To ask how long it’s acceptable to sit in a Costa or similar to work?

[Curious2021]

Obviously I’d buy a coffee/cake but what’s the kind of acceptable time limit?

I would say 30 minutes at this present time. Sitting in customers is limited because of social distancing, my view is everyone should consider others rather than hog a table for a day

Of course it makes a difference, 1 person sitting on a table for 2 or more people loses the shop trade. Ultimately cafes and restaurants need all seats occupied all day long. Not empty seats for one person taking stable for the day and only buy couple drinks

[quote NannyAndJohn]@SchrodingersImmigrant I have explicitly told those I manage that "home" means exactly that.

My team need to be on alert for impromptu Zoom meetings and also deal with sensitive client data. Working in a public place would be impractical and downright disrespectful.[/quote]
I agree with this tbf

[quote callmemaybee]@legotruck not to be nasty, but cafes have tables of differing sizes. No one’s hogging a table of 4 for themselves.[/quote]
I disagree, more often than not I see single people with a laptop taking the larger tables, spreading folders everywhere

WFH actually means work from home, otherwise it would be wfc (work from coffee shop).

@MimiDaisy11

I think it depends how busy it is. I'm thinking pre-covid as I haven't gone out to such places since as maybe it's not good to hang around so much. Before covid you'd get students etc in with laptops doing work for hours with just a tea or small thing. I'd sometimes go for a change of scenery to do some work.

I think the staff don't mind if you stay a while as it's not like their shift ends sooner if you go. And I imagine sitting for a longer time gives them less work to clean the tables etc. I'd never sit for a while in a small cafe like that though but Costa and Starbucks aren't going out of business anytime soon.

If everyone sat all day at tables only buying 1 or 2 drinks, they would go out of business

@HalzTangz

WFH actually means work from home, otherwise it would be wfc (work from coffee shop).

No, we’ve worked from home from long before anyone had heard the term Coronavirus. That ‘working from home’ is about our work base for travel and subsistence claims, tax, allowances and equipment. It’s not a prison sentence and sometimes we have to be away from home for work purposes. I’m in Oxford on Wednesday and will be meeting some of my team in a hotel coffee shop. I don’t care where my team work from really. They can go to a holiday cottage, stay at their mother’s, be in Starbucks or their car, as long as they can deliver their work and not pose too big a security risk.

If employers offer flexibility and understand meeting someone for a coffee whilst they work is good for morale and productivity, so much the better.

1 person sitting on a table for 2 or more people loses the shop trade. Ultimately cafes and restaurants need all seats occupied all day long.

In reality how many cafes are at full capacity non-stop? If a cafe is empty then someone sitting at a table for 2 is bringing in trade, not losing trade. It's not like if that person wasn't there, two people would just magically appear out of a puff of smoke. If that person wasn't there, the table would be empty. Some cafes actively encourage people to use them as working spaces, to fill in the 'off-peak' hours when they traditionally have fewer customers.

Cafes would far rather a table for two be occupied by one person, than go empty.

WFH actually means work from home, otherwise it would be wfc (work from coffee shop).

WFH is just shorthand for "working outside the office." Before Covid half my work was done on trains, planes, and airports.

Obviously some jobs involve working on secure documents, or involve Zoom meetings, both of which require privacy. But it's pretty easy to book a private working space if someone doesn't have a suitable working environment in their home, or just can't be productive at home.

I'm sure most bosses would far rather their employees work somewhere they'll be able to focus and get their work done, than make them try to balance their laptop on the sofa with kids running around or flatmates hogging the wifi.

In reality how many cafes are at full capacity non-stop?

Not non stop but for the majority of the day, but, remembering some are still opening an hour later and closing earlier. In order to comply with social distancing seating areas have also been vastly reduced, so where capacity was once 100 it may now be 50.

So, to answer your question..

Costa in my local supermarket

2 x Costa in town

Starbucks in town has had a line out the door every time I have walked past for weeks

We have 3 indy coffee shops on my daily walk - all high demand for seating.

Tesco cafe

Dobbies cafe

I don't know where you live with empty cages but it certainly isn't the same all over.

I live in London, plenty of cafes here are just dead outside of lunchtime. Maybe it's different in smaller towns.

I don't think anyone's said it's okay to hog a table if there's a line out the door, but some posters are acting like it's somehow morally wrong to work anywhere not your own living room, even if it's an empty cafe.

If everyone sat all day at tables only buying 1 or 2 drinks, they would go out of business

Yeah but since they're not going out of business it's not an issue. They also make plenty from takeaways. Like I said it depends on how busy it is. If it's close to empty or even half empty then there's no issue in sitting for a while with something small. I'm not going to feel sorry for Starbucks or Costa they do well. If they weren't doing well they'd have stricter policies.

NannyAndJohn

ohforarainyday
Why would you? Just work at home surely.

What are you supposed to do if you live in a bedsit without a desk, or have six noisy housemates?

If people no longer have to live near the office surely they can find something more spacious in a cheaper location?

PEAK MUMSNET

@HalzTangz

WFH actually means work from home, otherwise it would be wfc (work from coffee shop).

🙄

@NannyAndJohn
"If people no longer have to live near the office surely they can find something more spacious in a cheaper location?"

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[quote 00100001]@NannyAndJohn
"If people no longer have to live near the office surely they can find something more spacious in a cheaper location?"

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣[/quote]
But since people are being told they are being called back to the office left right and centre, who would take the risk of moving away anyway?

If everyone sat all day at tables only buying 1 or 2 drinks, they would go out of business

But they wouldn't just buy one or two drinks if they were there all day, would they? They'd maybe get some lunch, a few coffees, maybe a muffin or some cake etc.

And cafés don't just rely on sit-in trade - takeaways are where the money is as they don't need to worry about providing electricity (to charge items), cleaning tables, washing cups etc.