Starbucks Coffee is Supporting Our Troops

I went to Starbucks on a Thursday. I do not go to Starbucks on a regular basis because it is not usually in my budget to do so.

When I went there, they gave me a coupon for a buy one get one free at my next visit.

I decided that I would then return again on the next day.

Coincidently I got an e-mail the next day stating that Starbucks did not support our troops and that I should boycott Starbucks Coffee for it. The e-mail was one of those e-mails that encouraged you to pass it on to every one you knew.

In the e-mail it stated that Starbucks did not support the war, and since it did not support the war, it also was not supporting the troops either and that it was not going to donate anything to make the troops stay in Iraq better.

The e-mail was kind of appalling, but I do not listen to the first thing I hear online as the truth. I returned to Starbucks the next day anyway.

The first thing I noticed when driving up to Starbucks was that there was "We Support Our Troops" painted on the window of the Starbucks coffee shop. Immediately I could see that the e-mail I received the day before was all ready becoming more false.

When I entered I got two venti sized double chocolate-chip frappuccino for my boyfriend and I. My other friend was there too, getting himself a vanilla-bean coffee. Right next to the register was a pile of coffee with a sign that said "Support Our Troops - Send a Bag $10."

I realized how unfortunate it was for this e-mail to still be circulating online. I researched it and this particular e-mail has been circulating online for years. People still are believing the first thing they read and think this is true.

There are multiple websites online that state that this is an inaccurate rumor, and the original poster wrote a letter of apology for it. But it seemed like the damage was done.

As a lesson learned, people should really do their research before spreading rumors. Starbucks has donated 100,000lbs of coffee to the American Red Cross so that it can be distributed to the troops serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. Employees also receive one free pound of coffee a week, and these employees are donating that coffee right back to the troops.

I don't boycott places just because someone says I should for whatever reason. There are all kinds of rumors going around, and this is sadly one of them that is still circulating. If I didn't happen to decide to go to Starbucks the same weekend I got the e-mail (because I had a buy one get one free coupon) I may have never found out that this rumor was false.