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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Working at a cafe without buying anything

200 replies

Overthebow · 04/03/2022 07:52

Yesterday I was at a cafe and a lady came in and sat down, set up her laptop and books and started to work. She had taken a glass of the free water but hadn’t bought anything. AIBU to think she was a CF?

OP posts:
Pyewhacket · 04/03/2022 09:42

@saraclara

This drives me mad. It's almost impossible to get a seat in the coffee places in my nearest town (which tend to be fairly small). The tables are all taken up by people working. While I don't examine every table, it definitely seems that they don't have any recent purchases on them. I've had to give up and leave so many times, and each time it's the cafe owner who has lost custom.
Locally owned cafe near where I work makes it perfectly clear that laptopers are only allowed on the tables outside, under the awning in the front. If you sit down inside and start working the owner will shut the laptop for you and ask you to leave. It's a busy place in a bustling area of London and he was losing paying customers because ppl were taking the piss and using it as an office. It's not, it's a business.
Jk987 · 04/03/2022 09:42

What's a CF? She definitely should be buying food and drinks for the whole time she's there though.

AngelinaFibres · 04/03/2022 09:43

@OneTC

Lots of cafes welcome people who need shelter or WiFi regardless of whether they can afford a coffee or not

No they don't

A particular chain of bookshops in University towns has started putting up signs requesting that people who are working on lap tops etc buy something every hour in order to remain at the table. It had got stupid. If you went in for coffee and cake on a Saturday every table would be taken by one or two students who had had 1 coffee each hours before. Its not a charity ,its a business. When you have finished your purchased food you settle up and leave so someone else can have a turn.In a carpark you pay for the time you want. An hour is far cheaper than all day. If you have paid for an hour your cannot expect to have 6 hours of parking. One tiny coffee doesn't buy you a table for 4 hours.
AChocolateOrangeaday · 04/03/2022 09:43

@girlmom21 unless you are the only person who lives in your local town, how on earth would that be "outing?"

starfishmummy · 04/03/2022 09:43

Very cheeky in my books.

Sadly I know people who do similar.

Joystir59 · 04/03/2022 09:44

I've been squint and homeless and still would never have done this. I would buy a large green tea and then ask for top ups of hot water so I could spend hours in warm comfort off the streets. I wasn't homeless for long enough to look or smell obviously homeless, unless you got close- my clothes did have a rough sleeping homeless smell. I still paid for something in cafes.

Georgeskitchen · 04/03/2022 09:44

Assuming that this cafe is a small business and not a charity drop in centre then customers must make a purchase in order to use the facilities. Signs are always up in cafes that customers may not consume their own food, so why would they think they can use the tables for free.?

girlmom21 · 04/03/2022 09:44

[quote AChocolateOrangeaday]@girlmom21 unless you are the only person who lives in your local town, how on earth would that be "outing?"[/quote]
Because people here love to link up old posts and connect the dots.

Jk987 · 04/03/2022 09:44

@OneTC

Lots of cafes welcome people who need shelter or WiFi regardless of whether they can afford a coffee or not

No they don't

How do the cafes make any money and pay their staff if this is the case?
CapMarvel · 04/03/2022 09:45

These “charity” cafes.

What's with the inverted commas? Places which care as much about social responsibility than profits do exist, you know.

The coffee shop round the corner from me allows jobhunters/ OAPS etc in after the lunch rush is done to use their wi-fi without charge.

girlmom21 · 04/03/2022 09:46

How do the cafes make any money and pay their staff if this is the case?

Because most customers are full paying customers and use the cafe for its intended purpose - clearly. They just won't turf people out who can't afford to. It creates a loyal customer base - those who can afford to support the local community and those who'll pay back kindness when they can afford to.

Silvershroud · 04/03/2022 09:46

She was the owner of the cafe.

CounsellorTroi · 04/03/2022 09:49

Lots of cafes welcome people who need shelter or WiFi regardless of whether they can afford a coffee or not

Maybe if they are church or charity run places. Even then if no one bought anything they’d be in trouble.

user1497207191 · 04/03/2022 10:00

If the cafe was busy and few free tables, then yes, she's unreasonable, but if it was quiet with lots of empty tables, I don't think the owners/management would be bothered at all - her being there costs them nothing when there are plenty of free tables. In fact, it's probably better to attract other customers if there's someone already in and people don't tend to want to be the "only" customers in a shop or cafe.

MintyFreshBreath · 04/03/2022 10:01

I can’t believe she want embarrassed! I feel embarrassed if I sit there for longer than about 20 minutes after my plates have been taken away, even if I’ve just had a 3 course meal and spent loads.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 04/03/2022 10:02

I guess she could have been the cafe owner!

But obviously it is CF for someone just to walk in off the street and do this

MargaretThursday · 04/03/2022 10:04

We have a café where I work and people do this.

We may ask them to leave. But we have a number who you would see do this but:

  1. They normally buy drinks/lunch and on this occasion they don't. We're not worried about the odd occasion.
  2. They pay for use of the table
  3. We are deliberately turning a blind eye (eg if we are aware that they are struggling to heat their home)
  4. They're known to us and if they make use of the building in other ways
  5. They're working for an organisation we wish to support (eg helping people find employment) and don't have an office/need to be in a public area (we tend to ask that they buy a coffee or something, but don't enforce it)
  6. They've come and asked nicely, and we're not busy at the time.
Wulfenite · 04/03/2022 10:06

So what if she can't afford coffee? If I can't afford cornflakes I don't walk into a store and take them off the shelf and nor would I expect to be given free workspace in a cafe. I've used coffee shops to work in pretty much all my adult life (usually not with a laptop, I couldn't afford one!) including times when I often head to skip a meals to be able to afford it. & yes I would often spend two or three hours there with my one coffee, but not at a time when it was busy, and not somewhere with limited space. Sure, maybe this person was even poorer than I was, but cafe owners have to make a living too, and with independents, a lot of them go under - profit margins aren't wide I don't think.

LightsoftheNorth · 04/03/2022 10:06

@girlmom21

It depends on her circumstances - which none of us know.
I disagree. It is a business, and every customer pays towards all the costs involved - utilities, business tax, staffing, furniture, crockery etc. There are libraries if people don't want to pay towards business owners costs.
newnameforthis76 · 04/03/2022 10:10

@girlmom21

It depends on her circumstances - which none of us know.
Unless her circumstances are that she is the owner of the café, it’s not OK.

If she needs to work or study somewhere for free, she can go to a library.

Lovemusic33 · 04/03/2022 10:10

Is there a chance she may work at the garden centre? She could have been doing some ordering or doing ok keeping for the garden centre?

I don’t think it’s an issue as long as the tables not needed for a customer who is buying something.

Sandinmyknickers · 04/03/2022 10:12

I think ypu are confusing a cafe with a library

Sandinmyknickers · 04/03/2022 10:14

Sorry not you OP, my phone keypad is acting up. I meant the lady (and @girlmom21) it's confusing it for a library

NotMeNoNo · 04/03/2022 10:21

Given it's part of a larger business, it's highly likely she worked for or was a business visitor (like a rep) to the garden centre. You have to have a lot of face to pitch up at a cafe as a normal punter and make yourself at home without buying a thing.

TabithaHazel · 04/03/2022 10:21

@Overthebow

There wasn’t a shortage of tables but it was very busy so not loads of free tables. It’s a fairly upmarket garden centre and everyone else there had bought at least drinks and I didn’t see anyone else working so she really stood out. I just think it strange not to even buy a drink, just take advantage of the free water that’s laid out for customers.
If there was no shortage of tables it wouldn't bother me. You must have been watching her quite intently to observe what she did and didn't do though, which is slightly odd in itself.