The coffee giant is facing uncomfortable questions in Los Angeles, after beco

游客2025-01-24 9

问题 The coffee giant is facing uncomfortable questions in Los Angeles, after becoming a go-to spot for the city’s homeless population of 44,000, NPR reports.
That’s because homeless people living in the city have turned to Starbucks as a place to sleep, use the bathroom, charge electronic devices, and use Wi-Fi because it is often the least expensive and most convenient option around.
Three Starbucks locations in parts of Los Angeles with large homeless populations have recently closed their bathrooms to customers and non-customers alike in recent months. The company reports the closures are linked to safety concerns, but current and former Starbucks employees told NPR that homeless people’s reliance on the bathrooms has been a struggle for the chain.
How to best respond to homeless customers, who spend little and at times cause other customers to complain, has been an ongoing challenge for Starbucks.
In 2007, a woman was thrown out of a Starbucks because management thought she was homeless. The chain has since tried to be more compassionate toward homeless customers, with the company’s legal team contributing to a handbook dedicated to informing homeless youth of their rights.
Many Starbucks bathrooms, especially busy locations in cities, have solved the issue of homeless customers bathing in bathrooms by adding a lock on the bathroom door, making it only accessible for paying customers.
Starbucks’ hours and free Wi-Fi have helped make it a haven for homeless customers. While the chain has long hours, many shelters close early in the morning.
Libraries in Los Angeles, one of the few providers of free public internet access, have been forced to shorten hours due to budget cuts in recent years. However, an increasing number of entry-level job applications require online applications, making wireless access more important for poor and homeless customers than ever before.
Free Wi-Fi has led to a number of unexpected consequences across the restaurant industry in recent years.
In March, KFC and McDonald’s in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK banned teenage customers after brawls between teens congregating at the fast-food locations to access free Wi-Fi.
Starbucks was a leader in the movement to bring Wi-Fi to coffee and restaurant chains, debuting the service in 2002, when many people still relied on Ethernet cables at home to access the Internet. Wi-Fi played a key role in turning Starbucks into what the company calls a "third place," where people can socialize, work, or relax outside of the home and office.
Free Wi-Fi brings new customers to Starbucks, but also new complications. Fourteen years since the chain began rolling out wireless internet, it still seems impossible to have one without the other.

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答案据美国国家公共电台(NPR)报道，近日，洛杉矶44，000多名无家可归者纷纷涌入星巴克，将其视为首选留宿之所，美国咖啡业巨头不堪其苦。
因为相对价格实惠，出入便利，城里很多流浪者选择去星巴克休息，洗漱如厕，给电子设备充电，使用店内免费Wi-Fi。
近来，大批无家可归的人涌入店里，洛杉矶地区的三家星巴克分店不得不暂时向所有人员关闭店内卫生间。公司方面表示，关闭卫生间是出于安全考虑。不过，星巴克员工及先前在店里工作的人员在接受NPR采访时透露，流浪人员经常使用卫生间，让门店痛苦不堪。
流浪人员在店内消费不多，有时还引起其他顾客抱怨，这也是各家星巴克门店长期难以解决的难题。
2007年，星巴克管理人员觉得一位女士可能是个流浪者而将其赶出门店。事件过后，星巴克便努力以更为包容的态度对待来店里消费的流浪者，而公司的法律顾问们所撰写的手册上也明确标出青少年流浪人员享有的各项权利。
目前，许多星巴克咖啡店，尤其是地处繁华地段、人流密集的门店都在卫生间门上加上了门锁，仅对来店内消费的顾客开放，并以此来解决流浪人员在店内卫生间里洗漱的问题。
星巴克营业时间较长，而很多收容所却在清晨早早关门。正是星巴克较长的营业时间及其免费的Wi-Fi服务使门店成为流浪人员的避风之所。
在洛杉矶，图书馆是为数不多的提供免费无线网络的场所，但近年来，由于经费预算削减，开放时长也被迫缩短。然而，随着初级工作岗位网上申请的日益普遍，对家境贫穷和无家可归的顾客而言，无线网络服务变得更为重要。
近年来，免费Wi-Fi服务已经在餐饮业产生了诸多意想不到的影响。
今年三月，在英国特伦特河畔斯托克市，几个青少年同在快餐店内蹭免费Wi-Fi，进而发生争执。此后，当地的肯德基和麦当劳均明确禁止青少年顾客入店。
星巴克是咖啡服务业和餐饮业中率先提供Wi-Fi接入服务的企业。2002年，许多人还在家中通过电缆有线上网时，星巴克已推出无线接入服务。星巴克之所以自称为“第三空间”，Wi-Fi在其中发挥了至关重要的作用。有了无线网络，人们不再限于家中和办公室，还可以在星巴克社交、工作或者休闲。
免费Wi-Fi服务为星巴克招揽了新的顾客，但同时也带来了新的问题。自其首度推出无线网络服务以来，已过去将近14个年头，回头看看，客户与问题，两者势必共存。

解析本文选自Business Insider，原文标题“Offering free Wi-Fi leads to an unexpected consequence at Starbucks”，文字经过改编。Business Insider是美国知名的科技博客和在线新闻平台。报道范围包括IT技术、产品、趋势、业内动态以及各个领域的新闻事件等，它的消息随时更新，注重新闻的互动性。
文章主要分析了星巴克免费Wi-Fi给其带来了巨大客流，但同时也带来了无边的烦恼。文章整体上文字表述灵活自如，逻辑清晰，过渡自然，与读者互动性较强。从翻译角度而言，译者需着重分析原文中的灵活用词，尽量以轻松自然的文字传达原文信息。

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