Credit: Unsplash

Sorry, no BOGO drinks this year.

Starbucks’ annual holiday Happy Hour events are typically a wonderful time for office camaraderie. One person buys a drink, gets another free, gives it to a coworker, everyone’s happy for the afternoon. It’s great. Nothing brings people together like discount coffee. Sadly, it seems that particular piece of holiday magic will be absent from our hearts this year.

Starbucks has announced that during their usual holiday Happy Hours set on December 17 and January 7 will not be happening this year. The original point of the holiday Happy Hours is to get more people into the store during times when busy would usually be slightly wound down, but in the COVID-19 pandemic era, more people in the store is obviously a bad idea. Speaking as someone who regularly attends the holiday Happy Hours, the kind of foot traffic those things usually bring in would make for a guaranteed COVID hot zone, putting both employees and customers at risk.

“From the beginning, we have used three simple principles to guide our decisions through COVID-19—prioritizing the health and well-being of our partners (employees) and customers,” a spokesperson for the company said on the matter. “Given the rise in cases and the current guidance from the scientific community to not gather indoors in large groups for prolonged periods of time, we decided to pause Happy Hours in December and January. We are temporarily moving to other promotions such as Double Star Days and will reassess future plans as we continue to monitor the situation.”

Surrounded by the season. ✨ Caramel Brulée Latte pic.twitter.com/FxqysFFKWu

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) December 17, 2020

It is a shame; Starbucks was originally supposed to start having Happy Hours at the beginning of the month, but the one scheduled for December 3 was cancelled at the last minute. Still, considering pretty much everyone’s working from home right now, I guess you wouldn’t really be able to get any of that office camaraderie anyway.