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I was flabbergasted at the account of people bringing in their own tea bags or home-made sandwiches. Kudos to the coffee shop owners for trying to accommodate
by mcantor 17y ago
I was flabbergasted at the account of people bringing in their own tea bags or home-made sandwiches. Kudos to the coffee shop owners for trying to accommodate them by adding sandwiches to their repertoire, but I'm not surprised that it didn't change much. If someone comes in with a teabag and a PB&J so they can cuddle up in the corner with their laptop all day, I have no compassion; coffee shops need to stay in business, and to stay in business there needs to be place for paying customers to sit.
Conversely, kicking someone out when the place is almost empty sounds like just awful PR to me. It's an intuitive distinction: "It's busy, we need space for people to sit," vs. "It's empty, feel free to hang out until it gets busy." What's complicated about that?
- pbhj 17y agoEven if they're "cuddle[d] up in the corner" then they're still using electric, still leaving crumbs on the floor, putting dirty feet on furniture, still going to use the washrooms, etc.. They may seem like little things but they're real costs. I think I'd aim for a tech solution of providing a ticket with purchases over X amount (coffee + danish price) with one hours free log-on. You either then pay for additional web or buy more products or leave.
- dan_the_welder 17y agoA coffee house is attempting to be an open public space while making money on the drink concession. Some people think it's just fine to take advantage of the public space and not use the concession. Those people are clueless or jerks and fail to understand that the space is only as open as the owner wants it to be. It's a fine line.