A Starbucks manager at an outlet where a cop was given coffee cups with the word ‘Pig’ printed on them, claims she was wrongfully fired from her job.
Lola Price, the former manager at Starbucks in Glenpool, Oklahoma said she was called in by management on Thursday and was let go from her role.
It came after an officer with the Kiefer Police Department did a Starbucks run for emergency dispatchers working on the holiday and was shocked to find the word ‘PIG’ printed on the labels for all five drink orders.
Both Price and the barista responsible have been fired over the incident which happened last Thursday.
The officer reported the labels to Police Chief Johnny O’Mara, who shared a picture of one of the offensive coffee cups on Facebook, where the incident went viral and led to public outrage.
Starbucks manager Lola Price, (pictured), claimed she was wrongfully let go from her role after a cop was given several coffee cups with the word ‘Pig’ printed on them
Starbucks said it had fired a barista who printed ‘Pig’ on the cup labels of several Kiefer police officers working on Thanksgiving Day at the company’s Glenpool, Oklahoma location
Starbucks issued a company wide apology as well condemning the label and announcing that the barista was fired.
However it is not known if the barista who Starbucks were referring to was Price, or whether there was a second worker fired over the incident.
But Price claimed she did not write the offensive term and believes she was fired as the company were ‘looking for someone to take the blame.’
She told ABC Tulsa: ‘I was terminated from my position because, Starbucks was looking for someone to take the blame for this and to save some face from their company. Just still kind of in shock about it all,’ Price added.
Price was a manager at the outlet for nine months and claims one of the other baristas was responsible for writing the offensive term.
‘They, to make it seem like they were right on top of everything, which they are, but they terminated me from my position with no cause.
‘No sort of disciplinary action that I’ve ever received or any of that. I have no idea why they would terminate me from my position,’ she said.
Price said that she tried to rectify the situation with the officer before he left the store.
She explained: ‘He laughed it off, said it was cool,’ Price said. ‘I handed him his blueberry muffin and I went back off the floor to continue doing my shift manager duties.’
Police Chief O’Mara was on vacation when the officer called to flag the ‘Pig’ labels.
Lola Price, the former manager at Starbucks in Glenpool, Oklahoma said she was called in by management on Thursday and was let go from her role
Starbucks issued a company wide apology as well condemning the label and announcing that the barista was fired following a social media storm over the labels
O’Mara then called the Starbucks location to demand an apology and the Glenpool store manager offered to reprint the cups, but it wasn’t enough for O’Mara.
He shared pictures of the cups on Facebook saying: ‘So… one of my on-duty officers decides to do something nice for our dispatchers.
‘What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town.’
‘This cup of coffee for a ‘pig’ is just another little flag.
‘It’s another tiny pinprick into the heart of men and women who are asking themselves more often: ‘Why am I doing this?’
He added: ‘Just pour the coffee, please. Are we at a point where a task as simple as pouring an exceptionally overpriced cup of coffee is so complicated that it cannot be accomplished without ‘expressing oneself?’
Police Chief O’Mara was on vacation when the officer called to flag the ‘Pig’ labels
The officer reported the labels to Police Chief Johnny O’Mara, who shared a picture of one of the offensive coffee cups on Facebook, where the incident went viral and led to public outrage
Facebook users commented on Johnny O’Mara’s Facebook post about the cup and said the word ‘pig’ on the label was ‘disrespectful’
There was further controversy when Police Chief O’Mara’s daughter Lauren O’Mara claimed in a tweet he is ‘absolutely a pig’ and has no ‘business being a police officer’.
Lauren told DailyMail.com she tweeted the missive because she thought her dad ‘was being a dramatic a**hole’.
‘They were just two teenage girls at Starbucks. It was a dumb joke,’ she said
She wrote on Saturday: ‘This is my father and i’d like to say that he is absolutely a pig and i’d like to thank the brave men and women from starbucks for their service.’
In another tweet that also included a pig emoji, she added: ‘For the record, my father has 0 [sic] business being a police officer. he was blatantly, proudly racist when i was a kid. said things i would never repeat. he treats women like dogs, including his own daughter. oink oink.’
Chief O’Mara’s daughter, Lauren O’Mara, claimed in a tweet he is ‘absolutely a pig’ and has no ‘business being a police officer’
Lauren told DailyMail.com she tweeted the missive because she thought her dad ‘was being a dramatic a**hole’
She then said she hoped her father, who she had not spoken to in years, saw her posts about him.
She added: ‘I haven’t talked to my dad in years lol this is awkward i hope he sees it tho.’
Yesterday she then added: ‘Update: he has seen it and had someone call my mom to ”get that s*** off twitter” lmao he is upset.’
Starbucks issued a company wide apology as well condemning the label and announcing that the barista was fired.
‘This is absolutely unacceptable, and we are deeply sorry to the law enforcement officer who experienced this.
‘We have also apologized directly to him and connected with the Chief of the Kiefer Police Department as well to express our remorse.
‘The Starbucks partner who wrote this offensive word on a cup used poor judgement and is no longer a partner after this violation of company policy.
‘This language is offensive to all law enforcement and is not representative of the deep appreciation we have for police officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.’