Web Hoax Turns People against Starbucks

Uncle Red · 02-01-2005, 03:36 AM

An e-mail message circulating around the Internet accuses Starbucks of refusing to give Marines serving in Iraq Starbucks coffee samples and that has started an informal boycott of the chain. There's just one problem: It's a hoax, reports WNBC in New York City and Internet Broadcasting Systems.
How did the rumor begin? A Marine heard the story from a friend of a friend and wrote an e-mail saying that Marines in Iraq had asked Starbucks to send them some free coffee samples. "Starbucks sent them back an e-mail stating that they do not support the war and they do not support the troops, and they were not sending them coffee," Len Christoforo of the Lavallette Police Department in Lavallette, N.J., told WNBC. Christoforo received the e-mail and now just about everyone in his police department has sworn off Starbucks. "I have a son, a daughter, and a son-in-law who are in the Marines, and they serve their country very proudly, and I was very disturbed by the contents of the e-mail," he told WNBC.

The e-mail has spread and with it ire against Starbucks. But it's not true! Starbucks told WNBC that it has no such anti-military policy. In addition to paying its employees who are called to military duty, Starbucks has donated 50,000 pounds of coffee to the Red Cross, which serves the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, Starbucks employees have personally donated thousands of pounds of coffee directly to the troops.

Sounds like someone got peeved with them and decided to get some payback. I don't drink coffee. -UR

Big Dog · 02-01-2005, 04:37 AM

I don't drink Starbucks - but it's just because I'm a cheap SOB. No way am I going to pay those prices! Sheesh . . .

Chris · 02-01-2005, 08:25 AM

Thats funny stuff. They usually have some hot chicks making coffee when/if I ever go in.

Shaun · 02-01-2005, 08:55 AM

makes no sense to me to pay $2 a cup when I have a machine here that gives me all the coffee I want free

Oxford · 02-01-2005, 08:57 AM

Rumors are like cancer. They're extremely difficult to get rid of. In this case, based upon your post, Starbucks is unfairly being made into the "bad guy." It's tough enough in business to make a living, let along having to fight negative hoax's about your business.

As stated above by various members, Starbucks is not my choice for coffee, either. Just pour me a mugfull of plain old boiling hot decaffinated folgers...or some other cheap brand of coffee. Works for me. :nod: As I see it, coffee should taste like coffee, not some spiced up, flavored colored water labeled as coffee.

BattleRifleG3 · 02-01-2005, 09:37 AM

The things they use to make their concoctions are so friggin cheap you could make yourself a great supply for loads less. I've made some interesting concoctions when coffee has been abundant.

Shaun · 02-01-2005, 09:46 AM

BRG if I recall you college students usually use coffee ground as chew to stay awake.

gunssb · 02-01-2005, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun

BRG if I recall you college students usually use coffee ground as chew to stay awake.

the now make caffeinated soap

Uncle Red · 02-01-2005, 10:16 AM

When we wanted to stay awake in college we chugged JOLT!! Cheep buzz. Do they still make Jolt? -UR

Big Dog · 02-01-2005, 10:30 AM

Once you've lived for years on the cheap rotgut "US Navy Monday Morning Mk.1 Mod 0" coffee - everything else is just dirty water.
I had a young squid once say my coffee would disolve a styrofoam cup! We did use it to get the grunge off the old GI rubber-coated desktops.

I once made the grievous error of cleaning our 80-cup coffee pot. The Senior Chief reamed me good! I had "ruined the taste" of the coffee!

The office folks here still cringe when I make coffee. Hehehe.

Shaun · 02-01-2005, 10:33 AM

Big Dog add a pinch of pepper to the grounds and watch people go wild -- not enough to taste it but the pepper will allow the caffiene to be directly absorbed through the pallete instead of the stomach -- you get 3 times the effect. Commonly reffered to as truckers mix.

Tipadoux · 02-01-2005, 10:38 AM

Havn't seen Jolt for awhile but it was powerful! I don't drink coffee much and in Louisiana that is a crime in itself, but I wouldn't pay the extreme cost for coffee these specialty shops charge. I drank a little cajun coffe (sure enough cajun) when working offshore and that ended all my want for coffee. Any one want an experience with Coffee get some Community dark roast with chicory! Man what a high! Takes three days to come down off one cup! I hear that way back in byou buff there is coffee grown in cypress bowls and mixed with polk root when ground. It is called the "7 day swamp tour" as you will be in there for that long trying to come down.

smoker · 02-01-2005, 02:24 PM

I worked on an archaeological dig in Israel one summer and the Bedouin who ran the place used to make us Turkish coffee. Basically you just put dust-fine grounds in the pot and boil it. Drink it grounds and all, with or without a little sugar. I will put that stuff up against your Navy coffee any day of the week. It will seriously put hair on your chest.

Oxford · 02-01-2005, 04:25 PM

If it'll put hair on my bald head I'll be making some to drink. :nod: :insane:

whirlwind · 02-01-2005, 04:32 PM

i never been to a starbucks myself.but my sister goes there alot and i just cant get over the prices! any coffee will do me just fine...heck i even liked the old m.r.e. coffee packets!

02-01-2005, 03:36 AM	#1
Uncle Red Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Indiana Posts: 547 Trader Rating: (0)	Web Hoax Turns People against Starbucks An e-mail message circulating around the Internet accuses Starbucks of refusing to give Marines serving in Iraq Starbucks coffee samples and that has started an informal boycott of the chain. There's just one problem: It's a hoax, reports WNBC in New York City and Internet Broadcasting Systems. How did the rumor begin? A Marine heard the story from a friend of a friend and wrote an e-mail saying that Marines in Iraq had asked Starbucks to send them some free coffee samples. "Starbucks sent them back an e-mail stating that they do not support the war and they do not support the troops, and they were not sending them coffee," Len Christoforo of the Lavallette Police Department in Lavallette, N.J., told WNBC. Christoforo received the e-mail and now just about everyone in his police department has sworn off Starbucks. "I have a son, a daughter, and a son-in-law who are in the Marines, and they serve their country very proudly, and I was very disturbed by the contents of the e-mail," he told WNBC. The e-mail has spread and with it ire against Starbucks. But it's not true! Starbucks told WNBC that it has no such anti-military policy. In addition to paying its employees who are called to military duty, Starbucks has donated 50,000 pounds of coffee to the Red Cross, which serves the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, Starbucks employees have personally donated thousands of pounds of coffee directly to the troops. Sounds like someone got peeved with them and decided to get some payback. I don't drink coffee. -UR __________________ "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"--Amendment II, Bill of Rights "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."--Thomas Paine "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." - Jesus, Luke 22:36

02-01-2005, 04:37 AM	#2
Big Dog Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Tallahassee, Florida Posts: 10,071 Trader Rating: (0)	I don't drink Starbucks - but it's just because I'm a cheap SOB. No way am I going to pay those prices! Sheesh . . . __________________ Moderator of: AR15/M16, M14/M1A, New/Beginning Shooters and Militaria/Collectables.

02-01-2005, 08:25 AM	#3
Chris HMFIC Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,834,136 Trader Rating: (0)	Thats funny stuff. They usually have some hot chicks making coffee when/if I ever go in. __________________ Rules \| Contributing Members No one has the right to deny my personal safety Respect the Staff!

02-01-2005, 08:55 AM	#4
Shaun Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 8,585 Trader Rating: (0)	makes no sense to me to pay $2 a cup when I have a machine here that gives me all the coffee I want free __________________ "Homeland Security is the responsibility of an armed citizen" ME http://webpages.charter.net/s.s.v/

02-01-2005, 08:57 AM	#5
Oxford Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Gladstone, Missouri Posts: 12,987 Trader Rating: (0)	Rumors are like cancer. They're extremely difficult to get rid of. In this case, based upon your post, Starbucks is unfairly being made into the "bad guy." It's tough enough in business to make a living, let along having to fight negative hoax's about your business. As stated above by various members, Starbucks is not my choice for coffee, either. Just pour me a mugfull of plain old boiling hot decaffinated folgers...or some other cheap brand of coffee. Works for me. :nod: As I see it, coffee should taste like coffee, not some spiced up, flavored colored water labeled as coffee. __________________ "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right".

02-01-2005, 09:37 AM	#6
BattleRifleG3 Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Western PA Posts: 11,401 Trader Rating: (0)	The things they use to make their concoctions are so friggin cheap you could make yourself a great supply for loads less. I've made some interesting concoctions when coffee has been abundant. __________________ Trust is earned, not... GIVEN away. - Worf

02-01-2005, 09:46 AM	#7
Shaun Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 8,585 Trader Rating: (0)	BRG if I recall you college students usually use coffee ground as chew to stay awake. __________________ "Homeland Security is the responsibility of an armed citizen" ME http://webpages.charter.net/s.s.v/

02-01-2005, 10:16 AM	#9
Uncle Red Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Indiana Posts: 547 Trader Rating: (0)	When we wanted to stay awake in college we chugged JOLT!! Cheep buzz. Do they still make Jolt? -UR __________________ "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"--Amendment II, Bill of Rights "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."--Thomas Paine "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." - Jesus, Luke 22:36

02-01-2005, 10:30 AM	#10
Big Dog Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Tallahassee, Florida Posts: 10,071 Trader Rating: (0)	Once you've lived for years on the cheap rotgut "US Navy Monday Morning Mk.1 Mod 0" coffee - everything else is just dirty water. I had a young squid once say my coffee would disolve a styrofoam cup! We did use it to get the grunge off the old GI rubber-coated desktops. I once made the grievous error of cleaning our 80-cup coffee pot. The Senior Chief reamed me good! I had "ruined the taste" of the coffee! The office folks here still cringe when I make coffee. Hehehe. __________________ Moderator of: AR15/M16, M14/M1A, New/Beginning Shooters and Militaria/Collectables.

02-01-2005, 10:33 AM	#11
Shaun Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 8,585 Trader Rating: (0)	Big Dog add a pinch of pepper to the grounds and watch people go wild -- not enough to taste it but the pepper will allow the caffiene to be directly absorbed through the pallete instead of the stomach -- you get 3 times the effect. Commonly reffered to as truckers mix. __________________ "Homeland Security is the responsibility of an armed citizen" ME http://webpages.charter.net/s.s.v/

02-01-2005, 10:38 AM	#12
Tipadoux Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 66 Trader Rating: (0)	Havn't seen Jolt for awhile but it was powerful! I don't drink coffee much and in Louisiana that is a crime in itself, but I wouldn't pay the extreme cost for coffee these specialty shops charge. I drank a little cajun coffe (sure enough cajun) when working offshore and that ended all my want for coffee. Any one want an experience with Coffee get some Community dark roast with chicory! Man what a high! Takes three days to come down off one cup! I hear that way back in byou buff there is coffee grown in cypress bowls and mixed with polk root when ground. It is called the "7 day swamp tour" as you will be in there for that long trying to come down.

02-01-2005, 02:24 PM	#13
smoker Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 67 Trader Rating: (0)	I worked on an archaeological dig in Israel one summer and the Bedouin who ran the place used to make us Turkish coffee. Basically you just put dust-fine grounds in the pot and boil it. Drink it grounds and all, with or without a little sugar. I will put that stuff up against your Navy coffee any day of the week. It will seriously put hair on your chest. __________________ Audentes fortuna juvat. -Virgil Nemo me impune lacessit. -motto of the Order of the Thistle "Mister, we deal in lead." -The Magnificent Seven

02-01-2005, 04:25 PM	#14
Oxford Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Gladstone, Missouri Posts: 12,987 Trader Rating: (0)	If it'll put hair on my bald head I'll be making some to drink. :nod: :insane: __________________ "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right".

02-01-2005, 04:32 PM	#15
whirlwind Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: oklahoma Posts: 3,730 Trader Rating: (0)	i never been to a starbucks myself.but my sister goes there alot and i just cant get over the prices! any coffee will do me just fine...heck i even liked the old m.r.e. coffee packets! __________________ De oppresso liber !