Would you move tables at a Cafe?

Yep, there is a chap who is in my local Costa a lot with his laptop. He plays games on it, so not working.
Lots of people take up a table for a long time because they have a newspaper/book/Kindle, or are doing something else like some sort of crafts.

If it does not bother the staff, then any customer getting arsey about it is entitled and needs to get a life.

It pisses you off?

Why?

What a randomly weird thing to get pissed off about.

If you want a clue why they allow it @ilovecleaning it's because they, unlike you, don't care. So long as the customer is spending money, they're quite happy for the space to be used how the customer sees fit. If it's not your vibe-find somewhere else.

You don't think it'd be a bit entitled and arrogant to put in a complaint? 😂😂😂

God, people on this site, man! Crack me fucking up. You can always rely on MN for the laughs.

Loads of people go to coffee shops to do work. It's not uncommon. That's why they have the plug sockets available at tables so people can charge their devices.

It's not unreasonable for OP to use the booth when there are other seating options available to them. It's absolutely unreasonable to demand someone to move when they're using the space and require the plug socket to charge their device whilst they work when there are other seating options available and you're also not intending to stay for very long.

It's also very unreasonable to expect a favour when you're asking in a rude way and then to get verbally abusive when told no. Incredible the mindsets of some people. "Oh, I know how to get what I want, I'll just ask OP in a very rude manner to move and when she says no, I'll throw in a few swear words to ensure that she doesn't feel bad about saying no."

In short, OP isn't unreasonable. There were other seating options available. They just wanted that booth. And no-it's not selfish use a booth for one person if there are other options available for others. And sometimes-that's the way it is. I'd never dream of asking someone to move just because they got there first and then getting pissy about it. It's a fucking cafe. Most towns/villages/wherever have other ones available if there are no suitable seating options. It's not difficult.

I don’t think you were being unreasonable and agree the woman’s behaviour was out of order.
Sorry haven’t RTFT but I agree that you were targeted as you are a lone woman who looks young/unthreatening. I am similar and it infuriates me that because of this people think they can abuse you without challenge. I seriously doubt she would have said the same to a big man. My DH cant believe some of the aggression I face, it just doesn’t happen to him and also never does to me if I’m with him. I don’t know what the answer to this is though.

@Southlondoner88 wasn't using it ‘as an office’, @Lingfield01 - she was studying there, which is different, I think. And she has already said she reckons she spent about £25, so not sitting with just a glass of water either.

And there were other seats available for the other woman - she wanted the OP to shift from the seat where she was settled, just because she wanted that table - I don’t think that is reasonable.

I know but see Lingfield101 post.

You weren't depriving them of any seats, she just wanted yours. You did nothing wrong. She needs to check herself and not be so bloody rude. What a cheek.

I'd've told her to piss off. The language she obviously understands.

I have a friend who spends a good few hours several times a week in a cafe, doing cross stitch.

Like several PP have said, you can do what you want in a cafe, as long as you are making purchases.

The brass neck and entitlement of some people is disgusting. It’s getting worse. I’m not a push over but this situation would have stunned me. These morons need standing up to, being verbally abusive should be challenged. It’s like the switching seats on a plane thing, these people need telling to poke off.

Of course YABU, but I suspect you know this. Personally I think coffee shops should ban people from using their premises as offices. No end of times I’ve seen someone with a laptop hogging a large table for 6 people, spreading themselves out for hours, whilst sipping a glass of water! It’s not an office it’s a communal area. I always make a point of plonking myself next to these entitled folk in the hope that they’ll shift.

I’d imagine it’s ‘allowed’ as it would be bizarre and counterproductive for cafe owners to police what people are doing. As long as they’re paying customers and aren’t taking the piss (ie buying one coffee and sitting there for four hours while other customers have nowhere to sit).

Is this for real?
It’s a coffee shop, not your remote office where you can book out space.

It pisses me off when I go in a cafe and see people using it as work space. I don’t know why owners/ managers allow it.

Ideally you woulnd't be using a cafe as an office, as this costs businesses money.

I really don’t understand comments like this. Sometimes I go to a cafe, buy a coffee and work on my laptop for 30-60 mins. Sometimes I go to a cafe, buy a coffee and browse mumsnet on my phone for 30-60 mins. It makes zero difference to the business if I do one rather than the other.

Ummm… no. Cafes from a customer’s point of view are for eating and drinking. From a manager/business owner’s perspective, they are about making profit. No one opens a cafe so people can read or entertain kids. You are thinking of a library/bookshop/park. People do these things in cafes but they are not the primary purpose of the cafe, nor should they be. The point is when they become the primary purpose the business makes less profit because people like the OP hog tables, and paying customers are turned away or put off by the attitude of those who can’t distinguish between an office and a coffee shop.

OP was studying, not working. So she probably does not have an office anyway.

I do agree it’s annoying when a large group of people takes over a small space. It’s different in a restaurant when they will have booked in advance.

If there were reasons the family needed the booth (and there can be reasons to do with anxiety and other conditions where people need the extra privacy) then they should have spoken to the staff. The staff can then decide whether they prefer to permit OPs use of the booth or ask her to move to accommodate the other customers. The staff are in charge and its their call. Never any need for the public to get into rows with each other about this sort of thing when they are all merely 'guests' of the establishment.

Exactly this. It doesn't matter what any customers opinion is, or what they think should happen, it's up to the person owning/running and staff on their behalf, to decide what works for their business and allow/encourage/enforce that.

If it doesn't suit you then you find somewhere that does, it might seem like a bad business decision to you, because it's not what you want and the cafe is losing your money, but anyone's money is as good, it all does the same thing, and losing yours often means they're gaining someone else's which might be more, or might be more consistent. Just because you're a customer doesn't mean you get to dictate how the business is run. If you don't like it then you find somewhere you do, you're as free to do that as the owner/manager is to make decisions about the business they're running, no one's got a gun to your head making you use the place that you don't like because they won't allow laptops and you want to use one, or because they do allow laptops and let people sit on free tables and you don't think that's right.

The only people who have 'jurisdiction' over the tables and who sits at them are the people running it.

It may be first come first served in a cafe, and maybe she was rude, especially if there was room elsewhere in there. But, the cafe isn't an extension of your office and taking up a place for 4 people for just you seems rather entitled. Like others have said, I am surprised a member of staff didn't mention it if you were there for a while because it is a coffee shop - not an office.

A panini is like £1 more than most of the coffees at Cafe Nero. She'd probably have to eat more like 2 drinks, a panini and a cake to break even, before accounting for electric and lack of turnover. 4 coffees in and out in 10 mins is far better for business than one hours long lunch.

Business people gathering (and probably spending) is quite different to one person with their laptop at a table for 4.

The OP bought lunch and a coffee. Probably at least as much as 4 coffees, and certainly more than a group of yummy mummies taking up huge amounts of space with prams, sitting on one coffee each, bringing their own food, and leaving a mess.

Added to which, when I see such a group in a café, I go elsewhere, so they lose another person's custom as well.

@mummyrolling2014 - the OP has said that she spent about £25 during her time at the cafe, so definitely not occupying the table for hours with just one coffee.

The number of people not reading what OP said about there being other tables available for rude woman's party to choose from is quite amazing.

Rude woman wanted OP's table as she was an entitled CF, not because there was nowhere else for them to sit.

Don't be daft. You can use a cafe for pretty much anything you want. It's up to the manager if they don't want workers there (never heard of this before)