Barnes & Noble did that too. I also refrained from participating.

Well played.

I had a sticker placed on my cup... So yes... It did happen.

Gawker could probably run a weekly Behind Closed Ovens-style column just about this sort of bullshit.

So was the idea to have a conversation with the barista who wrote RaceTogether on your cup? What if the line is 20+ people long and they chose you to talk about race while everyone is staring at you–now the cause of the line's holdup?! That would be anxiety to the max!

This idea was so deeply delusional, it's like something out of a comedy routine. Like I'm going to incur the wrath of the dozen people behind me waiting to get their coffee to say to my stressed-out barista, "Hey, read the latest Ta-Nehisi Coates in the Atlantic this month? Really makes ya think, eh?"

Holy crap, I worked for Borders and remember that piece of stupidity as well.

Me too. It must have been glorious. Could they possibly have had any minority person in the room? What did that poor person feel, what did they do? I cringe.

Thank goodness for the small acts of resistance of front-line employees. Poor guys.

I would have loved to have attended the marketing meeting that spawned this winner.

I agree with you that it's awful, but I think there are a lot of other contenders for "most inexplicable and obviously awful corporate idea." Like when Walmart had a food drive to feed their own employees, for example.

I really doubt any of the Starbucks actually wrote on the cups or had conversations. The one I got to (because you may take my life but you'll never take my chai latte!) thought it was hilariously stupid.

This is quite honestly the most inexplicable and obviously awful corporate idea I have ever heard of. They would have been better off reminding people they offer health insurance to their employees, unlike most independent coffee shops or fast food joints. For that, I have never hated Starbucks, but this "race…

Last winter the front door of my house BLEW OPEN, for God knows how long. Then I couldn't find one of my cats. I was convinced he had gone out in the bitter cold. Never mind the fact he had never been outside in his life. Took me 20 minutes to find him, sitting on a dining room chair pushed in under the table. One of…

I know someone else who had a philandering bf tell her in anger that her rape (which happened before they'd ever met) was her fault. What a sick, horrible thing to say and use against someone.

I'd been dating this guy for two and a half years, and he came down with a sore throat that just wouldn't go away. He kept asking me to look at his throat and tell him if I thought he had tonsillitis...for like three weeks. Yeah, you could see all these horrible pustules at the back of his throat. I kept telling…

Oh god yes. I saw her at our ten year HS reunion, and she looks like an ugly Sideahow Bob.

I'm not annoyed by this post. It was the one in the "wedding costs and divorce" article where people were carrying on about being shamed or whatever because they spent a lot. I have zero issues with people talking about how they spent a lot on their wedding; I just don't want to hear about how oppressed they are every…

YES. This backlash against lentil weddings is ridiculous. Is the pissing contest about who had the cheapest wedding tiresome and annoying to some people? Sure. But to cry about how your expensive wedding is being "shamed" here? Go bathe in your sad rich people tears; you'll feel better in no time.

Gorgeous, no excuse needed.