You’re out for a coffee, cake and people watching in a cafe, what annoys you and spoils the experience?

[Britpopbaby]

People who “talk” so loudly that even in a busy cafe you can follow their full conversation.

Also I'd like to add as I sit in (one of) my usual coffee shops - people sweeping up around you! Loudly! (Well before closing).

People who people watch spoil the experience. Mind your own business and stop staring at strangers.

Sticky floors.
Wobbly tables.
Draughts.
Too much AC.
Harsh lighting.
Tables where you can see the film left by the 'cleaning cloth'.
Sticky tables.
The smell of weed that lingers on users. It is legal where I live and clearly a lot of people take advantage of that.
Any smell from the loos that wafts around the dining area.
Dogs - depends on the dog.
Cats - I'm a fan of cats.
I don't care how ostentatiously people parent their children as long as they're not being unkind to them.

@ManateeFair You need to write screenplays, because this is absolutely bang on. I’ve met that family so many times. They’re always the one that appears to have just arrived from another planet, never having been in such an establishment before.

Loud people, performance parents. The 2 young women next to me in a coffee place on Saturday who were both loud and irritating due to their vocal fry.

@ManateeFair I know, right? My mum and I were in a cafe in Southwold last summer and there was a family like that in there, and my mum leaned over to me and whispered 'Christ almighty, if I found ordering tea and a bun that complicated I'd think I'd just stay at home.'

Children running around
Loud parenting
Groups of mums hogging tables entire day nursing one drink each
Dogs who lick everything (well behaved dogs I love to see)

Noise.
Nearly every cafe these days is designed for utility and not comfort - and this really impacts on the noise level for me too. When it's just cafeteria style hard tables and chairs, with no softer furnishings, it's so echoey and unbearable. Between the loud, jarring music, everyone shouting to have general conversation, cups clattering, the coffee machine screaming. It's just unbearable. I can't actually have a conversation.

Give me a comfy space that's set up a bit like a sitting room - some bookshelves to help absorb sounds, sofas and armchairs to get settled in, some very low BACKGROUND ambient music and soft lighting - I would be there. Used to be much more common, nigh on impossible to find now. And yes, I understand all the reasons why, from a business and profits perspective.

😂Never understood people watching myself, always got too much to do! If I'm in the coffee shop I'm either studying or desperately trying to wind down lol exhausted.

When there's no gluten free cake. Or there is but it's under a dome with and served with the same tongs as gluten cake.

Dogs. Shouldn’t be allowed in food establishments
especially barking dogs.

annoying kids who won’t/ can’t sit down
and the equally annoying parents who think ‘parenting’ is shouting ‘child’s name’ over and over

expensive rubbish coffee

Dogs. I don't care how quiet and well behaved they are, I don't want mutts anywhere near me when I'm eating indoors. It doesn't bother me if I'm sitting outside though.

Manatee, that is BRILLIANT
it is also the reason why I will NEVER work in catering again (have done quite a bit) , especially not 'family' pub or tea room. EVER again!
I work in a superstore now, and that's hard enough ('my little Jago got a paper cut from your display.. pls call first aid for a plaster.'... actual scenario.. child was NOT bleeding! and had destroyed my lovely display and thrown the remains all over the floor for the cleaner to sort)

Cakes that cost £5 for the piddliest size (I'm talking about you, tea room in West Wycombe) and amounts to about three crumbs when it arrives , partly hidden under ten napkins as server is obviously embarrassed

Oh and I hate when the place isn't warm enough and I have to keep my coat on. Bloody miserable.

Children running about. People that do t collapse pushchairs or park considerately- dsd has limited mobility and obstacles are a real challenge!

Some of us really are just enthusiastic parents

Has anyone mentioned staff just standing around talking when the place is full, there's a queue out the door and all the tables are piled high with garbage sitting in puddles of spilled drink/food?

Now don't get me wrong - people are allowed to chat, have their breaks etc, that's all fine. But if I go and ask for a table to be wiped or "can I have a cloth please?" so I can clean a spot please don't tut at me like I've been massively rude.

Oh and what about the staff member who told me that no I couldn't register my car that was in their car park and about to be fined as I wasn't the one who paid for the Starbucks.

I can physically feel my blood pressure going up at that scenario @ManateeFair 😆

Anyone on a laptop

Coffee shop working essential to freelancer lifestyle to prevent cabin fever. Most cafes where I live have a separate bit with bar stools and plugs if you want to work.

Headphones in, coffee, cake, work... Very peaceful on a rainy afternoon and much encouraged by our local cafes... As a seaside town they're often very quiet in the off season weekdays.

Because if the kid starts screaming you’ll be impacted a lot more 😂

This comes up in every single thread when performance parenting is mentioned.

"I love talking to my children". I mean, FFS. Do you seriously think we're not talking to our children because we can spot a performance parent?

It has been explained several times in the thread what the difference is...and yet you still come out with that.

Loud screaming children and their parents who leave a mess everywhere.

Very loud background music.

People not using earphones and watching videos on their phones