coffee and cheer

if you were in the vicinity of union square at a little past noon today, i bet you saw a little commotion on the northwest corner and had 2 thoughts:

uh-oh, what did starbucks do now?

and

where am i gonna go for my afternoon-tall-nonfat-chai?

i should have been in a rush to get back to the office, but had my camera with me and couldn't resist lingering for a few minutes to see what kind of "protest" photos could get.

turns out it was less demonstration, more celebration by the manhattan starbucks union-- starbucks workers received either a paid day-off or time-and-a-half for mlk day, for the first time ever. overall, the company's commitment to paying its baristas for the holiday amounted to roughly $1.2 million dollars. (hence, the many happy horns...)

all photos © anita aguilar