Is this the new norm? Working from café

[Oneborneverydecade]

I haven't worked in an office for a while but my DH works from home. He's able to be home for meetings but obviously I appreciate some people need to visit clients etc.

I'm between jobs atm and spending too much time (and money) in local cafes. Often someone will start a work video call or telephone call.

I try to ignore and focus on my phone. It's only if it goes on for some time that I start to get frustrated.

Is it rude to dominate the space with a work call? Isn't it frustrating for the other person, trying to hear over the background noise (today it's the Bee Gees, lady is loudly discussing her maternity pay situation)

Totally. Really silly, and even worse when they glare at other people for daring to make noise in a public space when they’re trying to have their call.

Met a friend in a cafe recently, table next to us was having a work meeting. It was loud and fii ohr me, spoiled the atmosphere .But maybe the owner had okayed it?

After what felt like an hour listening to a guy on a work call recently I was slightly joyful when a couple of mums with small babies came and sat nearby.

DH says it's the same on trains

I think the cafe staff are used to it and ignore it tbh

I should admit that I'm guilty of sitting with an empty cup in front of me whilst I doom scroll so...

See also: trains. Trains are not offices but the number of people who think they are had dramatically increased.

The shift I've seen is that previously it used to be people who are kind of solitary in their profession. Open a cafe near me and it is immediately full of self employed graphic designers for instance.

Now it seems to be people in more traditionally "office-y" roles that are going to cafes and expecting everyone to behave like they are also in an office and be quiet when they're on the phone having a loud confidential conversation.

I think it's shit that cafes have become work places, there's nothing worse than a cafe full of people on laptops drinking one coffee an hour whilst they work. Leaving no space for people to actually use a cafe as a cafe, a place to socialise.

In one of my previous workplaces we were all firmly reminded not to discuss work on the train commute as there had been an incident of a client overhearing less than complimentary comments about the client company.

It is definitely rude to take a work call in a cafe and expect anyone else to care! I might take a call from a colleague about generic work stuff, but I wouldn't take a call about anything client related or that might involve business sensitive discussions. Common sense, surely. I wonder if the employers or clients of these people know that this is their working practice!

We're unfortunately not allowed to work in public places, otherwise I can imagine it would be nice to break up the day!

I think if someone's working in a cafe, regularly purchasing food and drink and just doing work then it's no problem. The occasional call to me is no different to a loud conversation / personal phone call you often get in cafes. They shouldn't be expecting anyone to be quiet or similar for them though.

Someone being deliberately loud / obnoxious on a call is a different thing, that's rude if it's personal or work related.

@bibbityboppityboo that's a valid pov. Somehow it seems more obnoxious but I'm not sure why. I struggle more to zone it out than I would with a normal chat.

I think working in a cafe is being a CF - using their lighting, heating, wifi instead of your own, eking out a coffee over an hour (or four) taking up space the cafe owners could use for people actually spending decent money there.

Loads of cafes around here encourage it - they publicise their free wifi and do special deals on tea and coffee throughout the day etc

Don't see the issue personally. I'm no more bothered by someone on a work call on their laptop than I am by a screaming toddler.

At my local cafe, there is one large round table that seats about 5-6, next to the French window. The other tables are two-tops, and darker (it is basically a tube- shaped room) though they can be pushed together. The big table is ALWAYs occupied by one women with a laptop, papers covering the surface, and a single cup of coffee. We have stopped going, it irks us so much

I know a cafe with two floors, the unwritten rule is that downstairs is for socialising, upstairs is for working.

They actively encourage it where I am, and have been very vocal that without people working from cafes, they wouldn’t survive… The people who work half a day in them spend far more than people who pop in for a natter, as a general rule.

Even OP has admitted she sat scrolling the internet with an empty cup… How is that different to someone sat answering emails?

And how is someone on a work call any different to someone having a long FaceTime with their mum or their husband?

They are all annoying 😆

I just like being amongst people, whether they are working or chatting or have babies or are by themselves. I let them judge if they’re in the right place.

I don’t mind if someone is having a work call in the cafe I’m in, as long as they don’t mind my 2 year old and her friends making noise near them.

Surely coffee shop owner don't like work people taking up there space. Ordering 1 cup of coffee over a extended period. Instead they could have a quicker turnover with multiple people using that table.

I think it’s discourteous to the cafe owners and staff and to other customers. To the staff because buying one coffee and then working for a couple of hours, using their light, heat and Wi-Fi is not what the flow of a cafe should be and to other customers who want to meet socially and not have to put up with work calls or glares and who can’t use a table of four because one person is hogging it.

I work from a cafe once a week, I have a meeting that runs until my finish time and I need to be in town just after my finish, so it makes sense for me to work there.

I use earphones (obviously) and have to say, I've never really noticed them being particularly noisy, even with other people there.

If I was in the office, there would be background noise too. I've bought a coffee and a cake, same as anyone else.

I've seen it and always wonder how the employer feels about it. I couldn't work somewhere so public because a lot of what I do is confidential. if I sat talking or with documents visible and someone saw and then shared the information it could be pretty bad.

If the cafe owner is ok with it and the person is spending money then fine, but they equally have to accept they won't get quiet. It's not that different to some of the overly loud conversations people would have for any other reason.

Noticed this when I spent a week in Blackheath last year. Went to Gail's with DH and our DD for an afternoon treat as we don't have a branch where we live and we like their food. We were surrounded by people with their laptops and notebooks taking up an entire table , on zoom calls. No headphones. We could hear everything being discussed and it was all so annoying and boring. We felt like we were intruding. Wouldn't go back after that experience. Must be so annoying for the staff who probably have to deal with complaints from customers not being able to find a table because of all the entitled people taking up tables for hours on end while drinking one single coffee!

I have no idea how café owners can manage financially when people do this.

It drives me nuts. All the booths in my local cafe are filled with people sitting on a table for 6, nursing a coffee, from 9 in the morning
The worst is when some poor soul is being interviewed for a job. No privacy and puts the interviewee at a disadvantage.

Genuine question - lots of people on this thread have complained that workers go to a cafe and order one coffee and sit and work for a couple of hours. Is this really different behaviour from people who go to a cafe to meet a friend? I sometimes go to a cafe to meet a friend and buy one coffee and stay for a couple of hours. Of course I wouldn’t hang around a packed cafe for two hours, but somewhere that’s not overly busy - why not?

There seems to be an assumption people buy more if they’re not working than if they are, that I don’t think is necessarily true.

That's downright entitled to expect everyone else to have to listen to them. In terms of company information it also leaves a lot to be desired.

I wouldn't sit in a café for hours only nursing one coffee. I'd buy at least two.