Jay told me later that during Christmas he had purchased a cellophane package of the cherries. As he passed the cherries, he picked up a package to see if they were the same. He returned the cherries into the display box on the counter and began to move on. This had taken all of one or two seconds.

I was standing a few feet away and clearly saw what happened. Of course it didn’t register as anything important until a moment later when I heard a female voice call out in a demanding manner, “Sir! Stop. Please stop. Sir! What are you doing? What did you put in your pocket?” She was a Peet’s Coffee clerk standing on the other side of the counter.

Jay stopped, turned and looked at her. He stood directly across the counter from her, a quizzical look on his face and asked, “What do you mean? In my pocket? I don’t understand?”

Jay had the be beginning of a slight smile. It appeared the clerk accusing Jay, our dear manager of some kind of theft. Was that possible? Impossible if you know Jay. Other customers had stopped and were now looking around.

The clerk then mumbled something unintelligible. Jay looked at her calmly and asked if she was accusing him of “stealing something”. She hesitated, looked around a bit, then began to back off.

“ I’d like to be sure I have this correct”. Jay told the woman. “Are you actually accusing me of stealing something?” He pulled his coat pockets open to show they were empty.

“ No”, the clerk said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t…. I …“

“ But that’s what you were saying, out loud”, Jay stated. “You're wrong and this is embarrassing. I need to ask your name. And I’d appreciate it if your manager would come over to search me and let’s see how that turns out. May I please have your name?”

At this point even though Jay had been wrongly humiliated, I suppose he could have let it go. The clerk had apologized and it was clear she had made an unfortunate mistake. Jay looked in my direction. The clerk had falsely accused him of theft in front of a good number of customers, in public. She gave her name as Rachel and told Jay that the store manager had left for the day. Jay asked her to jot down the store manager’s name and telephone number. She was doing her best not to give out this information but Jay asked calmly and carefully until she scribbled the information and gave it to him.

We waited for a minute or so then decided to leave for friendlier territory. Rachel continued to stare at us. It was uncomfortable inside Peet’s Coffee.

A few minutes later outside Peet’s Coffee, Jay hinted that it was best to drop it, that the clerk would probably not make the same mistake again. However, I asked Jay if it was okay to call the number to see if what Rachel had given us was an actual working number. Jay hesitated but gave me the note with the phone number. I called 503-442-6410. It rang a couple times and a male voice answered.

I asked if he was Dan Grazini, manager of Peet’s Coffee at 508 SW Broadway in downtown Portland, Oregon. He hesitated then said yes, he was Dan Grazini.

I could see from Jay’s face he didn’t much care for me to continue but basic journalist instincts took over and I admit it, this was turning into something just a bit larger than it should be. Or so I thought.

I turned away from Jay and Kimberly, gave Dan a quick overview of what had occurred in his store with Rachel. I gave my name but I did not let Dan know I was not Jay, that I was not the man who had actually encountered Rachel.

Dan listened for a bit but quickly became defensive, his tone turning sour. I asked if this was the way in which Peet’s Coffee treated its customers, accusing people of theft for no reason. I asked if there was a hard-line policy to strike first by accusing a customer of theft without having all the facts. He told me, in a rather dismissive manner that he couldn’t believe it happened that way.

What? He was Peet’s Coffee manager but refused to calmly listen or accept the possibility that one of his employees had made a mistake. Did he not realize this public action could be considered slander? Jay has many friends, including those who frequent Peet’s Coffee.

Dan Grazini became agitated and at one point called me a douchebag. I hadn’t heard that term for a long time and it was from a movie where a man was talking to a woman. I wondered briefly if Dan Grazini had something against women. I mean, who would use such a term unless they thought women to be dirty? Or was he just a fowl mouthed guy? Or perhaps douchebag was the best he could conjure, his best effort at time like this. I had a brief vision of a douchebag and coffee filter at Peet’s Coffee. It didn’t seem to go together. Dan sounded young but perhaps it was just that his English wasn’t too good. Maybe Dan had simply had a bad day. Perhaps we went to the wrong coffee shop.

Or perhaps it was just me pissing off Dan. Sometimes I have no tact, jumping to conclusions. You know how those damned journalists are. Anything for a story, stretching it, distorting for their own satisfaction. Was I just getting even for Jay or was there really a story here? But then, really, who had jumped to conclusions? Any manager in their right mind would have been calm, giving some kind of apology by default then going from there. Perhaps it was me. I don’t know, but Peet’s Coffee manager Dan Grazini sounded more like an angry school kid instead of a concerned manager or a human being.

Jay was urging me to stop, get off the line, hand up.

I told Dan that there was no reason to discuss this further, that we’d simply publish a story of some kind about what happened. Dan Grazini became more defensive, threatening a law suit against my “slander”. That was pretty incredible since it was Peet’s Coffee responsible for slander. What he probably meant instead of slander was liable but that it could only be liable if what we printed was false.

Dan called me a douchebag again. I guess he had reached the end of his repertoire. Rachel got the ball rolling but that was minor. She shouldn’t be punished. But Dan Grazini could be fired for his abusive and insensitive response. He has demonstrated no manger or people skills. The point is that Peet’s Coffee should be certain that someone is actually stealing something before they make a public accusation.

Peet’s Coffee founder Alfred Peet died last summer at the age of 87. I don’t wish to promote gory visions of Al turning in his grave but if this is indicative of a new strategy, Peet’s Coffee could be in trouble. Let's hope not. Coffee shops should make you feel at home. Peet's at downtown Portland, on Broadway, did not.

For coffee customers, we suggest you go to Starbucks, or better yet, try the following coffee shop called:

Bean & Tree
A coffee boutique
315 Montgomery St, Ste 200
Portland, OR 97201

You’ll find this quaint shop at the Riverside Marina Boardwalk. If nothing else, Chad who works there will be much friendlier and he swears his girlfriend, Traci Tryon, who owns the shop, is the same. Phone 503-224-bean.

Aubra Salt
Executive Editor
The Oregon Herald