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)

It is the norm now, though wonder if it will be less when we have slightly warmer weather.

Agree that business calls should not be held there, a matter of confidentiality in my opinion.

For many, I imagine it's a positive thing - if those tables would be otherwise empty then any spending is better than nothing, plus as someone else said, it looks better to passers-by if there are people in a cafe.

If it's a bustling seaside café in July, and they're having to turn others away because of people working, then that would be problematic. But most of the time I expect it's happening in ordinary high street cafés in suburbia in winter, which might otherwise be empty outside school run times.

Doesn't stop it being twattish to have meetings/calls though.

I’m self employed and work from home. Sometimes to beat the isolation I will work from one of a few local cafes.

I ask them before hand if it’s ok.

I have a rapport with the staff and use them for social events as well.

I ask them their quiet times and days. I leave if it gets unexpectedly busy and I think they could do with the table.

I don’t do video calls etc. if I listen to videos I use headphones. I may make a call to family or answer a call but it’s at a quiet volume and not on speaker phone (too cringy!) as my people pleaser instincts worry about offending or annoying nearby diners.

I have at least one drink per hour, generally a meal and will often have a business friend join me. I typically spend £20+ over 3 hours (up North).

I will also recommend them to others for networking events, painting workshops etc if they want a hand to get bodies in on quiet nights. So I work with them as much as possible.

I may use wifi and chargers. I always ask if I can. My favourite independent cafe has plugs and usb chargers under each table in little booths. I love it.

I equally hate the ‘boomers’ who talk really loud on video calls etc in the middle of a cafe. I will sit nearby and chat to them and offer input on whatever they are doing as they obviously want us all to know how important they are. I will just be super inquisitive (nosy) until they feck off or shut up. I do the same on trains. 🤷‍♀️

I work from cafes occasionally but only meetings where I take notes (so no audible contribution from me and I use earbuds) or if I have generic typing to do from an audio which I again play through my earbuds. I have a privacy screen on my laptop so the screen cannot be viewed except from the direct angle.

It is encouraged by my workplace as good for people's mental health not being stuck home alone all the time.

I was in a local pub/Steakhouse for lunch whilst 3 women sorted out Rotas. They were home carers for the elderly. I was listening with half an ear whilst they bickered when I suddenly realised I knew one of the clients they were discussing. I didn't say anything but there is surely a time and place for work meetings, and it's not in the pub.

I’m on mat leave now but when I was working (part time wfh) I used to go to the cafe near me for 2/3 hours for a change of scenery. I would always buy a coffee (sometimes 2) and one of their delicious sandwiches for my lunch. I got friendly with the cafe owners & they absolutely didn’t mind. It was never really busy either on the day I went, so I didn’t feel I was taking a seat up.

Oh and I never had loud phone conversations either, I’d be too self conscious to do that!

Our IT training strongly advises against working in cafes due to data protection issues, security risks, insecure network, increased risk of hackers etc.
I think just sitting quietly at a laptop is fine but zoom calls and lengthy, loud phone calls are extremely CF!!!

Not everyone is an employee, nor do they have to worry about data.

Bloody rude. Fine to work on laptop but not to make calls/have meetings. GDPR is an issue here too.

Cafes should have a rule of breakfast if there before 8.30, a drink an hour minimum plus lunch if there between hours of 12 and 2pm plus no meetings/calls.

I’m a coffee shop manager, you just have to be canny about it. I welcome people working on their laptops but all the tables that have power outlets are only one seaters!

I don't have any issue with it, would think it's a very important income stream for cafes. In ours we tend to see an equal mix of single people reading, couples and small groups socialising, parents with young children and people with headphones staring at laptops. I personally haven't noticed anyone taking over a large table to work but that would definitely annoy me. If it were a small, quiet place and someone was braying loudly on a video call that wouldn't be ok, but I'd be equally annoyed if they were having an unreasonably loud phone call or watching a loud video (that would actually probably annoy me more, I bloody hate when people do that!) But in a loud Costa or whatever I can't imagine I'd even notice. If someone asked me to be quiet because they were working I'd laugh in their face, but I'd have the same reaction if someone told me to be quiet because their baby was sleeping or because they wanted to call their mum etc; I think I just expect people to observe a basic level of common sense and consideration though I'm often disappointed .

I would rather have people working than small screaming children any day of the week in a cafe

The cafe where I go is full of people on laptops, either working or pretending to

Do people really buy many more coffees when socialising compared to working? I’ve worked for 4 hours in a coffee shop and bought 1-2 coffees. Equally I’ve sat for 4 hours chatting to a friend and bought the same amount? Granted there’s only one of my but I’d never sit at a big table.

Wouldn’t do a zoom call though, that’s rude! My work is typing based.

I love working in cafes. I tend to go for about a coffee an hour and always have food and cake at the start. Once I'm at the end of the coffee I keep an eye on tables in case I need to make space.

To be honest I take up way less space and make less noise than the groups of mums with prams and babies so don't see why I would be considered a nuisance over any other cafe users .
The noise really helps me focus

Agree, if I ever work in a cafe (not often) I will buy a second coffee or some crisps or whatever if I’m there a while.

Not rude imo. It's a public space. I don't really care who people are on the phone to tbh. Why do I care if it's a work call or a personal call? Why do you care? It seems like such an odd thing to be bothered about 😂

Sorry, grumpy old boot here, that one woman table would draw me to it like a moth to a flame………. And I am well known in my family for my inability to put down a cup without slopping it everywhere..

I might go to a coffee shop to work for an hour or 2, just for a change of scene. But I’d never conduct a teams meeting whilst there.

I think studying would be fine but people taking work meetings is taking the piss. You go for a break for all the work nonsense and someone behind you is loudly having the same conversation, no longer a treat.

Oh gosh yes why is that okay. Working yes but taking calls no. Trains too! I was recently sitting on a train opposite a solicitor who was reading out a clients data to someone on the phone. If I wanted to I could have noted down the name, address, date they were moving home. Total breach of confidentiality not to mention what someone could do with that info.

so there’s that but also had people taking work calls on the quiet coach 🙄 and another talking loudly on a call over the announcements 😤 while the train driver was trying to explain an incident that was delaying us. All very obnoxious and selfish.

It could be annoying, but is it any more annoying than people on another table having an animated chat? I can’t work from. A public space - cafe, bar etc. but if I could, I probably would enjoy the change of scenery! In essence it’s a space for anyone to use, as long as they are using the facilities! I guess it’s similar to people wanting a quiet coffee & getting annoyed by a crying baby. It isn’t your ideal, but they have as much right to use the space

The point about a cafe is that it’s designed as a social space, a place to stop and refresh and perhaps meet up with friends. If people are paying to have space to work in a cafe, where’s the space for people who just want to have a coffee on their own or with a friend, when the tables are taken by lots of individuals working individually. They may as well be in an office.

I wouldn't be allowed to take work calls in a cafe. It's a public space though, and there are are all sorts of annoying thins that people do in public - I don't think this one is that much more annoying than any other. If they start shushing other people so they can hear work calls though, that would be bang out of order.

If it means the cafe can stay open, then it makes sense.