I BET YOU STARBUCKS REGRETS HIRING THIS BITCH.

[MarkCruz]

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.

Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal of the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."

The lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) barista in La Jolla, who complained shift supervisors were sharing in employee tips.

The lawsuit gained ground in 2006 when it was granted class-action status, allowing the suit to go forward for as many as 100,000 former and current baristas in the coffee chain's California stores.

It was not immediately clear how many current and former employees are affected by the ruling.

"I feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool."

California is Starbucks' largest U.S. market, with 2,460 stores as of Jan. 8, the latest count available. The Seattle-based company has more than 11,000 stores nationwide.

Starbucks employs more than 135,000 baristas in the U.S. The company did not immediately respond to a request for a head count in California.

The judgment comes as Starbucks is struggling to revive its U.S. business, where store traffic has slipped amid a sagging economy, rising energy and dairy costs, and growing competition from cheaper rivals.

The company's stock has slid more than 50 percent since late 2006, when it was trading close to $40 a share. Starbucks shares rose 3 cents to $17.53 Thursday.

Starbucks earned more than $672 million on revenue of $9.4 billion during its 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The judge ordered Starbucks to pay $87 million in back tips, plus interest of $19 million, bringing the total judgment to about $106 million.

The company said it planned to ask the court to stay the ruling while the appeal is pending.

"The decision today, in our view, represents an extreme example of an abuse of the class-action procedures in California's courts," O'Neil said.

The coffee company also took issue with the brevity of the judge's ruling, which was only four paragraphs, saying she failed to address the unfairness to shift supervisors.

"This case was filed by a single former barista and, despite Starbucks request, the interests of the shift supervisors were not represented in litigation," O'Neil said.

But attorney Laura Ho, who tried the baristas case, said the court's verdict follows state law.

"Starbucks illegally took a huge amount of money from the tip pool to pay shift supervisors, rather than paying them out of its own pocket. The court's verdict rightfully restores that money to the baristas," Ho said. To top of page

[MarkCruz]

THAT'S CALI SWAG RIGHT THERE.

[The King]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

[MarkCruz]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

WELL MOST OF THE TIME THEY'RE PERSONALLY MAKING YOUR DRINK.
I ALWAYS TIP IN ADVANCE.

[Al Bundy]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

Fuck you. Everyone deserves to live and prosper.

[Sikotic™]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

I agree with you. These motherfuckers are so bold now that they demand tips n shit. Fuck that, every time someone demands a tip from me (happened to me last week), I purposely leave a penny or nickel and nothing more. When a person serves well and doesn't hassle me for a tip, I go out of my way to tip them well over 15%. Asking for a tip includes waving that nasty ass tip jar in my face.

[The King]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

Fuck you. Everyone deserves to live and prosper.

Everyone deserves it, but not everyone gets it. Tips for working at a mass chain coffee shop? I have no problem with tipping someone at a local coffee place, a local business. But Starbucks? And even still. 100,000 million dollars in back tips? What the fuck is this? The courts are soo full of shit. It's like awarding those fat losers millions for sueing mcdonalds.

Starbucks is a shitty job. Giving people large amounts of tips ensures they'll never try and achieve anything greater. All those dumb employees with english and art degrees should find real jobs instead of begging for tips working at a shitty coffee place.

5$ for a shitty cup of coffee? They should tip the CUSTOMERS for having to drink that overpriced crap.

[daWappla]

The US and the fantastic theory of giving tips and when not.

OH MY GOD!

I was in the US in 2003 and I was in Vegas with a friend. We arrived at the airport, booked our hotel and called a cab. It brought us there. It was like 16$ or so. So I give him 20$ and think that´s more than enough. We get our luggage and want to enter the hotel until the cab driver says: "No tip for me?"

Motherfucker, it was 16$ and I gave you 20$, what the fuck do you expect? Where I´m coming from you tip between 10% and 15% so that makes 4$ MAXIMUM. I gave him that and he still asks for a tip? LOL

 

[Sikotic™]

The US and the fantastic theory of giving tips and when not.

OH MY GOD!

I was in the US in 2003 and I was in Vegas with a friend. We arrived at the airport, booked our hotel and called a cab. It brought us there. It was like 16$ or so. So I give him 20$ and think that´s more than enough. We get our luggage and want to enter the hotel until the cab driver says: "No tip for me?"

Motherfucker, it was 16$ and I gave you 20$, what the fuck do you expect? Where I´m coming from you tip between 10% and 15% so that makes 4$ MAXIMUM. I gave him that and he still asks for a tip? LOL

 

That's why you tip them by spitting in their face. That's all those snakes understand.

[Don Jacob]

the only people i tip are REAL waiters and waitresses....who actually do a good job, and my barber.

[MarkCruz]

I TIP PEOPLE WHO DECIDE HOW MUCH CINNAMON APPLES I'M GONNA GET.

[herpes]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

Fuck you. Everyone deserves to live and prosper.

then get a better job

[M Dogg™]

WTF? Stupid employees. Starbucks employees deserve as much tips as McDonalds employees. ZERO. It's not like their serving you. It's fast food. They should be paying us to drink that crap.

Fuck you. Everyone deserves to live and prosper.

then get a better job

someone has to do it. I know people that graduated college, and still kept their watress job 'cause it made mad money. They can't leave, at least not yet, because the tips are good. Some restaurants though demand high tips, and some bring in customers that wouldn't tip shit. It's the name of the game, and it's something they have to live with.

On a side note, my fiance went on a global trip, and she said one of the weirdest things was that there were plenty of countries which didn't accept tip. She left on in Europe and in Hong Kong, and they gave it right back, and some even looked at it as an issult.

[Fuck Your Existence]

I TIP PEOPLE WHO DECIDE HOW MUCH CINNAMON APPLES I'M GONNA GET.

true,if i get hooked up they get hooked up

the only people i tip are REAL waiters and waitresses....

word,i tip what they deserve as well not what some "guideline" tells me to.