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?!

‘Business meetings’ in coffee shops sounds like the kind of thing MLMers do when they’re —brainwashing— recruiting

What a silly thing to say.

The world of work is changing a lot and it's more and more common to meet in cafes, brainwasher or not.

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

put it another way, if I meet a supplier or a candidate, I don't necessarily want to fuss with a full lunch, or even have time for one. I am more than happy to pop out of the office for 30mn for a coffee.
Some of my guys meet for a beer. Being female, I prefer a coffee. (plus I hate beer, but that's irrelevant)

For some reason, strikethrough has stopped working on iPad. I think it now autocorrects two short dashes to one long one and confuses the code.

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not that private indeed Ivymaud but it works out just fine and it's very common and accepted in SOME professions.

Ivymaud
Being female has everything to do with it. It doesn't sound the same if I invite someone for coffee, or ask him to meet me for a glass of wine. Once we know each other, it's different, but I bet most posters would have a fit if they knew their DH was meeting someone for a drink in a bar or pub.

"coffee" avoids any awkwardness.

I was in Cafe Nero the other day and all the tables were taken up by people using laptops and not a coffee between them. I got filthy looks for trying to have a conversation with the friend I was with.

No no no. Starbucks is my place of quiet peace.

In my shame I did the glaring at children running around a coffee shop last week. Ironically we had my friends 5 year old with us but we had equipped her with earphones and a phone lol.

I'm thinking MN is not your target audience for this post OP.

I'm thinking MN is not your target audience for this post OP.

Half the people on mumsnet don’t even have kids.

Ivymaud
I disagree with you and "do you want to grab a coffee" does not sound the same as "meet me for a drink". Most of the time, it will be fine, but it's easier for me to stick to coffee shops, especially abroad.

But apart from that, how is a hotel or bar any more professional than a coffee shop anyway?

I do have kids which is why I value a kid free coffee.

I wish mother and toddler groups would set up somewhere where they don't disturb others, say a village hall. I don't want to listen to baby singing etc, on the rare occasion I go for a coffee.

There should be more kid free zones.

Why is it OK for people to hold business meetings in Starbucks but it's not OK for mums to hold baby musical groups?

If the coffee shop is happy for their premises to be used for anything other than, well, drinking coffee and having a quiet chat, then so be it

Personally I find both the business meetings and the babies equally annoying

I was in a Starbucks in the city recently and there were three people in there I assume from a HR department discussing how they were going to dismiss someone..On another table was a recruiter and I assume a client slagging off a rival recruitment company for all to hear. Totally unprofessional!

Baby group, yes quite annoying but I get why they might hold them there and it's probably a good use of the space during a quiet Tuesday morning.

I often meet clients in Starbucks for a coffee, never occurred to me that it might not be appropriate. IMO it's a perfectly feasible place to have a coffee and a half an hour discussion. Seems most people in the City feel similarly as their starbucks are full of people, erm, having meetings.

Equally I never knew starbucks isn't for kids, well you learn something new every day. I've always popped in their with my kids, since they were tiny for a coffee, for a tuna panini or a smoothie. I'm sure that, unless my eyes deceive me that it's always packed to the rafters with children.

An adult only, special treat place which is kids and business people free. Who knew?

What's the "no joy" radius of a crematorium then?

I'd never take one of my clients to Starbucks, McDonalds etc. & if someone sent me an invite for one they wouldn't create a good impression!

I can see why Starbucks agreed to this because its another market for them and the bottom line to them counts.

The problem is that what you suggest Oblomov can cost a pretty penny and make the whole meeting up scenario uneconomic as a result. Its not as simple as just renting a hall space either, public liability insurance also comes into play here. Such places also require heating and lighting and the money for that needs to come from somewhere as well. I have not mentioned car parking and that would be needed too.

I wish mother and toddler groups would set up somewhere where they don't disturb others, say a village hall.

Maybe people who relish peace and quiet and coffee should hire out the village hall and be served in monastic silence?