claim: a starbucks manager threatened to fire employees who wished customers a "merry christmas."
question: did a starbucks manager threaten to fire employees who say ‘merry christmas’?
origin: the so-called “war on christmas” supposedly involves commercial entities’ deliberately eschewing the use of religious symbolism and terminology in their operations and products — even to the extent of forbidding their employees from wishing customers a “merry christmas.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the stereotype of the atheistic, liberal, anti-christmas combatant was perfectly encapsulated in a dec. 4, 2019, tweet from someone who asserted that he was the manager of a starbucks outlet in charlotte, north carolina. he proclaimed that he had “informed my employees that they will be fired on the spot if i hear them say ‘merry christmas’ to any customers” — an action he purportedly took because he “personally dislike(s) conservative christians”:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  that outrage-inducing tweet gained added prominence when it was amplified a few weeks later by the facebook campaign page for republican u.s. rep. steve king of iowa, where it was reposted with the added comment “wow”:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  and that account — which business insider (bi) noted “previously claimed to discriminate against military service members and police officers who were customers at starbucks” — was indeed suspended for violating twitter’s rules:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: the chimeric "war on christmas" conflict was neatly characterized in a single tweet.
summary: the so-called “war on christmas” supposedly involves commercial entities’ deliberately eschewing the use of religious symbolism and terminology in their operations and products. the stereotype of the atheistic, liberal, anti-christmas combatant was perfectly encapsulated in a dec. 4, 2019, tweet from someone who asserted that he was the manager of a starbucks outlet in charlotte, north carolina. that tweet gained added prominence when it was amplified a few weeks later by the facebook campaign page for republican u.s. rep. steve king.