People working on laptops in cafes 😡

Allira

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.

Yes, there will be that, too. My knitting group meets in a pub on a weekday morning. There are few (if any) other customers and we all buy a drink, so there is some profit for the owners, and the barmaid is there anyway, stocking shelves and so on, so no extra overheads.

Another group I'm in meets weekly in a local cafe, who are very hospitable with us. We stay for a couple of hours, and all (usually about 15 of us) buy at least one drink. Some stay behind for lunch, and most buy refills, with or without cake. There may have been odd times when 'drop-in' customers have felt pushed out, but on the whole we will bring in more profit than loss, I'm sure.

Graphite I am neither being illogical or unhappy because I couldn’t plonk my backside down on a sofa. If you bothered to read my posts I tried to make cogent arguments against people with lap tops spending too long hogging seats and tables, and was at pains to mention that another cafe do limit the time people can work in their cafe.
I really don’t understand why you would decide to get personal about this and make unfair assumptions about me, have seen this happen on other threads where posters - not just you Graphite - decide to make up a story about an OP and twist everything to fit that narrative. I respect your opinion and have not once had a go at anyone else on this thread personally.
I will simply say that I will agree to disagree and leave it at that.
Perhaps you should have the good grace to do the same.

mae13 😂

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.

You drop in the coffee shop of your choice and find it's turned into an episode of The Office. And there's a dead ringer for David Brent turning an entire table into a workspace, yakking away on his phone and making a tepid coffee last for an age.

Stay. At. Home. And. Work. There.

We visited a cafe recently and 4 of the tables had people doing work on the laptops. Not one of them bought another drink or anything to each while we were there.
These people are Very Important, Purplepixie, unlike us old has-beens who no longer work.

The library near to us allows schools children to bring food and drink in. There is no limit on the noise and it has put me off going. I did mention it to them and they said they invited the children to use the computers and to bring in food if necessary. Well it is all the blooming time and they are not all doing school work all the time.
We visited a cafe recently and 4 of the tables had people doing work on the laptops. Not one of them bought another drink or anything to each while we were there. Just one cuppa that lasted them probably all day!

rafichagran

Graphite No one is saying your custom is worth less. I saw the manager of one coffee shop asking people on Lap tops to leave. They had sat at the tables for ages and bought only a drink. Other people with food and drink were waiting for the table.
Some cafes have started to put a time limit on it due to piss takers.

No one is saying your custom is worth less.

No but it’s certainly implied. Apparently acceptable for the book groups and knitting groups and mums with babies to sit for a couple of hours but not someone who happens to be working on a laptop. I don’t see the difference. We are all paying customers.

Please can someone explain why, if I chose to sit working for two hours over a coffee (and often lunch) how that is any different to people talking about a book or knitting for two hours? Honestly? How is it different? I don’t understand the hostility shown towards people who work.

If one goes out to a restaurant in the evening, it’s common to find work colleagues having dinner and discussing business. They are working, eating and drinking at the same time. Should they also have to give up their tables?

I understand that OP is caring for a disabled husband and that life can be difficult but people are not mind-readers. And because customers are working, talking about a book or knitting, they may be unaware of someone else’s unhappiness or dissatisfaction.

The illogical arguments here are baffling. A couple rock up at a coffee shop. There are no free sofas. They leave after a short time not even stopping to drink their tea. And anybody with laptop is meant to feel immense guilt.

CariadAgain

Graphite

You are twisting my words. I mean its first come first served.

OP was miffed because all the comfy seats were taken. How would she have felt about a book group, a knitting group etc meeting for a couple of hours and taking up the sofas. Why pick on working people?

My money as a paying customer who happens to be working is just as good as anybody else's whether I chose to work, yak on a phone, chat to others, read a book, hold a meeting, interview somebody for a job or all the other myriad things which go on.

This all sound sounds like bitterness towards people who work flexibly and may feel isolated at home.

Beware the curse of chronic resentment and living in the past.

I think you're overlooking good manners dictated that if someone looks a bit more frail etc then the laptop person sitting on a comfortable chair offers the other one (couple in this case) that comfortable chair and sits on one of the barstools instead and uses those little tables that come with them.

Quite!

Well sad, CariadAgain

Common courtesy.
However, old, disabled people can bd such a nuisance when important younger people are busy working in a public place.

Graphite No one is saying your custom is worth less. I saw the manager of one coffee shop asking people on Lap tops to leave. They had sat at the tables for ages and bought only a drink. Other people with food and drink were waiting for the table.
Some cafes have started to put a time limit on it due to piss takers.

As I said to GrannyGravy earlier next time I might just ask someone if they wouldn’t mind moving in order to sit down. Believe it it or not am not one to make a fuss if I can help it but have to make a regular thing out of asking people sitting in priority seats on public transport if they are disabled and if not could they let my DH sit down before he falls down. It gets incredibly tiring to have to keep doing this and I suppose I just wanted to take the line of least resistance on this occasion, not least because my DH was becoming upset about the fact I was stressed, he can go into melt down and is really hard to cope with.
Is always easy to assume that someone is just being a bit unreasonable or should just say something. Obviously those of this opinion have never had to care full time for someone with multiple disabilities.

Indeed, as people offer seats on a bus or train but who’s to know if people intent on their work were even aware of the situation? If I am concentrating, I may just be sitting reading a book and not working at all, I may not even be aware of people coming and going. OP and her husband didn’t stay long enough to have their tea. I am sure that had she spoken to a member of staff, something could have been done. Customers minding their own business can’t mindread someone else’s anxiety or annoyance nor should they have to.

Graphite

You are twisting my words. I mean its first come first served.

OP was miffed because all the comfy seats were taken. How would she have felt about a book group, a knitting group etc meeting for a couple of hours and taking up the sofas. Why pick on working people?

My money as a paying customer who happens to be working is just as good as anybody else's whether I chose to work, yak on a phone, chat to others, read a book, hold a meeting, interview somebody for a job or all the other myriad things which go on.

This all sound sounds like bitterness towards people who work flexibly and may feel isolated at home.

Beware the curse of chronic resentment and living in the past.

I think you're overlooking good manners dictated that if someone looks a bit more frail etc then the laptop person sitting on a comfortable chair offers the other one (couple in this case) that comfortable chair and sits on one of the barstools instead and uses those little tables that come with them.

Several cafes near the university in Edinburgh are packed with students and laptops. I had arranged to meet a friend in one but had to choose the only table with a sign saying No Laptops.
I'm sure everyone could hear our conversation because it was like talking in a library.
I find it strange but it is obviously a service the young people enjoy.

I now know to avoid these cafés.

I think what we have to do in these circumstances is go and join them. They often have a whole sofa to themselves so walk over and say excuse me I’m going to sit here……

Next thing we'll be hearing that parents taking children, old people socialising in such premises should be banned so that they can work in peace!

Perhaps there should be different cafès and coffee shops, with free Wifi, heating, comfortable seats for those who wish to Work From Cafè all day?

Then everyone would be happy.

Thanks Allira. Yes it is hard to go far, today we were lucky enough for a good friend/neighbour to take us to a cafe a bit further afield in his car. Otherwise we tend to stay at home most of the time. A trip to the cafe is a real treat and perhaps we were a bit miffed, but I think that’s allowed.

Graphite you say:
Essentially you are just miffed because when you happened to call in, the sofas were all taken.
why not just go somewhere else?

Fallingstar has already said
We just went out thanks to the lovely weather, is always tricky going out with DH, he can’t walk far and he has impaired vision as well as cognitive difficulties, after suffering a stroke.

Your post is unpleasant and uncalled for, Graphite.

London is arguably different where people are constantly on the move and there are thousands of tourists but I can assure you that in vibrant out of London towns and cities with a high number of urban professionals and people working flexibly, the customer base is how I have described.

The thing is you didn’t give it chance did you? You left without drinking your tea. You had no idea how long anybody had been there. For all you knew the people working on laptops hadn’t been there much longer than you.

Essentially you are just miffed because when you happened to call in, the sofas were all taken. That could have been the case at any time if the people you don’t object to had got there before you. Would you be complaining like this if the occupants were young mums or knit and natter groups? Why pick on working people because they like the same cafe that you do?

What London isn't short of is cafes and most by law have to provide accessible toilets so why not just go somewhere else?

You said yourself ... it probably feels worse than it really is.

I may be old fashioned but I see cafes as cafes, places where you can meet up with friends or go with your OH for a coffee or other beverage or perhaps a bite to eat.
And if young mums or knit and natter groups go there for a drink and a bite to eat that is also what cafes are for imho. What they are not is a workplace except for the staff working there.

We're just old fuddy-duddies, Fallingstar, thinking that cafés and coffee shops are places to drink coffee, eat, meet friends, socialise!

Now they are workplaces where people go to use free Wifi, free heating, even free food.

I may be old fashioned but I see cafes as cafes, places where you can meet up with friends or go with your OH for a coffee or other beverage or perhaps a bite to eat.
And if young mums or knit and natter groups go there for a drink and a bite to eat that is also what cafes are for imho. What they are not is a workplace except for the staff working there. In London where we live cafes are usually very busy and tourists sometimes make up the customer base so making sure seats and tables are available and not a work station for hours on end should be key to such cafe’s success.
Right now we have been put off using our local cafe Nero, and that might not matter much to anyone, but on the other hand maybe it should, because we are probably not alone.

Allira

^Beware the curse of chronic resentment and living in the past^.

That seems like an ageist remark 😁
This is Gransnet!

We have been here before.

GN is a platform for people aged 50 and over. Current pension age is 66 starting to rise to 67 from this year. That means that some of the target audidence are still years away from retirement or at least receiving a State Pension. Many will work flexibly.

I'm 70, still freelance and yes, shock horror, I go to Nero to work and buy coffee, breakfast and lunch as I have been doing for 15 years. Staff know me. Sometimes, I get breakfast or lunch on the house.

Am pleased to hear that Costa staff do move people on, tho that may be their policy that staff choose to ignore.They wouldn’t ignore it if it was an independent cafe where actually selling food and drink was their livelihood.

I think you don’t like posters being annoyed with people sitting with their lap tops and a coffee for hours and hours, as you say that you work in one too.

Beware the curse of chronic resentment and living in the past.

That seems like an ageist remark 😁
This is Gransnet!

Agree with Graphite

Feel free to own your own business to make your own rules