Working at a cafe without buying anything

[Overthebow]

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?

@Blossomtoes oh I didn't realise you know this woman definitely doesn't work there, hadn't asked permission and doesn't know the owner.

There are loads of cafes (chains and independent) around here and not one of them has any sort of agreement that people can just sit in them without buying anything and work on their laptop.
Having been closed for months at one point I would imagine they are concentrating on getting paying customers in to cover some of their losses.

I didn’t realise you knew her either 🤷‍♀️

@Blossomtoes

I didn’t realise you knew her either 🤷‍♀️

I don't - hence why I said we can't know without knowing her circumstances

Sounds like it has been decided that the woman definitely knew the owner, and definitely had permission. Or the cafe is some sort of charity shelter where nobody has to buy anything anyway.

I own a cafe, we monitor how long people are on tables, especially laptop users. We would have asked within 30 mins if they planned to buy anything.

I would feel less bad about doing this if it was Starbucks - but in an independent it's a definite no no.

Kinda rude!

@Sparklingbrook

Sounds like it has been decided that the woman definitely knew the owner, and definitely had permission. Or the cafe is some sort of charity shelter where nobody has to buy anything anyway.

No, it sounds like nobody knows so shouldn't be calling her a cheeky fucker

I've seen this before. At the garden centre cafe in Trentham Gardens, a man sitting opposite reading his newspaper with a flask of tea and food bought somewhere else. What amazed me was he was very open and blatant about it. It's a big place and he chose to quite close to the counter. I wouldn't dream of it.

[quote girlmom21]@Blossomtoes oh I didn't realise you know this woman definitely doesn't work there, hadn't asked permission and doesn't know the owner. [/quote]
@girlmom21 - and you know this information how??!

@stripeyflowers

I've seen this before. At the garden centre cafe in Trentham Gardens, a man sitting opposite reading his newspaper with a flask of tea and food bought somewhere else. What amazed me was he was very open and blatant about it. It's a big place and he chose to quite close to the counter. I wouldn't dream of it.

@stripeyflowers - I bet the staff don't dare say anything as they don't want a scene and think he might (probably won't) buy something which is not cafe related like a shovel to dig himself into a hole in the ground!

@Realitydawning98

If it was my coffee shop I would ask her to leave. She’s using wifi , electricity and the facilities while blocking a table that could be income generating. Total cf

@Realitydawning98 - there's a lovely cafe near me which also sells plants - there is seriously no way for people to sit on laptops! Never noticed them there.

But there's outside seating on the window seats and this was attracting everyone - including people they didn't want there - but obviously they tried to be nice about it. You have a few options either you ask people nicely to move (with offer of hot drink and cake) or you don't.

The lovely chocolate shop cum cafe also near me has seating in and outside but the lovely owners I'm sure would say something if people sat there all day on laptops - and the owners really are nice.

[quote girlmom21]**@Gonnagetgoing* are you actually thick? I've said a hundred times I dont know* and neither does anybody else so we can't knows she was being a CFer [/quote]
@girlmom21 - I just saw your reply. But you like being rude don't you? Seen it before on other posts....

@Gonnagetgoing maybe read the full thread before using your sarcastic emotes?

Its not rude to get irritated by people repeatedly asking the same stupid questions.

@ClemFandangoo

I totally agree but then I think that coffee shops in general need to do something about people working in them. In my town you can hardly get a seat for all the people sat there hogging seats with their laptops.

One coffee shop has now made a designated area for people working which is chargeable by the hour. Means that people coming in can get a seat and if you need to work it’s a quiet space with no need to buy anything as cost is covered.

A restaurant near me does something like this but you can sit anywhere that’s not reserved. It’s a popular brunch and dinner place but last year started doing daily, weekly or monthly hot desk passes. You get unlimited tea or coffee included.

@girlmom21 calling someone thick is incredibly rude.

[quote Sparklingbrook]**@girlmom21 calling someone thick is incredibly rude.[/quote]
@Sparklingbrook - she is rude... seen it on other threads.

Seems to think I should be reading the entire thread looking for her replies... That's a sarcastic emote for ya @girlmom21

[quote girlmom21]@Gonnagetgoing interestingly I've just seen you on another thread asking questions that have already been answered. I guess we both have our flaws 🤷‍♀️[/quote]
@girlmom21 - yeah cos I should scroll through the entire thread to look for replies yeah??!!

course I should .

@Gonnagetgoing if you think im rude on numerous threads feel free to report me and im sure @mnhq will deal with it accordingly 🤷‍♀️

Yeah hun it's the same emote you used when I mentioned the sarcastic emote before 😘

@Gonnagetgoing you shouldn't quote people without looking for their other responses for this exact reason but you do you.