AS A COMMITTED PART OF THE COMMUNITY AND WORLD WE LIVE IN, WE HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO:

1. buy products from locally owned and operated businesses whenever it is financially viable, and be willing to take slight profit cuts in order to support local businesspeople more than big businesses.
2. promote community involvement by providing space for artists, instructors, etc. to advertise themselves, their services, and their ideas without cost through uncensored flyer space and a community board, as well as provide a cost-free meeting space for any organization wishing to positively impact our community.
3. actively search for local sources of milk, produce, honey, etc. and fit these into our stock wherever possible.
4. serve only organic, fair-trade coffees, and actively work towards a menu featuring only organic dairy products and teas.
5. take as full a part as possible in any recycling efforts being made in the LowerTown community or the city as a whole.
6. educate our customers about good coffee, moral coffee, and traditional methods.
7. consider in full all comments and concerns issued to us by our customers, and do our best to act on any viable suggestions.

AS PATRONS OF A QUALITY-DRIVEN, COMMUNITY-CENTERED BUSINESS, CUSTOMERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO:

1. the best product we can produce for them at that given time, without shortcuts or intentional lack of care.
2. be served without prejudice or bias, and get a positive human interaction along with their drink.
3. expect and be rewarded with honesty about what they are drinking, how it’s made, and how that affects them.
4. be served drinks made with the healthiest, highest-quality ingredients possible—when choosing between mixes, etc. and real stuff, we will always choose the real stuff.
5. feel as comfortable in our space as we feel in their company, and have all reasonable requests about that environment accommodated.

AS MEMBERS OF A DEMOCRATICALLY-RUN, PRO-WORKER BUSINESS, OUR EMPLOYEES HAVE THE RIGHT TO:

1. know why we use any method or policy that is currently in place, and have any suggestions in regard to changing these methods or policies discussed and evaluated fairly with a member of management.
2. work according to methods and policies geared toward product quality and better experiences for employees/customers, not toward profit or autocracy.
3. never hear the words "because we said so" or "because we pay the bills."
4. be viewed in terms of work duties as equal to all members of management, e.g., everyone scrubs the toilets here.
5. be included, through regular employee meetings, in all major decisions concerning the company and its products, policies, and identity, and have all suggestions discussed and evaluated in an open forum.
6. be paid a wage that is consistently above minimum wage and is never less than 25 percent below the wage paid to a member of management.
7. pull an "I am the manager!" in any instances of outright bad treatment or verbal abuse from a customer-- our employees must ALWAYS be more valuable to us than any one customer.

AS THE OWNERS OF AN EMPLOYEE-CENTERED, FORWARD-THINKING BUSINESS, WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO:

1. workers that will be as honest and forthcoming with us as we are with them.
2. workers that understand the gravity of the situation: by being a part of the Etcetera family, you are helping us fulfill our dream. thank you.
3. a vocal customer base, so we can know our mistakes and applaud our successes.
4. open-minded customers willing to try new things, experiment with us on new concepts, and branch out from “the usual.”
5. a community that understands our presence and the difference between, say, a heavily commercial, cookie-cutter shop and one as passionate and serious as we are.
6. trust ourselves to take leaps of faith, and ask that our employees trust us and accommodate our confusion as we continually move forward.