Coffee with a snap

Still on the theme of veterans of our armed services, I just never get over how many ways there are to hang them out to dry. I mean—they suit up to do a necessary job that ranges from frequently boring and unpleasant to fatal, for completely crap pay, and basically no respect from the people they protect.

And when they get out, having been trained to do things like accurately fire the M4 carbine in tight situations, efficiently search vehicles for IEDs or maintain Apache attack helicopters in places you’d have trouble pronouncing—for some reason, no one wants to hire them to work in an office or a factory.

So—even though I’m not at all a fan of either their products or their ubiquity, I say big up to Starbucks for committing to a program to hire 10,000 vets over the next five years. They’ll be placed in a full range of positions from front-line baristas to corporate management.

And, since it’s ‘Bucks’ corporate policy to offer health coverage to all employees, they’ll have access to a full range of health care regardless of how many hours a week they work. Which wouldn’t be the case at other companies that have set up similar programs.

Yes, Walmart, that’s you I’m talking about.

One of the most telling aspects of the NPR story about this is the comment by Rob Pocarelli, the ex-JAG prosecutor who’s now a staff attorney at ‘Bucks. Before joining the coffee giant he was told by an interviewer that he might not be a good fit for the particular legal establishment because, “I think you’re going to find more of the intellectual type in the law firm environment.”

Yeah—because anyone stupid enough to say that, to a lawyer, in an interview is a mental giant.

Anyhow—props to Starbucks. I really hope this program is successful and that it goads other corporations to step up to the plate the way these veterans have done.