Working in Cafes

[manicinsomniac]

Can I ask the general concensus on the acceptability of this? I'm willing to accept IABU.

I'm a single mum of 3 girls with large age gaps. It's very difficult for me to get work done at home. During the holidays I spend a large amount of time in school where the children have loads of stuff to occupy them (hall, swimming pool, woods, dance studio, computer room etc. They aren't deprived!).

But at weekends I don't like to do this. We only get Sundays away from the place so I go a bit stir crazy if I go in Sundays too. At busy times of the year wonderful people take my 2 older children and then the baby and I go to a café and work. I don't have to go to the cafes, I just like to.

Usually I don't have a problem. I choose a range of different cafes, always buy more than one drink and always leave if it looks like getting busy.

Today I tried somewhere different which I'd heard was lovely but always empty. It was indeed quiet (not empty) but I made a big mistake. The only other people there were obviously tourists and the waitresses eyebrows went sky high when I got a laptop and exams out. Later I heard them muttering about 'not an office' and 'poor baby'.

My baby is 15 months old and had a drink and cookie in her high chair and some toys. She was babbling and playing (not especially quietly but the other 2 groups in there were families with more than one child).

I did 20 minutes work to be stubborn then left. Now I'm in my lovely village pub with its free wifi having several more drinks while my daughter plays on the grass. Much nicer. But I'm paranoid now!

What do you think - is it unreasonable to work in a café? Or did I just make a poor choice of café on this occasion and end up ruining a tourist atmosphere?

[scarlets]

Hipster types sit in my local arts centre cafe for hours with one coffee and a laptop. They treat it like a community centre. The place barely turns a profit and a lot of vulnerable people would miss it if it folded because there are great deals for students, pensioners and PIP claimants. I don't know why the management don't implement strict rules at busy times. A little tea room nearby won't serve drinks-only customers between 12 and 2.

So, I think that working in a quiet cafe for 20m when you've bought a coffee for yourself, and a cookie for the baby, is fine.

[OnIlkelyMoorBahtat]

I don't see any issues with you doing this. And if you can manage your work while looking after your baby then good for you; it's irrelevant if other people can't. Remember J. K. Rowling wrote most of the first Harry Potter in cafes with her baby in its pushchair!

Best of luck with your studies, you sound really committed