Taking a roasting: Starbucks

① Doors will close at more than 8,000 of the coffee chain's shops in America this afternoon as employees receive "racial-bias education".

② The training is in response to the arrest of two black men in a store in Philadelphia last month.

③ After being told they couldn't use the toilet without buying anything, they sat at a table.

④ A video of their arrest for trespassing went viral, sparking protests and talk of boycotts.

⑤ The charges were dropped and the men settled—but the roasting continued.

⑥ So earlier this month the company issued a new policy that non-paying customers could sit in their stores and use the facilities; many then worried the policy would turn stores into shelters for the homeless or the drug-addled.

⑦ Last week Starbucks clarified that disruptive guests would still be asked to leave.

⑧ The coffee chain markets itself as a "third place" between home and work; with new places come new conventions and rules.