to be annoyed at people being on their laptops forever in busy coffee places?

[olimpia]

Alright, this time I expect the flaming so won't be as shocked as last time!

I was in a very busy Pret today with very limited sitting and half of the tables where occupied by people working on laptops or doing their coursework leaving no-where for others to sit!
I'm not saying it's never ok to occupy a table in a coffee place but surely people should use their common sense and move on if there are people standing and waiting to sit down?

YABU. I've never seen anyone stay for hours and hours nursing one coffee whilst on their laptop.

They're just as entitled as anyone else.

Because they're all full of people with laptops where I live?

YANBU - I used to go into my Starbucks opposite a certain TV station's headquarters quite often when I lived in central London, it was near my GPs and the local playground and on the way back from toddler group so also used by a lot of mums n tods. Always full of glossy media types brain storming or whatever it is they do for hours, taking all the best seats, and glaring at the noisy kids and their less glossy mums

It's really quite rude if they are there for hours, I agree, it's something you see A LOT in London (I guess at least London has the advantage of having lots of other places you can go to.)

Sometimes I sit on my laptop drinking coffee, but if there were people waiting I'd leave. It's only fair.

I got tutted, muttered and glared at by a knobhead on his laptop at a coffee shop today because I dared to sit down with ds2 on the next sofa along. Ds2, 18m, wad chattering and giggling. After knobhead sighed and glared again, we sang a rousing rendition of ' wheels on[ the bus' - that saw him off

I think the thread needs to be changed to being annoyed by ANY groups / individuals hogging the seats in coffee shops for hours nursing one cup of coffee!

Do you hear that newspaper readers? Although I have to say it is usually the ones with laptops in my local stores. They usually have a dribble in a cup and don't touch it the whole time. My son goes to Starbucks to use their wifi when I am delayed picking him up after school or in the evening. It is safe, warm and I have made it very clear to him that he only gets to stay there while consuming something and not to take the piss.

If there are no other seats I will ask someone to move their books and bags so I can share the table. I am polite but if someone makes a song and dance about it or gets huffy I mess with them.

"ooh what are you working on? Are you studying? Oh that's nice isn't it. (pause) what are you studying/where do you work? Oh it must be so hard to do that in a noisy place like this."

Coffee shops are trying to be the "Third Place" - they want people to do this. If people are buying coffees etc then I don't see the problem.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

Oh and the cheekiest I've ever seen was a big group of loud ?students? Working on a group project taking up two of three tables each with a free glass of water. Call me a busybody but I said something. I got a thank you and a free cup of tea for my efforts.

Our local Starbucks has a meeting table you can actually reserve. I'm amazed that it actually gets used.

Mums with babies are far far worse than thise with laptops or books. But unfortunately even they have a right to be there if they are buying.

Maybe they should set up a system. A small coffee gets you 30 minutes, a medium 45, and a large buys you a whole hour. With five minutes added on to each for every food item.

The part of London where I live used to be v much young, groovy laptop-havers, now it's turning a bit screaming children.

With the usual ineffectual "Abby, don't. Don't do that, darling. Don't" while I attempt to drink a coffee in peace.

Nothing against kids in cafes at all, but they don't need to run around. That's what parks are for.

Your system would work, Outraged but it'd be hard to police. After 30 minutes, are the staff really going to want to kick someone out? It doesn't really lend itself to a relaxing atmosphere, because there'd always be knobs who abused it.

Its a secret plot to ensure there are no seats for the buggy-mummy brigade. Laptops Rool OK!

Well it pees me off too.

One person with one laptop, nicks comfiest sofa, spreads notes out all over table and said sofa, and seems to settle in for a morning or afternoon. 6 people doing that doesn't leave much seating choice for the rest of us. I mentioned this to dp a couple of weeks ago. All sofas full of one person and assorted notes/laptops, and me, dh, and dd crammed round miniscule table on spindly chairs.

Should be a time limit imo, but I am a grumpy old cow.

How would you know they've been nursing one coffee for hours ? I've spent all afternoon in coffee shops before and I just get a new coffee when I've finished one. Usually in the same cup. So you would have no way to tell whether I had nursed a single espresso for 3 hours or had, in actual fact, eaten a toasted sandwich, cake, bag of crisps, 3 large caramel lattes and a bottle of water - because if I'd been there for ages they would have cleared it away

yellow I think outraged was actually taking the piss...
It's not about how much people consume, it's the length of the stay IMO. In a place like a restaurant it'd be fine to occupy a table for an hour or so but in a tiny Starbucks it is not IMO. They could at least offer to share the table but instead very often they bury their faces in the laptop hoping that way people won't have the cheek to ask if they can sit there...
They could at least go upstairs or not take the most easily accessible seats!

Well I guess it goes back to the old debate of "if you spend more surely you're more entitled to the table" argument that has been had on here before.

oh

What can I say, I have a Germanic side. I enjoy order, and if you had that system in Germany, people would obey it to the letter.

It's up to the coffee shop to decide whether it's acceptable or not as it's their business - you can stay or leave, that's your decision. YANBU to be annoyed by it, we are all allowed to be annoyed by anything we want, no matter how petty it is :)

Ohdear. Perhaps I could replace the word table with sofa. I long to sit on those squashy brown sofas in Starbucks. Long with an urequited passion. I have never actually managed to sit on one, as they are always occupied by laptop hogger.

I would be happy if laptops were confined to said spindly table which I was forced to sit on. Then I could feed my sofa habit

.

chipping a coffee shop would not tell people to move on like they do in restaurants in America. That's not the point. People should be sensible enough if space is limited and people are standing with their trays full.

If the coffee shops provide the service of fre wifi then it;s up to them surely. After all they coud issue a time limited connection on your reciept when you pay but they choose not to.

One of those laptop table hogger could well be the next JK Rowling beavering away. :)

YANBU

I went into a very busy Starbucks in Birmingham with DH and DS. We queued for fifteen minutesand the whole time "Business Exec'" was sat hogging a table with TWO sofas, with about an inch left of his wankerchino. He didn't drink it up because then he would have had to have bought another drink or vacated the table. He was still there when we left. Tossbag.

All the more reason to ban them, NovackNGood ;)