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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?

#281

Post by Spakman »

MikeKusold wrote: post #244
badsectoracula wrote: post #92

This article feels is one of the very few cases where i read something online and totally feels weird to me due to where i am from. In Greece coffee shops are really mainly places to hang out and staying for hours on a single coffee is pretty much normal and expected. There is a huge "coffee culture" here. Me and my friends would go for a coffee at 6pm (or later 7pm, due to jobs) and often leave at 11pm or sometimes…

> In Greece coffee shops are really mainly places to hang out and staying for hours on a single coffee From my experience on Samos, this might be attributed to the current economic situation. At bars it's not uncommon to see a person drink a pint over 1-2 hours. Most of the people that I observed did more smoking then drinking at bars and coffee shops because cigarettes (especially hand rolled ones) are a lot cheaper…

Coffee Lab, perhaps? I thought it was a really cool coffee shop when I was there last year and, as you say, very much a hang out sort of place.

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

#282

Post by kenshi »

robotmay wrote: post #173

This is such a bizarre stance. "Finish up what you’re doing and close the laptop, please" would have me leave a venue immediately and never return. In the UK the concept of people taking up space in coffee shops and not spending enough is not limited to people on laptops. You're just as likely to see an entire crowd of teenagers with one drink between them, or a group of mothers with pushchairs hanging about for hour…

Would you consider it pretentious for a library to ask noisy guests to leave?

If someone wants to run and maintain a social space, they have every right to prevent it from becoming a cheap office or work space.

I imagine most coffee shop and café owners intentionally didn't choose to go into the office rental or co-working space business.

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

#283

Post by Dylan16807 »

mnm1 wrote: post #68
ballooney wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't paid-by-the-byte for 4G for about half a decade now. It's unlimited with my reasonably priced monthly contract (about $30USD/mo), from a mainstream provider in the UK (Three), lets me tether and gives me free data when I'm abroad too (I'm in the US and France a few times a year typically). I hope this doesn't sound too let-them-eat-cake, but I'm surprised that anyone with work-on-app-in-a-café-in-a-trendy-c…

I'm not aware of any such plans in the US. All carriers throttle "unlimited" plans so unlimited plans simply don't exist. Not with the major carriers anyway.

I suppose it's a matter of how much streaming video you need while you're working.

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

#284

Post by kenshi »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #279
kenshi wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more a case of too many laptop users in a space, transform what was meant to be a social space into a work space. It changes the vibe and the mood.

Not all laptop users are working.

A space filled with laptop users gives off a work vibe, and a somewhat anti-social vibe too, regardless of what they are actually doing on their machines.

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

#285

Post by icc97 »

turc1656 wrote: post #270

The problem that gets touched upon by the article but never really explicitly stated is simple - these people are using a retail business as their office space. And they are doing so without a contract which guarantees the business owner any income. They are basically left running like a charity, in the hopes that these poachers will be gracious enough to throw enough money at them so they can stay afloat (which then…

The local co-working space costs the same as about 3 euros an hour, so the same as a coffee.

But the co-working space is a 25 minute cycle which requires clothes and preparation and the coffee shops are 10 minutes. There's practically no one in the co-working space and it's not much difference to working at home.

Further I'm really focused in a coffee shop, stick headphones on and some how the noise helps me work constantly whilst there, for typically 2 hours max.

Almost entirely I'm the only one on a laptop. I come first thing in the morning when there's lots of empty tables.

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

#286

Post by icc97 »

guiomie wrote: post #272
turc1656 wrote: post #270

The problem that gets touched upon by the article but never really explicitly stated is simple - these people are using a retail business as their office space. And they are doing so without a contract which guarantees the business owner any income. They are basically left running like a charity, in the hopes that these poachers will be gracious enough to throw enough money at them so they can stay afloat (which then…

I completely agree. I usually go to Workshop Cafe in SF to work in a "coffeeshop". Everytime I go in a coffee shop to work, it feels awkward from a convenience (lack power, wifi or space) and social perspective.

I never use power, the laptop battery lasts 3 hours which is as long as I stay. If there's no space I typically wouldn't stay. I just use my phone as a WiFi hotspot if the cafe doesn't have any.

But yeah I get kind of odd looks from one of the café owners, although he's the one who has the least customers.

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

#287

Post by icc97 »

banku_brougham wrote: post #9
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?"

Ironically, i’m more focused there than in my open plan office. been hitting the cafes hard for years now.

There was a HN story about this recently, there's a certain level of noise that can help with creativity.

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

#289

Post by icc97 »

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.

I literally go every morning for 2 hours before the morning stand up. Guarantees a good couple of hours to start the day.

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

#290

Post by hueving »

ksk wrote: post #242
latte wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to come across as grumpy - this is an honest question. What is so valuable in the guests' "socializing" with each other? If I come to a cafe with my date or friends, I'll feel more comfortable sitting among people with laptops rather than among noisy teenagers mentioned in the gp comment.

>What is so valuable in the guests' "socializing" with each other? Its the same value as socializing at any other venue. Or taking it back further, whats the value in socializing at all? Maybe there isn't any value for you. I personally prioritize meeting new people and forming local connections, over virtual long-distance connections. A cafe is a good place to do that, if people are open to the idea. AFAICT people g…

What meaningful local connections have you formed taking to strangers in a coffee shop? I listen to the conversations people have at coffee shops with random people and it's been pointless smalltalk every time so far.
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