When I work from cafés I try to spend at least a few € every two hours, and avoid places that are overly busy (I don't like noise, but also if there's spare seats then I'm not costing anyone customers by sitting in one all day). Feels like common sense really - don't be an asshole.
What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
101–110 of 315 posts
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#102Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm on that all-you-can-eat tariff with Three as well, but tethered data is normally limited to 30GB/month or so. Did you make any account changes to get unlimited or are you bypassing the tethering detection? I haven't seen unlimited tether plans, but it would mean I could work virtually anywhere.
Change your ttl to 65 and you'll be fine
Could you expand on this? I have always wondered how carriers recognize tethering vs normal use.
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#104> tore away the wallpaper to expose a purposely covered electrical outlet
I think I'd have called the police
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#105If I bought a cup of coffee at your shop and sat down, only for you to tell me that laptops are "not allowed," I'd be very unhappy with your store. Anyway, this is why coworking spaces exist.
Your $3 coffee doesn't entitle you to sit there for an hour though. If I was running a cafe, I'd expect that you'd be leaving within 5 to 10 minutes of finishing your coffee. The very few times I've worked in a coffee shop, I've done that myself. It's not a coworking space.
I actually cannot relate to this at all - I'm assuming that in your city, $3 is a cheap for a coffee?
For reference, typical Switzerland prices are:
instant, homemade: $0.20 Keurig/Nespresso, homemade: $0.50 supermarket: $2 bakery/coffee-to-go-place in a train station: $4 nice café: $6 Starbucks: $8
So what exactly would I be paying the extra $2 ($6-$4) for when ordering at your café? Assuming here that it all tastes the same to me - after all, if I really cared, I just made it myself.
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#106Earlier 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.
ATT unlimited plus says you might be throttled after 10GB of tethering, but in my experience, I haven't been restricted. I think it only throttles you if the tower you're connected to is saturated.
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#107Earlier 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…
That and find a good library. Libraries are designed for people to focus. Cafes are not.
I guess your not in the UK? Libraries here are not quiet places anymore. Wi-fi often sucks too.
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#108Play background cafe chatter through speakers.
https://coffitivity.com
Or play something more malevolent when people outstay their welcome...
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
The $3 coffee most certainly does entitle you to sit there for an hour. That's the whole point of getting a coffee in a coffee shop. And if you told me to leave after 5 to 10 minutes, I'd tell you to call the cops and make me. With that kind of attitude, however, your coffee shop won't be in business long, so it shouldn't really be a problem that you treat people with so much disrespect.
if you told me to leave after 5 to 10 minutes, I'd tell you to call the cops and make me. Presumably the owner would actually have asked your mother or whichever other adult is with you, though.
Why do you insult OP?
If they had signs stating their policy clearly upfront I would accept it, but if not, in the cultures that I know the purpose of a coffee shop is exactly to sit there for quite a while. I'm in Germany and I used to live in the US for a decade. If I go to a real Italian coffee shop (i.e. the owner is an Italian), of which there are quite a few, I see people sitting and chatting for long times, an hour is not unreasonable at all. They don't order much after the initial purchase either.
Also, the entire history of coffee shops is that they are places of meeting people, not vending places. So if a particular coffee shop wants to have a "10 minutes only" policy I'm certainly fine with it, everybody can lead their business as they wish, but to what I know this is against all expectations, so it should be stated right away.
For laptop policy it depends more on the local context and I would not always expect to see a sign if they don't want it, but just the acceptance of larger amounts of time spent sitting there alone is a more global thing I would think taht cannot be easily deduced just from looking at a place.
Re: What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
#110I 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.