[junctionist]

The great cities known for coffee culture always have people spending lots of time in cafes, which is the experience previously exotic to many places in North America that Starbucks tried to provide. Toronto has become quite successful at building a coffee culture too, but what about cafe culture? As apartments get smaller, people are more likely to spend time in places like cafes, restaurants, and squares. It should be basic knowledge to anyone running a cafe that many people want to spend a lot of time inside or on the patio. In Vienna, a city famous for its cafe culture, a glass of water is typically served with the coffee as a gesture of hospitality to encourage people to relax and spend time there. This part of coffee culture is important; it should never be eliminated from the equation with some sort of 'enforced policy'. An etiquette becomes a part of this culture, expecting that there will lots of conservation, though not obnoxiously loud.

 

[gristle]

I'm curious as to whether the Chapters-Indigo/Starbucks alliance works in favour of Chapters-Indigo? At locations where the two co-exist, I routinely see people grab books from Chapters, buy a Starbucks coffee, then sit at Starbucks for extended periods of time reading their book(s).

Supposedly that's a no-no with Chapters Indigo. However, I have had to return a book to Chapters after I found (what I hope) were coffee stains in the middle pages. If I want used books, I can go to the likes of BMV and live with some dents and imperfections. I'm just not into finding someone's snack trail inside a full-priced book.

 

[SP!RE]

It would seem to me that Starbucks actually ARE libraries these days. I think you may have chosen the wrong type of place for a meeting like that.

 

[khris]

You take your dates to Starbucks? How romantic

Yes, that's why they're called coffee dates. Me and millions of others do this.

 

[CityPainter]

Coffee shops are a microcosm of the city, so you get all types. That's what makes them interesting and also occasionally frustrating: outside of transit, it's the one place where many demographics of the city collide. If the worst you encountered was someone who "kept looking" at you then you got off easy! I find loud cell-phone talkers and loud self-talkers to be the most aggravating.

I think it's fine to have coffee shops available as a "third-space" and a place to get studying or some work done. I'd hate to see laptops banned entirely, as some places have done, but to keep the tradition alive more people need to use common sense and etiquette and not camp excessively without buying anything, especially when a place is very busy.

 

[CDL.TO]

At the Rooster they disable the WiFi when things get too busy. That's one way to encourage campers to move on.

 

[gabe]

Many NYC Starbucks Locations About To Put An End To ‘Squatters’ http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/08...s-locations-about-to-put-an-end-to-squatters/

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — They’re called Starbucks “squatters.” You know, those folks with their laptops who take all the seats and never seem to leave.

But, as CBS 2′s Scott Rapoport, reports the coffee house giant has a plan brewing to fix that.

You know how some Starbucks customers and their computers like to make a permanent home in the coffee emporium, hogging up all the seats for hours, mooching off the free Wi-Fi and preventing you from sitting down and enjoying the latte you paid $5 for?

Well, now some Starbucks in New York City are reportedly pulling the plug on that idea, actually covering up their electrical outlets to discourage squatters.

“Customers are asking (for it). They just purchased a latte and a pastry and there is nowhere to sit down in some of these high-volume stores,” Starbucks spokesperson Alan Hilowitz said.

“People actually live here. You know what I’m saying?” added Alan Glowko of Astoria.

It is a move that has some Starbucks regulars saying … it’s about time.

“If there’s no more space to sit, they should get up and leave,” said Katie Krug of Burlington, Vt.

“I mean, you can’t use their electricity for like eight hours. I mean honestly,” Glowko added.

Still others say for what they’re paying for coffee they should be able to stay as long as they like.

“If people want to sit there and relax they should be able to,” one person said.

At some other coffee shops in the city, like Doma in the West Village, they let you use your laptop here for as long as you like if the store is not too busy on week days up until 5 p.m. The catch is you have to have your own Wi-Fi.

At Grumpy’s, employees said there are no laptops allowed, period. That’s the policy.

As for Starbucks, the decision to pull the plug is reportedly up to individual stores thought to be only in New York.

It’s an idea brewed much the like the coffee — for customer satisfaction.

Employees at some smaller Starbucks locations told Rapoport privately that electrical outlets will not be blocked in their stores because seating space is not an issue.

 

[JasonParis]

1/2-hour free Wi-Fi with any purchase and then an option to pay for more time seems like an easy way to sort this.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I'm not much of a coffee drinker and rarely go to such places, but I'm in the library frequently and find the inverse effect - people chattering loudly to friends in an environment that has traditionally valued quiet - to be intensely annoying.

 

[interchange42]

1/2-hour free Wi-Fi with any purchase and then an option to pay for more time seems like an easy way to sort this.

A 1/2 hour would be pretty drastic - currently it's 3 hours free! Now that's a lot of time. They should probably start by halving it.

42

 

[Blovertis]

So, let's re-start. You're sitting at Starbucks chatting at regular, hushed volume with someone at your table. The fellow at the next table keeps looking up and giving you an annoyed look every time you speak. Do you do anything? Do nothing, ignore him and carry on (that's my choice)?

I would simply call him on it: "Am I disturbing you?"

If backs down from the confrontation and says "no", you can be sure he won't be sending you dirty looks afterward. If he says yes, then that's your cue to let him have it with your completely justified rant about Starbucks not being a library. Trust me, you'll find it cathartic.

If he can express his feelings in public, then so can you.

 

[James]

The Starbucks squatters issue is another unfortunate case of "give them an inch and they'll take a mile." It's too bad that we can't have an open, honest system like the one Starbucks and other establishments have been using without people abusing it. It really ruins it for everyone as a whole.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Would it be too much to ask for a special little compound to be incorporated within these coffee houses, where people who want to peck away at their electronic devices undisturbed can set up, quarantined behind some sort of sound-proofed cordon sanitaire so that they can occasionally scowl at one another if the keyboarding's too violently done, but remain undisturbed by the rest of the world chatting or having informal business meetings?

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APATLrEte9s

And regarding libraries and noise that US alluded to: that's the latest faddish trend in library management, "library as place". Not as a place of quiet concentration, but one of "engagement" with the public, i.e., if you want to read a book in peace and quiet, this isn't the place for you, and the more of a Starbucks it is, the better.

 

[BSH]

the problem of people "camping out" is not isolated to just starbucks
i was at second cup (king & jarvis) today with a freind
only one table available
the entire back wall and window areas being used as offices
and they appeared to have been their for quit some time.
we stayed 1/2 hr.
not one of them got up to buy something
i saw many people walk in, look around, then walk out
im sure they would have stayed if seating was available