A Caffeinated Thank You to the Men in Blue

Coffee for cops — before they can say no thank you

Paul Buckley was waiting to place his order in a Peet’s Coffee in San Francisco when a two police officers got in line behind him. “This was at a time when there was a lot of police mistrust going on,” he tells Good Turns. “It seems like being a cop is already kind of a thankless job. And now it’s becoming even more thankless. So I asked the two of them if I could buy them coffee.”

The pair declined his offer, so Buckley thanked them for their service and insisted they go ahead of him in the line. The officers got their coffee and left, but when Buckley went to place his own order, he found that the cops had turned the tables on him and paid for it before he could put up any protest.

“Ever since then, I make it a point, if I’m in a coffee shop or a restaurant and there are police officers there, I try to at least buy them coffee if I can,” Buckley says. Having learned his lesson the hard way, he no longer asks permission. “I just purchase it before they have the opportunity to say no thank you.”

“These guys are doing work that no one wants to do yet everyone complains about. Why don’t they deserve a coffee and a handshake also?”

Of course, many establishments already volunteer to cover the cost of police officers’ coffee (and donuts, presumably). When he runs into this problem, Buckley still tries to express his gratitude for their service. “I’ll at the least shake their hand and say thank you and let them take my spot in line.”

“It just seems like the right thing to do for a number of reasons. These guys are doing work that no one else wants to do yet everyone complains about,” says Buckley, who owns a temporary employment agency. “We need the police. They’re people just like us, and yet they’ve been vilified to some degree. I also think about the families and friends of those officers. They’re on loan to us every day from their families, from their husbands and wives and kids.”

“And, I appreciate a thank you now and then, but I’m not out trying to improve the city. So why don’t they deserve a coffee and a handshake also?” With Buckley around, more of them will get one.