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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be mad at Starbucks hosting a musical baby morning

379 replies

imnotreally · 16/01/2018 12:46

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?!

OP posts:
wowfudge · 16/01/2018 16:20

Let's face it, if you had to hire a meeting room elsewhere it would cost you money. You've been using Starbucks as an extension of your office for free, or the price of a coffee or two. When it comes down to it, Starbucks isn't a business centre or a community facility - it's a retail outlet. I am willing to bet the parent and baby group spent quite a bit more than those people using the place as an office/meeting room do.

StickThatInYourPipe · 16/01/2018 16:22

I bet most posters would have a fit if they knew their DH was meeting someone for a drink in a bar or pub

Lol I’ve met clients in hotels! Dp doesn’t give a shit, probably becuase I moan about it so much if it’s fair away he is well aware of where I’m going and who I’m meeting.

If you are honest/your dp is honest, I can’t see why this would be a problem at all!

Aspatria · 16/01/2018 16:25

Ivymaud
I happen to be female, to have a current job and meet clients in coffee places. I also happen to hear discussion from the male elements of my team about females they meet in bars and for diner.

At the very least I am talking about my current experience. It's not based on my opinion, it's based on facts. Believe what you want, I stick to what works for me and my business Grin

Ivymaud · 16/01/2018 16:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StickThatInYourPipe · 16/01/2018 16:28

Exactly Ivymaud

Also please excuse my awful spelling! Fully flued up with a cracked phone screen Sad

Aspatria · 16/01/2018 16:30

The problem is not my DH Grin
You misunderstand my point completely. It doesn't matter, I am not changing the way I work because some random doesn't agree on MN.

notsohippychick · 16/01/2018 16:32

city I’m not sure why but the ‘professionals’ comment made me titter too!!!

This whole thing is just silly!!! Go somewhere else next time!! It’s no big thing!

Jjou · 16/01/2018 16:35

Most adults going to a coffee shop for drink aren't going to be thrilled at experiencing a musical baby morning. YABU for staying - I would've run out of there so fast. Urgh. I didn't want to experience them when my kids were tiny, no fucking chance now they're older. It would be interesting to see whether it does have an impact on business if it were a regular thing. I guess sbux don't owe any of their regular customers anything really.

StickThatInYourPipe · 16/01/2018 16:35

The problem is not my DH grin
You misunderstand my point completely. It doesn't matter, I am not changing the way I work because some random doesn't agree on MN

My point was solely in relation to the quote stating most of us here wouldn’t like our dhs to meet people for drinks in pubs and bars Confused

I bet most posters would have a fit if they knew their DH was meeting someone for a drink in a bar or pub

Ivymaud · 16/01/2018 16:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

crunchymint · 16/01/2018 16:50

Couldn't care less if my DP met someone in a pub. Would be very surprised if he went to a club though and suspect that a nearly 60 year old man would look rather out of place there.

Steaksauce · 16/01/2018 16:52

Not sure why meeting someone at a coffee shop is "unprofessional"
Not everyone has a cushy office to have meetings in. My dad used to manage a team of reps who were spread over a massive area and he regularly met up with them at service stations (no Starbucks in those days) to discuss sales etc. Where else were they meant to go?

My local pub has these Mum and music events, it's quite annoying as I think a pub is (or should be) an adult space.

Snowdrop18 · 16/01/2018 16:57

This isn't really about Starbucks, it's about the fact that there's nowhere to go in the day that is adults only. I remember when coffee shops were for adults, people had work meetings there all the time.

You can't escape from children anywhere.

ScreamingValenta · 16/01/2018 17:00

Starbucks as a business can do whatever it deems most profitable. It's their loss if they lose customers who use the venue for work meetings, or those who find noisy children irritating or distracting. Presumably they have made a commercial decision to host the baby group - if other customers desert in droves, I doubt they'll do it again.

I'm childfree - a baby group wouldn't bother me if using the venue socially, though it would put me off trying to hold a meeting there.

JaceLancs · 16/01/2018 17:07

I meet clients, colleagues and fellow professionals wherever is convenient
I work for a small charity who run a county wide support service from one tiny office therefore most of my team are also home based
We use costa Nero Starbucks supermarket cafes independents hospitals libraries etc
Our coffee spend is still a lot less than hiring meeting rooms which vary from £10 to £50 an hour

JaceLancs · 16/01/2018 17:09

Forgot to add the only thing I would object to in OP scenario would be the music and that would be the same if I was of any age and just meeting DP or a friend for coffee

Sephi1 · 16/01/2018 17:11

It can be difficult can't it, Snowdrop. It's too noisy and chaotic in ordinary coffee shops.
You can find places largely child free, but they will be more expensive than Starbucks and Pret. For an informal meeting, my husband or I use a city centre cafe/bar, selling food and good vegan and vegetarian food. It's full of people conducting business (and with their work and laptops) and you're sure to bump into somebody there. Set up of the interior plus; oak, stone floors and low lighting doesn't seem to appeal to families.

LunchBoxPolice · 16/01/2018 17:15

Is "I only drink at independent coffee shops" the new "I'm vegan"..?

SpringBlossom2018 · 16/01/2018 17:20

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

Sorry but I agree too. Never had a business meeting in a Starbucks. I can understand the annoyance. Wanting a quite coffee and being ambushed by the wheels on the bus on loop isn't my idea of a peaceful morning either but YA being a bit U.

ObiJuanKenobi · 16/01/2018 17:27

Sounds annoying but then so is trying to have a quiet coffee out and someone loudly on a phone/Skype meeting.
Have a coffee to go and sit and be miserable all alone in your car if you want silence.
Live and let live.

JacquesHammer · 16/01/2018 17:32

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

i work from home. I would never invite a potential client to my home, far easier to meet at a mutually convenient place.

I am always, however, mindful of the setting and order appropriate amounts of food/coffee!

Snowdrop18 · 16/01/2018 17:37

Sephi, glad you found somewhere
It's impossible round here and never guaranteed

If you freelance and don't want to have clients at home - which is more of a common situation now - then it's really difficult

I don't understand how children have taken over everywhere, even pubs and bars allow them in the day. I prefer to Skype now because I'm lost for meeting venues unless I stump up a fortune for some kind of serviced office that I don't need.

Baby singing also put infant DC off the local library. Does any child learn anything from it anyway? I don't know any parents who take their babies either but maybe it's a case of birds of a feather etc.

Yvest · 16/01/2018 17:39

I bet most posters would have a fit if they knew their DH was meeting someone for a drink in a bar or pub

I can safely say that he regularly meets business contacts for a drink in a bar after work and I couldn’t give a stuff. Why would I?

DreamyMcDreamy · 16/01/2018 17:47

Meh. I can't get worked up over it. If you don't like it, find somewhere else more to your tastes, surely?
It's a coffee shop, it's not "for adults", it's for anyone.
I personally wouldn't have attended a baby group in a coffee shop (hot coffee and nowhere to run around!) but if people do, that's up to them.
People hogging tables for hours with laptops are just as annoying.

sixteenapples · 16/01/2018 17:53

I freelance. No office. Often clients have no offices either as also freelance. Cofffee shops, Starbucks, Pret a Manager - they are our premises.