People working on laptops in cafes 😡

I totally agree with the OP. It is a problem in cafes we go to. One person sits at a table for four with comfortable seats and orders one coffee all morning.

Our Costa have now moved the seating around so that only tables for two are near the plugs.
Another independent cafe has a notice up saying laptop uses must work in a certain area.

We meet friends regularly who need comfortable seats so it can be a problem.

...and there's me remembering the semi-joke made about this area of calling it "The land that time forgot" and the laptop issue doesnt even occur to me to think about when I go into cafes here for a cup of coffee - because I very rarely spot anyone with a laptop with them here. This is going to have me examining the walls of the cafes next time I go into them to see if I can even spot electric sockets there looking like they arent for cafe use.

Off mentally walking round the cafes I use here taking a "virtual look" at them now....and I don't recall that even in a chain coffeeshop there is here that I occasionally use...

Lots of chatting going on...though this is a chatty area - to the extent I'm disappointed if I go in town and don't encounter at least one person I'm friendly with and chat or even someone I'm not friendly with and chat. One recent chat in the street here resulted in me round at their house several days later and being invited to have lunch whilst there (I did....) as we were chatting so much.

So far it wouldn’t be a problem here because you can always get a seat , there are loads of cafes but the population is exploding round here so it won’t be like this for long !

I find that ‘hoggers’ are as likely to be people waiting for friends/a bus or just people who like to sit near the window (assuming ‘hogging’ means sitting at anything other than a table for one). Cafes are social spaces, so people do tend to spread out - it’s not the same as putting your bag next to you and blocking a seat on a train.

I wouldn’t impose myself by crowding others out, as the point is to relax and enjoy the experience, not to cram in as many people as possible. If l’m with one friend at a table for 4 (often the only option) and someone asks to sit at a spare seat it is usually awkward- conversation is stifled and the atmosphere changes.

If I spilt my drink on someone’s laptop of course it would be responsibility- not ‘fault’ unless I’d done it deliberately, which would be criminal. I think most people have laptops on their laps though - tables are too low to use as desks.

I appreciate that it’s annoying when someone else is doing what we want to do, but that’s the deal with cafes - it’s first come, first served, and unless the owner wants to allow reservations there’s no alternative. Asking people to leave after a short time would ruin the business I think - it would give the place a different ’vibe’. We only really know whether someone has been there for hours if we’ve been there for hours ourselves anyway .

People work on laptops in my local Costas .
They also have job interviews .

The staff are remarkably easy - (actually all Muslim and observing Ramadan ) going as they sit there for a very long time with one cup of coffee.

But yesterday and I apologise for bringing up the subject again a girl brought on a big dog .He , not only jumped up and sniffed and tried to lick the food ,but also put his paws on the counter .
I've always had dogs-three or four at a time,but I've never allowed them touch food nor behave like that.

Yes, I’m not keen on dogs in cafes, dog-lover though I am. I think it’s only Costa in my home town that bans them, and even then it’s a national, rather than local policy. Everywhere else is ‘dog friendly’ regardless of humans who may be scared or allergic.

Cossy

Library’s don’t allow food or drink. The cafe will encourage them to buy at least drinks.

I do understand your annoyance though.

All our libraries do. They have free hot drinks in winter and water and squash in summer. They also provide biscuits and a nice little seating area.

My neighbour used to go up to a newly opened local cafe and sit there for hours using their free wifi and have just one coffee. Many others did the same. It only lasted 18 months as they were not making any money.

Doodledog

Yes, I’m not keen on dogs in cafes, dog-lover though I am. I think it’s only Costa in my home town that bans them, and even then it’s a national, rather than local policy. Everywhere else is ‘dog friendly’ regardless of humans who may be scared or allergic.

That's another thing that hadnt occurred to me - I'm just used to there not being dogs in cafes and the thought doesnt cross my mind there might be. I'm thankful that that seems to be the norm here - ie no dogs there. I'm not allergic to them or anything....but I'm not keen on them.

Quite surprising in some ways - with this being rural Wales and there's dogs....dogs....yet more dogs. I noticed that clearly when I moved here - as I'm just not used to having dogs around (I come from a city). So I don't basically notice - unless they are barking and I do find it (very) upsetting that some people let their dogs bark in their garden and so sometimes my quiet garden has a chorus of "lout dogs" (ie dogs not brought up properly) and being allowed to bark in their owners garden - even though there are other houses nearby. I've literally only experienced one episode I recall in 40 years of "someone's lout dog barking in their garden" prior to moving here and that is one of the downsides (ie lots more dogs here and some of them are allowed to bark even when it will disturb other people nearby). Cue for me thinking "If they can afford a house costing x (ie they ain't the cheapest houses round here) - how come they still don't train their dogs to have manners and not bark like that?"

Pet peeve time - literally.

What has being able to afford an expensive house got to do with the ability to train a dog?

Cafes aren’t meant as places of work, and sitting with a coffee for two or three hours is very unfair to other customers.I would write/email the Head Office of Cafe Nero with this complaint.
Staff should be able to ask people to leave when they see them doing this for hours at a stretch.

Oreo

Cafes aren’t meant as places of work, and sitting with a coffee for two or three hours is very unfair to other customers.I would write/email the Head Office of Cafe Nero with this complaint.
Staff should be able to ask people to leave when they see them doing this for hours at a stretch.

Thanks Oreo, I agree. And will try to email the cafe Nero we went to. Had a lovely coffee and cake in a cafe this morning, is in Dulwich park and today the park looks amazing. No people working on lap tops, I actually asked a member of staff about this and he said they tend to move people working on their laptops on after they have spent over an hour in situ because is a very busy cafe and there are plenty of cafes in the area for them to move on to, though he said tbh cafes in the area are now far less accommodating of this phenomenon seeing as employers often offer remote workers a hub to work from outside the home.
Interesting.

Working or studying from a cafe is not new at all, human beings are social animals after all
I bet it makes a huge chunk of their business

I have seen several people who do not know each other share a table if needed, no big deal, laptops included. No hogging

In the future, why not asking if they could lend their seats to your dh? I bet they wouldn't have had any issues.
It is first time first serve, after all

Who says? Are they for book groups? Knitting groups? Mother and baby groups? Business meetings? Job interviews? All go on at my local Neros. They are just a place to do whatever people want to do and drink coffee at the same time.

So what if I do want to work there? I order coffees. I order lunch if I’m there at midday. I’m a customer like anybody else.

The average high street is likely to have dozens of cafes. Cafes here vastly outnumber all the vape, barber and nail shops put together. Cafes want the business.

That last was in reply to Oreo.

Oreo

Cafes aren’t meant as places of work, and sitting with a coffee for two or three hours is very unfair to other customers.I would write/email the Head Office of Cafe Nero with this complaint.
Staff should be able to ask people to leave when they see them doing this for hours at a stretch.

It can't be good for business. Having a turnover of customers rather than one person occupying a table and perhaps buying one coffee over a period of three or four hours must be frustrating for the owners or managers too.

They need to make a profit.

Oreo

Cafes aren’t meant as places of work, and sitting with a coffee for two or three hours is very unfair to other customers.I would write/email the Head Office of Cafe Nero with this complaint.
Staff should be able to ask people to leave when they see them doing this for hours at a stretch.

I agree staff should be able to "ask" people to leave if they are there for ages and the buying (of coffee etc) has stopped - if it looks as if other people want the tables to actually drink coffee/have a meal.

I guess staff in some places havent been monitoring things for quite a while though. It was well over 10 years ago there were precisely 3 people in a regular greengrocers of mine back in my home city - the assistant on till, a thief and myself. Myself as genuine shopper had a bag with just-purchased Marks & Spencers items showing in it sitting on the floor whilst I chose my food. The thief picked up my bag and tried to steal it and I was virtually yelling the shop down as I literally fought them to get my bag back from them. I won - I got my bag back.

....and the assistant = did precisely absolutely nothing whatsoever! Didnt even so much as give me a sympathetic look/comment at the till when I paid for what I'd just chosen. These days - I'd ask her why she said nowt/did nowt whilst an attempted theft was going on. That followed by abandoning my shopping at the till - rather than buy from a shop that wouldnt even protect me from a thief. I was shouting at the would-be thief for goodness sake!!!!! So surely she couldnt have missed noticing something was wrong.

So maybe some staff are there thinking "I'm only going to do part of my job - just the bare minimum" and will let people coming in wanting a drink walk back out again if there's table-hogging going on by someone with a laptop?

It won’t be good for business if the operate on the basis of customers’ email telling the CEO what to do 😀. I’m sure chains that size know what works for them.

If someone stays there for a few hours a couple of days a week and buys several drinks and maybe lunch every day it will bring in some money- a single customer stopping that for the sake of one drink once in a while won’t come close.

But why, I wonder?

Why not work from home?

WFH is becoming WFC

Just preference I suppose. Cafes aren’t a public service- anyone can use them. Didn’t JK Rowling famously write Harry Potter in a cafe? Lots of writers enjoy the people-watching aspect of working in cafes.

Allira

But why, I wonder?

Why not work from home?

WFH is becoming WFC

Maybe WFH can be lonely and they feel more connected to others in a cafe. May have better coffee too.
A cafe I used to visit and pass regularly seemed to have the same laptop users every day.
I could see that they had plates and cups on their table so they were spending money every day apparently.

Places also chance purpose

Libraries in the past were locations were you borrow books, keep quiet and study

Now? They are community centers with activities and events, shelters for weather emergencies, etc

Why can't cafes evolve too?
Clearly, management is ok with this existing business clientele model

The world has changed and will keep changing.
Maybe it is the issue that some people are not

Doodledog

Just preference I suppose. Cafes aren’t a public service- anyone can use them. Didn’t JK Rowling famously write Harry Potter in a cafe? Lots of writers enjoy the people-watching aspect of working in cafes.

Perhaps it saves putting the heat on at home.

I'm taking my crocheting next time.

I agree with you, Hithere. I first started to work in my local Nero around 2009/2010 (gosh, over 15 years ago) when I needed to be away from the office for a while. It happened to coincide with some very noisy and intrusive construction work going on opposite my house so being able to work in cafe was a welcome escape. I bought a MacBook Air specifically for the purpose.

I chose Nero as it’s an interesting old listed building with a very steep, narrow and worn stone staircase. Listed status mean the owners cannot do much in the way of adjustments for accessibility but there is plenty of room downstairs for those who can’t managed the stairs (and plenty of other cafes with level access). It does means that many people can’t get to the upper floor, for example, the mum and baby groups with all their paraphernalia. It was the ultimate hipster hangout and had a ready good vibe. They occasionally have live music in the daytime as well as evening.

As I live alone, I sometimes feel isolated WFH. My work is solitary (writing) and doesn’t involve digital meetings that are part of WFH nowadays. I would then and still will o to work in a cafe (or the pub) just to have other people around me.

Customers don’t own a cafe. They have no right to a table or a comfy chair. It’s just luck of the draw if it happens to be busy.

There seems to be an awful lot of resentment about how other people manage their working lives perhaps from people who retired long ago and aren’t familiar with how modern working is managed or didn't do the kind of work that can be done in various places.

As the weather warms up I'll be working in the park or on the village green and the coffee will be takeaway.

My typos, so sorryyyy