4 ms·

My rule of thumb is to buy something regulalry while you’re there – at least a large cup of coffee every hour. That's insane. Might as well rent an office for

by swombat 17y ago

My rule of thumb is to buy something regulalry while you’re there – at least a large cup of coffee every hour. That's insane. Might as well rent an office for that price. Also, that much coffee is definitely not good for you. I agree that you should buy something, but I disagree with the "regularly" part. I certainly would agree that bringing your own teabags to a coffee shop is totally out of order though.

abalashov 17y ago
I usually buy several cups of coffee throughout the day in addition to a morning latte. But not every hour. Not even I can stomach that.
- bmelton 17y ago
  I usually don't worry about it too much unless they're busy, and I feel like I'm taking up space, but I ordinarily order at least a 'premium' coffee and something to munch on while I work, and I agree with the 1 coffee per hour rule. If you can't keep up, or aren't thirsty, you can buy a coffee 'for the house', which basically equates to just giving them money. If you're trying to make friends, or the cashier or barista is cute, you can buy them a drink too. You'll probably be looked at funny (since I'm guessing their drinks are free,) but life's full of weirdos. Might as well be one. ;-)
silencio 17y ago
A large cup of coffee every hour is insane, but so is buying only one cup of coffee and then sitting there for several hours. I'm sure there's a balance between the two that will work out for most people who decide working for hours at a time in a coffee shop is preferable to, say, a coworking space.
boundlessdreamz 17y ago
"might as well rent an office for that price". Exactly. The coffee shop owners are not there to provide a free(or cheap) office space to you. They are there to run a business and people like you will drive a coffee shop out of business. I can see a "sense of entitlement" in you comment. Why do you disagree that if you are sitting in a coffee shop and occupying one of their seats and using up electricity for your laptop, you should buy something regularly
- neilc 17y ago
  people like you will drive a coffee shop out of business. That is more likely to be true if the shop is full to capacity (e.g. during the lunch rush, etc.). When there is free space, your marginal cost to the coffee shop is just electricity, which isn't that much. That said, I agree it's only decent to purchase something regularly -- a coffee every 2 hours or some food seems reasonable to me.

by swombat 17y ago

abalashov 17y ago

I usually buy several cups of coffee throughout the day in addition to a morning latte. But not every hour. Not even I can stomach that.

bmelton 17y ago
I usually don't worry about it too much unless they're busy, and I feel like I'm taking up space, but I ordinarily order at least a 'premium' coffee and something to munch on while I work, and I agree with the 1 coffee per hour rule. If you can't keep up, or aren't thirsty, you can buy a coffee 'for the house', which basically equates to just giving them money. If you're trying to make friends, or the cashier or barista is cute, you can buy them a drink too. You'll probably be looked at funny (since I'm guessing their drinks are free,) but life's full of weirdos. Might as well be one. ;-)

silencio 17y ago

A large cup of coffee every hour is insane, but so is buying only one cup of coffee and then sitting there for several hours. I'm sure there's a balance between the two that will work out for most people who decide working for hours at a time in a coffee shop is preferable to, say, a coworking space.

boundlessdreamz 17y ago

"might as well rent an office for that price". Exactly. The coffee shop owners are not there to provide a free(or cheap) office space to you. They are there to run a business and people like you will drive a coffee shop out of business. I can see a "sense of entitlement" in you comment. Why do you disagree that if you are sitting in a coffee shop and occupying one of their seats and using up electricity for your laptop, you should buy something regularly

neilc 17y ago
people like you will drive a coffee shop out of business. That is more likely to be true if the shop is full to capacity (e.g. during the lunch rush, etc.). When there is free space, your marginal cost to the coffee shop is just electricity, which isn't that much. That said, I agree it's only decent to purchase something regularly -- a coffee every 2 hours or some food seems reasonable to me.