A little bit of news has been making the rounds in the blogosphere. This is my understanding of the rumor… A student who was working her way through school by working as a barista at Starbucks. Apparently, this mystery woman, was unable to attend the famous re-training meeting. Now as a result of this absence she claims she was terminated by her manager.
Now I used to work at Starbucks and I can tell you that, in my experience, an partner would never be terminated for such a mistake. If the partner had previously had a problem with absences then, I suppose, termination could have been an option.
Gawker got posted about this event and I think what they (Gawker) found troubling was a comment a Starbucks partner made. The comment alluded to the belief that partners are never willing to skip class in order to attend a meeting. The reason I think this commenter is not a partner is because Starbucks has always prized higher education. They even go so far as to give parters scholarships of up to $2000 a year.
So… yeah. I think this story is more fiction then fact.