Starbucks Charged Rescue Workers at the World Trade Center Collapse for Bottled Water–Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
There are several versions floating around the Internet, but the bottom line is that rescue workers at the World Trade Center collapse needed water in the midst of all the smoke and dust to help survivors they were finding and treating. According to the eRumor, a Starbucks at Ground Zero made the rescuers fork over their own money to get the water they needed.
The Truth:
There have been several media accounts documenting this story as true. According to an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer on September 25, 2001, a representative of the family-owned Midwood Ambulance company wrote a letter of complaint to Starbucks. He said his employees, whom he called heroes, were charged $130 for the water, which they paid for out of their pockets. It was at a Starbucks in Battery Park. The letter said the company representative was rebuffed when he called a Starbucks number from their website, so he wrote a letter to the CEO of the company. The ambulance company eventually got a call from the President of Starbucks with an apology, a promise of a refund, and free coffee for their employees.