage includes some special bonus coverage!

Enter Chief O'Mara's rebellious estranged daughter! She swooped in like an added shot of espresso with some tweets to liven things up:

Yikes! That escalated fast! Instead of Fox News, I'm thinking Chief O'Mara's next interview will be with Dr. Phil.

Seriously, though, that's nuts! The guy's own daughter hops on social media to say he's a racist and treats woman like dogs?? With quotes like that floating around, Chief O'Mara may become Sheriff O'Mara very, very soon.

-

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter