Decking the halls isn’t always as easy as it sounds. For many Ottawa businesses, it can take a little extra caution and thought.
Businesses in Ottawa face pressures to be politically correct at the holiday season. The jam-packed months of celebrations seem to hold something for everyone, but not every greeting does the job. And the results can be disastrous.
Starbucks ran into trouble earlier this year after releasing their holiday red cups, a seasonal tradition that many caffeine addicts count down to.
This year the cups are a faded red, with no mention of Christmas or any other religious holiday on them.
In the States there was outcry from some Christian communities, who accused Starbucks of being anti-Christian and ‘hating Jesus’.
While the hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks and its controversy have since subsided to jokes on social media, the whole situation raises a valid question: How does one make sure not to offend the public during the holiday season? Should customers even care so much about a little cup of coffee?
How can one small (or venti, if you’re so inclined) cup of joe and a holiday greeting, or lack thereof, really ruin your day?
“They can be finicky for sure,” says Amir Rahim, owner and operator at Grounded Coffee on Gloucester Street.
Grounded has been a part of the Centretown coffee scene for six years, and Rahim says that Starbucks is one of the larger corporations that he looks up to.
“I’m not anti-Starbucks in any way shape or form,” he says. “If it works for them, it’s going to work for me.”
While Rahim says he doesn’t intentionally mimic Starbucks neutral holiday style, Grounded certainly has the same kind of approach. When dealing with the holiday season, Rahim says the holiday festivities and practices at Grounded are just that: festive.
“Its all ‘festive’ for me,” he says. “I rarely put Christmas, I have always put festive.”
Rahim says a former colleague suggested that they “keep it more generic” around the holiday season – a lesson that has now stuck with him for years.
It’s a lesson many businesses and coffee chains are learning, given the changing cultural climate and diversity of cities across Canada.
“We’re a melting pot of cultures here, and I think that for a very, very long time people who don’t celebrate Christmas still looked at everything that had to do with Christmas in the traditional way,” says Rahim. “Trying to open it up to something a little more generic is in my opinion not such a bad idea.”
Second Cup’s own campaign for this holiday season is “Sharing The Warmth”, whereas Timothy’s World Coffee is promoting “Instant Merry Makers”. Coffee king Tim Hortons is promoting it’s own “Festive Treats and Holiday Favourites”, echoing Rahim’s own method, and that of other smaller coffee shops in Ottawa.
Grounded doesn’t have quite the same holiday menu takeover other café’s offer, offering some festive coffee drinks and snacks for frozen customers.
But there is no religious connotation to their names.
“I’ve always just called them ‘festive holiday season’ sort of ‘cheer’, that kind of thing,” says Rahim.
And the holiday season is a busy one for many businesses including Grounded, with holiday parties coming up, and Centretown residents looking to get out of the cold.
“It’s a busy time of year – people like to spend money. So call it whatever you want, it works for me,” he says. “The colour of money is all the same to me.”
But at the same time, it’s about a lot more.
“We’re a public space where people come and eat and drink and enjoy themselves. There’s all kinds of people that have political views, religious views, different economic statuses, all that. Over here, talk about anything you want, do whatever you want, its neutral,” he says.
Customers can hear regular wishes of ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Merry Christmas’ come from baristas and employees, who don’t have to say that, but gladly take an extra minute to wish caffeine addicts well on a bleak winter Monday.
Really, isn’t a holiday greeting just that? A greeting?
When asked if he would get offended if someone used the inappropriate greeting for himself, Rahim simply shakes his head.
“No, not really,” he says. “I don’t have anything against something that says Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah.”
Instead of requesting the appropriate seasonal well wishes, the store’s customers should perhaps be grateful that someone took the time out of their day to wish them well at all.
“There’s no point in creating unnecessary roughness,” says Rahim.
Just smile, sip, and celebrate the season with some caffeine.