To be mad at Starbucks hosting a musical baby morning

[imnotreally]

My local Starbucks is located on the junction of an A road, just outside of town. People go there to work or to take business meetings. It also happens to be near the towns crematorium so a lot of mourners stop there for a coffee. I go because it’s a grown up coffee, away from the kids, I can have peace and quiet and think or work.

This morning I got there and half the seating was reserved. It turned out that a large portion of the seating area was being turned into a mother and baby/toddler group. Ok, fair enough but not really what you expect from a place where professionals meet. Then came the music. Loud kids music which involved clapping and singing along.

Am I being unreasonable to think they picked a totally inappropriate place and Starbucks are crazy to have arranged it?!

It's not a library, as I used to tell people who would tut at children in cafés, trains, buses and even the park (the park!!! Really!!)
Starbucks can do what they like with their space. Shame they don't pay their taxes (which is why I won't go there).

Sounds like a nightmare. Complain. How dare these cf's invade your quiet time.

'Leave the coffee shops to the grownups.'

Because mums aren't grown ups? Misogynist shit.

Got to admit I think the Starbucks in the city are generally crap and dirty so avoid anyway 😒

OP if your lucky you’ll find a good independent it’s probably cheaper and or nicer coffee !

lisahpost
But this music class would have been agreed with the establishment beforehand, so if they have agreed to do it, how are they being rude? Take it up with starbucks

YABU, it's a coffee shop, not a conference room or a posh hotel/restaurant.

YABU for going to Starbucks in the first place.

Yanbu.
Sounds as bad as a hen party in your usual pub. Awful.

I often have to have work meetings in coffee shops, but that's because I work with a lot of homeless people. We don't have a budget for hiring rooms for client meetings, and since austerity, the library opening hours have been decimated so that often isn't an option.

I would go elsewhere though, if I found there was toddler event going on. Same as I do when they're having "rhyme time" in the library.

lisahpost
Well said.

Its not the mums and babies meeting Id object to but the singing and fucking clapping and the music! This is what playgroups are for. Coffee shops will happily deliver to a playgroup if you want a decent coffee.

Yes I have had meetings in coffee shops. Local waterstones has an excellent coffee shop that has proven a great location for meetings. Plus I can browse books whilst waiting. win win.

some people have a problem with parents and children running around and making noise, taking over with their prams.

Someone upthread posted about her friend who was carrying a tray of hot coffee & spilt it over a toddler who ran into her.

The mums then blamed that poor woman even though it was entirely their fault.

Ignoring the noise for a moment, isn't that good enough reason for kids not to run round in coffee shops?

Like a pp mentioned I'm quite happy for toddler groups to be in Starbucks if it means that they stay away from the nice independent coffee shops where the coffee is better anyway.

Granny - I'm quite aware that the world doesn't revolve around me, thank you very much. However, it also doesn't revolve around those who sneer about those of us who work and, god forbid, take work seriously and don't think that children or mothers with their children, should always have priority.

Not ideal but I also found when I went in and spent quite a lot, we couldn't sit down to enjoy our drinks etc because all the tables were taken up by people with laptops and notepads spread out who refused to move up, whilst sat with a cup of tap water enjoying the free WiFi and comfy chairs!

Yay! Let the 'mums' who buy one coffee between 4 of them, bring their messy snacks for their noisy sprogs, take over the place with their prams and shit take over Starbucks and leave the nice, independent cafes to the rest of us. Win-Win! I deliberately chose cafes where it is nigh on impossible to get toddlers and that ilk in (or better yet, the ones that have signs that read, 'No unfolded prams).

@expatinscotland your contempt for 'mums' and children is a bit OTT.

Does no one else find it odd that parents are forever the villains on a parenting forum?

Mmmm, Starbucks for business is very common, never can you go in one outside a city centre and not see laptops etc, or just colleagues clearly having discussions about work (and not in a gossipy friends way), and I have met suppliers of my own in coffee shops as far more pleasant than the factory I work in, however everyone has the right to use for however they see fit. Me personally would meet another mum or two in one and try and personally entertain children but a whole mum’s and tots group, with music amongst the tables with hot drinks would seem an odd venue, but unfortunately they have as much right as you!

Check if they have a PRS licence and if not report them.

And don't go there again if you ever wish to use public services. Tax avoiders.

Noisy toddlers are everyone's nightmare. Who wants to be in the same room as them. Except when you have to be. That is their Mum. Other people's. No thanks.

They can do what the hell they want

Since when is a coffee shop a professional business meeting location- it smacks of unprofessionalism having a business meeting in public

THIS over and again.......

I don’t think there is a hierarchy of who takes precedence in residence at a chain coffee shop, and I have next to enough self important business wankers declaiming loudly into a mobile about their deals and confidential HR issues to love neither the ‘if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands’ brigade or the fat ties.

As posted my Thesecondtoast, I often meet clients in a coffee shop prior to going to a meeting. We don’t discuss business issues but it’s an easy way of getting to know a client in a more relaxed atmosphere. If a group of mums and babies are also there, no problem. If there isn’t room, we can try another coffee shop(no shortage in Central London).

Expat- conversely, we are a family of 5 who, when entering a café, buy drinks and snacks/ sandwiches all round, are done and dusted in 20 mins. Much better customers than lone laptoppers who can nurse one coffee for an hour....

Lady, I'm contemptuous of anyone who thinks everyone else doesn't mind being subjected to their fucking noise in a private business that's been established for any other reason besides producing loads of noise.

'Noisy toddlers are everyone's nightmare. Who wants to be in the same room as them. Except when you have to be. That is their Mum. grin Other people's. No thanks.'

This.

'Expat- conversely, we are a family of 5 who, when entering a café, buy drinks and snacks/ sandwiches all round, are done and dusted in 20 mins. Much better customers than lone laptoppers who can nurse one coffee for an hour....'

That's nice, dear. If you're bothered by customers doing that, however, why not inform the staff in your feedback? Some places, for example, put a stop to that by limiting customer access to WiFi to two hours.