Objective hazards

[chirp]

JEDDAH, 12 April 2005 — A Starbucks manager was rushed to King Fahd Hospital yesterday morning with two stab wounds to the shoulder following a verbal altercation with a customer over a lit cigarette. The suspect, who is a Saudi citizen, is currently under arrest.

 

“The incident occurred early yesterday morning when a man who appeared to be drunk walked into our Hera Street branch and lit a cigarette. When an employee asked him to put it out, he refused, then asked for an ashtray. The employee went to fetch the manager instead.

 

“Manager Samer Humaidan went up to the customer and asked him to stub out his cigarette. He was acting in a strange manner, then began cussing and shouting,” said Haytham Al-Shaya, general manager of Al-Shaya International Trading Company, and agent for Starbucks Saudi Arabia.

 

“In front of another customer who was trying to calm him down, the man pulled out a knife from his thobe pocket and stabbed Samer twice in the left shoulder. The man then went outside where smoking is allowed, and sat down to finish his coffee and cigarette,” he said.

 

When the police arrived they found the suspect in the smoking section and placed him under arrest. It was determined that he was drunk.

 

Omar Hussein, a Pakistani driver whose car was blocked-in by the arriving ambulance told Arab News: “When I got there the police had already put the suspect in the police car, but the victim was still inside the coffee shop with the police. When the medics came they had their sirens on and parked behind my car. When they came out of Starbucks, I asked them to move the ambulance, but they were busy helping the man. When I saw them put him in the ambulance, there was a lot of blood and it looked serious.

 

“After the ambulance left, the workers cleaned up the mess and started taking orders again,” he continued.

 

Arab News arrived at the scene 90 minutes after the attack took place. It was business as usual. One employee who witnessed the attack said, “I am not allowed to discuss internal matters, you will have to speak with my supervisors.”

 

When asked if he would continue to ask customers who light up inside to put out their cigarettes, he said, “Of course. It is Starbucks’ policy. We always ask people to smoke outside and we never had anything like this happen before.”

 

Humaidan received seven stitches for each stab wound but plans to return to work in a few days.

 

[sobo]

Yowser! I never knew that coffee was a contact sport.

[rbw1966]

"When they came out of the Starbucks I asked them to move the ambulance"

 

Priceless.

[texplorer]

Another tail of a suicide coffee drinker.

[olyclimber]

I can't believe this stuff is legal.

[Alan]

They say that smoking can kill you.

[specialed]

Give me my doulbe half calf mocha rasberry latte with a twist, and noone gets hurt!!

[minx]

i love how sensible everybody being interviewed sounded. 90 minutes later and it's business as usual. Here it would've been "COFFEE CRISIS WATCH 2005 - WHEN WILL THE NEXT SMOKER ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Cobra_Commander]

The real question is if they are still pulling shots with the la marzoccos, or if they on the superautomatic kick in the land of saud.

[Roger]

under that evil veneer, it appears that COBRA COMMANDER harbors a soft spot for quality espresso. no blade grinders or cheapo single-boiler krups units in the cobra lair.

[Cobra_Commander]

IF one is going to take over the world, one better show some class in the process. Evil plots are easily hatched over double machiattos pulled with 30lb tamped grinds solely from a well-loved Mazzer or Rocky, natch.

 

As it appears you are from Portland, Oregon, one can only hope you are frequenting Stumptown, the be-all and end-all of coffee excellence.

[Roger]

yep. I'm in southeast, and have been a semi-regular at the belmont location... although there's a new shop on upper hawthorne that's been providing my morning fix lately.