This is becoming a real issue for me. I've basically stopped goings to cafes and bars because the owners seem annoyed by me camping around and I can only drink so many cups of coffee a day. I would gladly pay an hourly rent if they'd be happy with that but it seems once they've decided that I'm not welcome there nothing can change their mind.
Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#22This seems like a UX/UI failure on the part of the coffee shop if he has to intervene in the customers' experience. The coffee shops I go to do a good job of making it clear what kind of customers they want by virtue of the experience you have there. This weekend I encountered the first coffee shop I can remember visiting that lacked wifi. I looked around and saw nothing but groups of people in conversation. Other sh…
That's a good point. There's a coffee shop in my area where you can buy a $30/mo contract to a faster internet line, clearly catering to the remote working crowd. They also mark certain areas of the store as "no laptop areas" during certain times of the day. The clientele seems totally fine with this arrangement.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#23This seems like a UX/UI failure on the part of the coffee shop if he has to intervene in the customers' experience. The coffee shops I go to do a good job of making it clear what kind of customers they want by virtue of the experience you have there. This weekend I encountered the first coffee shop I can remember visiting that lacked wifi. I looked around and saw nothing but groups of people in conversation. Other sh…
>UX/UI failure on the part of the coffee shop I know this is HN, but is it necessary to shoehorn computer references into situations where it's not needed?
It is, apparently.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#24The real solution is the local library needs to offer coffee.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#25[deleted]
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#26Could you solve this by having very small tables, stands, or counters that don't work as desks?
The coffee-shop version of anti-homeless spikes?
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#27I feel guilt about this all the time . I work remotely, in the UK but on US Eastern time to synch with my team. Fortunately this means I can go to cafes after the lunch rush, but make sure I buy enough food and drink to not be a freeloader, tip well, and if it's busy - move on. Working from home is what I'm going back to anyway, it's just nice to get out of the house.
It's way easier if the cafe also sells food. Me and 2 others basically built a company some years back out of a cafe in Sacramento, but we always bought lots of coffee and bought our lunch there as well. We all shared 1 table too so the space was used well, and of course talked to the owner who had no problem. Here's a great way to discourage campers: no outlets, not even 1.
One of the cafes in the area put packing tape over all the outlets. When they did this I worked out that the coffee I drank cost over 200 times the electricity they saved-as you say they must be trying to displace people, not save money- but my MBP lasts nearly 6 hours[1] so I'm not so easily put off if the place is good :)
[1] I use Turbo Boost Switcher to stop the cpu running hot and gfxCardStatus to stick to integrated graphics. This seems to give me nearly 2h extra. I don't need speed for compiles or anything like that.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#28I've definitely guilty of doing this. Usually I get so engrossed in my work I lose track of time. I have no problem with proprietors asking me to make another purchase or leave.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#29This is a subset of a larger civic issue with increasing pressure on private spaces as public spaces shrink, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/87169002-d87a-11e4-ba53-00144... "People like public space. Just as they like to work in a coffee shop on a laptop surrounded by others, they want to hang out with friends, to people-watch, flirt, take part in the rituals of public life. In the suburbs, the 20th-century answer to…
The remaining malls in the U.S. are living on borrowed time.
In general, there's no/fewer public drinking fountains, fewer public restrooms, shrinking number of places that doesn't involve soup-Nazi consumerism and ever less spaces for homeless and the elderly to not be bothered. It's a not-so-subtle form of hate directed at anyone unable or unwilling to be extorted on a regular basis. Folks are going to get their power and heat/air-conditioning somehow, but there's big trouble in store for any shop owner that retaliates against customers... because they will inevitably find ways to ruin the business. Starbucks is immensely profitable and doesn't have to resort to passive-aggressive hate and discrimination games.
Re: Did you buy that latte 2 hours ago? Think about leaving the coffee shop
#30> Over the past three years, owner Cristian Velasco grew frustrated with customers who would “buy a Coke, open their laptop, and take up a large area of my couch — 10 square feet of my space — for a Coca-Cola for $1.50 for five hours.”
I have definitely been that customer.