Thank God for coffee shops that impose time limits, lest patrons visiting for a coffee and a sit-down have to walk on by because the hipsters in their bollock-strangling denim, plaid shirts and a Crossley turntable tucked under their arm are already hogging the place.
Top Tip: Easily avoid said sofa-hogging hipsters. Look for the bike rack full of Penny Farthings outside.
Go to a Workday for your 'co-working vibes'. Take your Macbook Air and Crossley portable turntables with you as well.
I don’t get it, if you go to a coffee shop for the coffee, why wouldn’t you just get your coffee and go? You’re complaining that other people are sitting… because you also want to sit? What else are you going to do? Sit and scroll through your phone?
As opposed to sitting on an overpriced laptop all day taking up space other people might want to use as well as costing a business time and money in lost custom so you can spend the day treating the coffee shop like rented office space?
What about patrons with disabilities? Patrons that might want to use the coffee shop to meet someone and talk to them and socialise?
If you want to use a coffee shop as a work hub either a) go to the office, b) work from home or c) go rent office space or visit a work hub.
The funny thing is I’ve never seen a Starbucks so packed that there is no where to sit if you just want to drink coffee and scroll on your phone or talk to someone.
And yet, there’s definitely times where there’s too many people to find a good place to sit and work for a few hours.
Starbucks understands this tension and seems to create sitting areas that are designed for both types of individuals.
Unlike indie coffeeshops which have the same kind of seating for every customer and says fuck you to remote workers if they linger too long.
This is why I just keep going to Starbucks. It’s a rare example of a big corp being less hostile to customers than equivalent small businesses.
The Starbucks in Yucca Valley and TwentyNine Palms, CA both are often without available seating due to people on laptops not spending money. At least that was true when I was in the area a couple years ago.
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