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What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

nytimes.com

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Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#211

Post by jonnycomputer »

rundigen12 wrote: post #208

Reading this is surreal, like Opposite World. You are selling me on quiet, wifi & power, at the price of your fancy coffee (and preferably even real food), so I can work/read/study in nice atmosphere. Why else would I tolerate paying nearly $6 for a latte and $5 for a muffin? If all I want is to get coffee itself and immediately hit the road, I can go to coffee stand or vending machine. "Your $3 coffee doesn't entitl…

You should be able to get a decent cup of coffee for $3. Either you live in a really expensive coffee market, or you have really ... high standards.

I find the idea that cafes are not for socializing pretty out there.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#212

Post by jonnycomputer »

jclardy wrote: post #112
JorgeGT wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> coffee shops are really mainly places to hang out Isn't that so in the US? I mean, the guys from Friends practically lived in that Central Perk coffee house.

It is. But the issue is remote workers that go and take up a 4 person table with their laptop and a bunch of papers then sit there all day...meaning a group of 2-4 no longer has a place to hang out. I both work out of and hangout in coffee shops in the US, when working remote I make sure to always use the long community table if there are already a few seats used, or sit at the bar, or a two person table if I must. A…

in some places cafes are practically empty at certain times of the day. probably not in NY though.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#213

Post by tonyedgecombe »

chrisseaton wrote: post #140
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traffic, would you rather have four customers using a table in an hour or just one?

I think you're just assuming a lot - about how many coffees they'll buy and how profitable these people are. But we don't even have to guess. Big businesses that are very careful about monitoring things like this, such as Starbucks, actively encourage laptops (with tons of power, wifi, rows of single-person desk tables) so maybe your intuition about what is profitable is just wrong? I mean you've thought about it for…

I mean you've thought about it for ten minutes

Sorry, did I say something to offend you?

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#214

Post by jonnycomputer »

sdenton4 wrote: post #22
taneq wrote: post #2

How common is it for people to do actual, regular, serious work at coffee shops and the like? I've tried a couple of times and I always feel like such a pretentious wanker when I pull out a laptop and start working on stuff, like I'm somehow broadcasting "oh look at me, I work remotely, aren't I special?"

I wrote kind of a dumb amount of my dissertation at Mishka's Cafe and the Delta of Venus in Davis. Mishka's has a thin row of seating at the front with a 'no work' policy - including no reading except for newspapers - and then a huge area of grad students on laptops. Delta's much less structured, has a lot more ambient conversation, and has a real (and excellent) kitchen which I imagine rounds out their business nice…

Delta of Venus. Great place.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#215

Post by kilroy123 »

lifeformed wrote: post #110

I work in cafes a lot and have my own code of conduct: - Don't work in a place that's really busy. If it becomes busy, I'll wrap up and move somewhere else. - Buy something at least every 2 hours. If I've had too many coffees, then decaf at least, or a pastry. Spend around $5 each time. - Tip! (Where appropriate). I like to add $1 for each purchase. - Get to know the employees. Learn their names and greet them.

Buying something every 2 hours seems excessive and expensive. I agree about the tipping well part.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#216

Post by kilroy123 »

therealmarv wrote: post #14

No power plugs (I think most effective) & time limited Wifi. A cafe is not a coworking space although when beeing in USA or more specifically in SF I have the feeling people think it's the same.

The hipster café across the street from me does this to discourage people from sitting all day. They have no outlets. Still, there's people there working all day long.

To me, when the battery gets low it means time to go. So I don't mind.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#217

Post by jonnycomputer »

I like to work at coffee shops. Its true. But I don't blame coffee shop owners, especially in high-rent areas, for complaining about coffee shop workers. First, when they start a business, they likely have an idea of what they'd like to see it become. Running a place like a cafe isn't likely just a business proposition for them; its a cultural one. Maybe they like the idea of their cafe being a hub of social and cultural activity, full of quirky personalities, artists, and political theorists; rather than remote white collar work spaces. Also, they've got to pay the bills, and their margins are pretty thin.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#218

Post by FireBeyond »

jclardy wrote: post #113
taneq wrote: post #2

How common is it for people to do actual, regular, serious work at coffee shops and the like? I've tried a couple of times and I always feel like such a pretentious wanker when I pull out a laptop and start working on stuff, like I'm somehow broadcasting "oh look at me, I work remotely, aren't I special?"

Being someone who works remotely exclusively...I wouldn’t survive without going to a coffee shop to work 2-3 times a week. Just need to get out of the house and be around people sometimes (during the day.) People go to coffee shops to talk, to read, to write, to think. It doesn’t seem like much of a reach to think people would go there to do work. The common theme seems to be wanting to focus.

Right, I've worked from home for 10 years.

Oftentimes my partner would come home from school, work, and want to relax. I'd want to go anywhere. "Where?" "I dunno, even the mall." "Is there something you want?" "Not that I can think of."

But it was to be "social". Be around people, even with minimal interaction. She wanted to relax, had been busy and around people all day.

I'd been at home with our cat and our dog.

You can be "social", or at least "not alone", without having to talk to people.

Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?

#220

Post by vilhelm_s »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #207
protonimitate wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My question is how many cafes really make money off of people who come in and sit for an hour or two and order more than one drink. Don't most people just stop by, grab a cup, and then go on their way? I've never seen a cafe a-la 'friends' where people hangout and constantly buy things. In my experience the only people who DO hang out at cafes and order multiple items are those doing work for extended periods of time…

oh, gosh, how many hours have I spent just hanging out at cafes shooting the breeze?

But are you constantly buying things when doing so? If I meet up with a friend at a cafe, it seems we usually just buy some coffee when we get there and then sit there and chat without buying more.
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