People who 'work' at cafe tables

[BeagleMum1]

Why do cafe's allow this? I'm sitting in a cafe and over half the tables are being sat at, by a single person on laptop, 'working'. These tables could seat up to 4 people. Some have bought a cafe drink but others are just sitting there without a drink or food.

They are table blocking and at busier times, will prevent other customers who might buy more drinks / food from getting a seat. AIBU?

Just ask them to share the table. Problem solved.

Who really wants to share a table? I don't. Esp if I'm meeting a friend for a catch up

If the cafe is only half full, then they aren’t preventing anyone else being there.

I’m sure if the cafe has a problem they’ll be asked to move / leave / buy something

If cafes care that much and feel they're losing revenue, they can allocate smaller areas for people who want to take up space and work.

With COL, round my way cafes wouldn't have much custom at all without people coming in to get some work done.

You say at busier times it will prevent people from getting a table, so I assume it’s not busy now? Maybe they won’t be there when it’s busy.

I’ll do this if I am travelling for work and have a couple of hours I have to wait somewhere. I look for somewhere quiet, and if it gets busy I move on.

they are providing the cafe with income. Not all of them are the stay for hours without buying more than the cheapest drink.

As a WFH person this might be the only time I get out of my house in the week! I don't take the piss though.

And let's be honest, when people use a table in a coffee shop, even when not working, we usually avoid that table anyway (I'd prefer not to sit with a stranger unless absolutely necessary).

I do get it from the table hogger perspective though. e.g. someone comes in and stays all day buying one coffee. that's not on.

But a couple of hours out of the house is great.

Tip for anyone WFH who needs to escape sometimes - working in a pub in the daytime can often be cheaper, quieter and less crowded! I often head to my local on weekdays, grab a lime and soda, and one of the many empty tables for a couple of hours. Often better than coffee shops!

Cafe's allow it and many actively encourage it because in a cost of living crisis less people are visiting cafes etc so they are appealing to the newish WFH customers as a source of revenue.

This is the cafe's concern, not yours.

Cafes presumably see the value of loyal repeat customers and if it didn't work out financially for them they have options to discourage it.

People working from laptops also makes for a peaceful, calm cafe, certainly in comparison to the dreaded "family-friendly" environment (where no one exactly buys much either).

Not much different to someone meeting a friend and nursing the same coffee for an hour or so

They’re not blocking other people from getting seats atm from your “busier times” comment so what’s the issue?

Regular people who come in 2/3/4 times a week, buy a few things and do some work give a cafe a regular income. Hence why cafes allow it. If they were bad for business the cafes would move them on.

My local cafe probably allows it because I keep coming back I’ll generally have a breakfast when I arrived (food and drink) and then get another drink or two until I leave.

When you work in the same place regularly, you start noticing the pattern of busyness of the place. My local one gets busy when it first opens with the workers so not many actually staying, then another lull just past school run o’clock and then it gets quite busy with people wanting to sit at lunchtime - I tend to leave when the lunchtime rush starts.

Lots of cafes encourage this, espeically during the day when it's quieter. Some even offer free refills (I guess they hope that the workers will buy lunch, snacks, etc). So I think you are assessing how this impacts business incorrectly.

Come on. We all know they take up a space and sit with an empty cup close by. Really annoying. They should work from home, at home.🙄

YABU. Cafes like these people, especially independent ones. They help make the place look busy/popular at quietbtimes and they normally but at least 2 confess and lunch. They are effectively the reliable regulars. My friend had recently opened a cafe and he's out in high speed WiFi to specifically attract this market. He says they spend more on average than the people that come in and just get a takeaway coffee.

Just sit on the table with your mate

Impacting on other potential customers is more to the point. I’m

Ignore “I’m”.

I do this. Quite often I've been there for a while and already spent £25-30 on two or three drinks and a plate of lunch. I work in the same 2-3 cafes so bring them £100s of pounds of business a month.
They're not going to move me on so you can have one latte. Sorry! Regulars do get special treatment.

Perhaps you could apply for a job in the cafe, if it bothers you so much and you’d like to be able to tell other customers whether they can come in and where they can sit.

The cafe cares about overall income, not that an individual customer that probably won't come back finds people working on their laptop annoying. Working people have the time and money to spend in the cafe which is what the business owners want.

Or maybe open your own laptop free cafe Op!

If the cafe is sensible, they'll have an arrangement where these customers have to buy something every hour or so, or spend a certain amount during the day. It's a balancing act, if people see an empty cafe, they're likely to think the food and drinks aren't up to much, so probably won't dine there. You also don't want to encourage people who will take the piss and use your electric and WiFi for free and bring in their own food and drinks, so they don't need to buy anything.

Also, they probably are working. Not "working".

a lot of cafe trade now is people working from there on computers.

It's not much different to someone sat their reading or a couple of friends nursing a coffee for a couple of hours. I assume, if the cafe was busy and they weren't buying anything, they'd be asked to make a move.