Free Republic

Compass Coffee’s business plummeted at the start of the pandemic. Rather than lay everyone off, the company turned its baristas into construction workers.Inside a new and nearly finished coffee roasting facility in Washington D.C., Joel Shetterly is animatedly leading a video tour through the building. As head of design for Compass Coffee, a seven-year-old company with 13 cafe locations and tinned beans in stores across the D.C. region, Shetterly is eager to show off the 65,000 square foot building’s new roasters, packaging equipment, and lots of welded steel. He’s excited about how the largely automated new space works, and also...

A group of Seattle-area baristas who argued in court that they should not be restricted from serving drinks in bikinis and other revealing clothing may have to cover up ⁠— at least for now. CNN reported Saturday that a federal appeals court ruled that women at an Everett, Wash., drive-thru coffee stand may have to cover up. The ruling, made by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, vacated U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman's 2017 decision that placed an injunction on a city ordinance requiring "quick-service facility" workers to wear, at minimum, shorts and a...

EVERETT — Five baristas are accused of engaging in prostitution at an Everett bikini espresso stand following a two-month undercover police investigation into complaints that the women were selling more than coffee. Detectives say the women were charging up to $80 to strip down and flash customers while fixing lattes and mochas. Investigators saw the women expose their crotches, lick whipped cream off their co-workers’ private parts and pose naked for pictures inside the Grab-n-Go Espresso stand on Broadway, according to police reports obtained by The Herald on Wednesday.

Baristas quit in protest of racy dress code http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_082307WAB_monroe_latte_dress_TP.63094d58.html http://tinyurl.com/2oebjg 10:28 AM PDT on Friday, August 24, 2007 By ROB PIERCY / KING 5 News MONROE, Wash. – Workers at one coffee stand are taking a stand against their new boss. The owner is implementing a dress code – requiring employees to wear skimpy outfits. All the workers have quit. "I make coffee, I don't sell my body, you know?" That's what Barista Amy Klett told her boss at Lola Bean Espresso last week. "He said he was going with a franchise called Cowgirls and that the attire would be...

SEATTLE - There's something missing from Playboy magazine's "Women of Starbucks" issue, and it's not just clothing. Of the 10 baristas shown in the issue that hits the stands Tuesday, none is from Seattle, the coffee retailer's home town and birthplace, magazine spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey said Wednesday. Half of those chosen for the eight-page spread are from California, including cover model Signe Nordli of Anaheim. Hennessey said the photography editor couldn't remember how many of the nearly 300 women who applied were from Seattle. Despite the lack of local participants, Playboy has scheduled a magazine signing with Nordli on Monday...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134642379_playboy27.html Playboy in search of willing bare-istas at Starbucks storesJust because its corporate logo is a topless mermaid, that doesn't mean Starbucks is thrilled about a Playboy callout for "Women of Starbucks." The Seattle-based coffee company was anything but abuzz following the venerable men's mag's announcement this week: "Calling all coffee-making cuties!" ... to pose nude in an upcoming issue. No one at Starbucks would comment on the matter apart from this rather terse written statement: "Starbucks Coffee Company is aware that Playboy Enterprises has issued a call for entries for a 'Women of Starbucks' section in a future...