To wish people wouldn't chat in coffee shops

[SybilEngineer]

Sitting in Costa with a latte choc muffin and my iPad. Can't concentrate because I'm surrounded by people yattering on about the Queen's birthday celebrations, their ailments in too much detail, conducting interviews for dodgy sounding jobs and making loud phone calls.

AIBU to wish they'd STFU and let me enjoy my coffee in peace?

Yoko!

Did he perchance hear you saying, "I wonder what time the bugger will turn up today?"

pointless but then the OP wouldn't have an excuse to whinge at the main point of going to a coffee shop... The Costa pods are so much nicer than the in-store coffee.

Could you all keep it down. I can practically hear you typing responses.

I've got coffee to drink here in peace!

I can't hear myself think in most coffee shops, never mind what another person's saying

All I can hear is the constant din of that flipping machine, baristas bashing away on it and whooshing noises, all amplified by hideous acoustics created by the lack of soft furnishings.

DH and I had to leave the local Starbucks (empty though nearby independent place was packed - now I know why) clutching our poor ears. As well as that bloody machine there's a constant racket of heavy wooden chairs being dragged over tiled floor. And everybody has to shout above it to make themselves heard. Do the people who design their interiors ever try sitting in one for ten minutes?

Worra my mother would let "bastard" pass but scream "Napkin! Its a napkin darling!"

I'm with you, OP.

And I'm deadly serious.

worra I believe I said 'the bugger had better not ask me for a coffee, I'm not a fucking bastard'

at Worra and Just.

Noise cancelling earplugs...

I had to abandon shop as it was invaded by a bunch of mums and toddlers. There was lots of loud performance parenting going on - they were definitely MumsNetters!

I'm a Starbucks addict but I choose which one I go to. (Lots of choice where I live.) Some are where you'd go for a quiet coffee, others you know are going to be noisy. I hate it when mothers take their pre-schoolers to a coffee shop and either expect them to sit quietly (like that's going to happen!) or let them run around wildly. Why don't they just take some toy cars/dolls/soldiers/colours/puzzles ffs?

Yanbu

I don't mind a bit of chit chat and hubbub, but I hate people conducting meetings in public.

A pp is right these pkaces are not peacefulthere is dragging chairs the wooosh of the machines etc etc so i wouldnt go into costa for a quiet coffee anyway people just go to use the wifi really not have a quiet cuppa

I'm a costa addict (hence the user name)

Take earphones. Does the trick for me on my most antisocial days. Otherwise, just get to get used to the fact we co-exist with other chatty people.

sometimes I love hearing others conversations. But I am a right nosy cow haha

As much as I am not a people person. Yes YABU, it's a coffee shop, not a library.

I'm always aghast when someone suggests going for a coffee together.

No way! Coffee shops are for drinking coffee, eating cake, using their wi-fi. If someone wants to chat with me they can call in for a cuppa, join me on a dog walk or - better still - text me.

YANBU Coffee shops are for drinking your coffee in, not for idle chit chat!

"Excuse me Mummy but please could you ask the bastard behind the counter, for a serviette?

I too am sanguine about 'bastard' but clutching my Nancy Mitford heirloom pearls at 'napkin'.

I meant at 'serviette', obviously...

Coffee shops are for using wifi in silence, was that what you said? Can't hear clearly, the shades of Dr Johnson are howling in my ear.

On a more productive note, around here you could get one of those chilled coffees and take it into the university library for peace and quiet: they now allow food and drinks as long as it is not Hot Food. Because, as we all know, only Hot Food stains books. The first time I went in after the ban I spotted a chocolate éclair on a shelf. Wasn't hot, so that was all right then.

Aristotle I suspect those days are gone unfortunately :o publicdomainreview.org/2013/08/07/the-lost-world-of-the-london-coffeehouse/

I haven't been to a Costa since about 2012 - there are only independent bakery/ cages and cafes and café bars in our nearest town [pretends to be posh rather than living in a 1950s esque backwater :o ]

Cafés not cages... independent cages was not what I meant... ... thpugh perhaps they would be interesting and a bit scandalous ... cue another thread about people who never preview when posting from phones...

Actually soundproof cages sound a good idea the op could sitin peace

Sounds like there's a market for quiet coffee-drinkers. Perhaps someone should make an equivalent café to the train's "quiet carriage"!

On my high street there are over 10 coffee shops

Starbucks and the two costa coffees are always the busiest. I avoid them at all costs. Don't you have another coffee shop you can go to?