Would you move tables at a Cafe?

[Southlondoner88]

So I’m inclined to say before I begin that maybe I was being a bit unreasonable but with good reason.

I am studying for really intense exams this week, had to get myself out of the house before I go insane so I came to a local Cafe Nero to do some work and have lunch. I chose a booth for 4 people partly because it was the only seat available when I first came in that looked comfortable and in the quiet area down the back. I would never sit at large booth on my own if this was a restaurant or a pub but it’s a chain, a lot of people do this and I see it all the time.

I was in deep intense study, earphones on, feeling great about myself and my productivity when a woman with her husband and adult child (I’m assuming) came to tap me on the shoulder. She asked if I could sit in the booth on the other side of me, there no please, excuse me or even a smile. I thought about it for a second, this is something I would normally agree to, I have previously swapped bus seats or airplane seats so children can sit together etc and would normally do this without being asked. If they were elderly or had toddlers/ babies or even if they just seemed nice I may have moved as I am a genuinely a nice person(people pleaser). However, after a quick scan of the situation, I politely declined and said I need this booth as there’s a charging socket here. I also didn’t really think they absolutely needed it, there were other seats/ tables free but I guess they wanted a booth. I also might have been persuaded if she was polite but I found her tone quite rude from the beginning and I was proved right because as soon as I declined, she said ‘so your just going to take up a booth because you need to charge your laptop?’ I then just said no again and turned away to which I was then called an ‘arrogant bitch.’ They clearly wanted an argument so I tried to ignore. They sat down at the booth in question and just pulled another seat over so it’s not as if they had nowhere to sit. They also sat there for no longer than 10 minutes and when they left, the woman turned to me and said ‘ hope you have a really shit rest of the day,’ again in a very aggressive tone.

I just think wow, it’s a public, chain cafe where seats are first come, first serve.. why on earth would you even bother someone clearly busy and comfortable when you only wanted to sit there for 10 minutes.

Also I’m not the only one here who is taking up extra space, there’s a couple opposite me sitting at a table for 6. I don’t know why they targeted me, probably because I’m a lone woman and look quite young for my age (been told this and still get ID’d in my 30’s.

it’s really annoyed me and I felt a bit shaky as I hate confrontation.

sorry excessively long post but think it needed context!

Well I will give you a clue straight from a friend who is a manager of one of the above coffee shop chains. They take a VERY dim view of entitled people with a superiority complex, taking up a table (or booth) that could fit in FOUR people, to spend 3-4 hours doing their oh-so-special, big important job.

And I am pretty sure NO-ONE spending time in a coffee shop and using it as their personal office, spends £25 in 2 hours as you claim you do. Even if they did, the coffee shop would make WAY more money from half a dozen sets of four people who would occupy that booth for the 2 hours that the ONE person is using it.

Any one person taking up a booth for 4 for a number of hours (like the OP,) is breathtakingly entitled, and arrogant, and rude. Problem is, these coffee shops are usually run by very young adults who are too scared to challenge people. And the rude and entitled 'my job is soooo important' brigade know that.

As an owner of a coffee shop, you have no idea how much we dislike people using our premises as an office.

Taking up 4 seats, buying a water, or sometimes not even that ‘just a tap water’ charging all your gear up, shushing other customers….its a very long and boring list. Libraries still exist, use them, or an even better idea ? You have Wi-Fi and electricity at home. Use that.

Haven't read the whole thread, but am I the only one thinking of the scene from Motherland? 😂

Exactly this! ^ NO coffee shop or cafe etc is OK with someone using them as their own personal office for multiple hours. Especially as the vast majority of these people only buy a coffee and maybe one cake occasionally. And still stay 4-5 hours.

And taking up the space of 4 people - and refusing to share 'becuz it's MY table! Wahhhh!' 😫is disgustingly arrogant and entitled.

Use your own home, or go to the library!

The cheek of some! 🙄

I don't know why it being a chain keeps coming up. Chains can close a cafe/pub/shop down if it isn't profitable. I think it is variable, if you sit there for 3 hrs with one coffee I think that's cheeky, if you buy a meal and you are there for an hour nothing cheeky about that.

Well I will give you a clue straight from a friend who is a manager of one of the above coffee shop chains. They take a VERY dim view of entitled people with a superiority complex, taking up a table (or booth) that could fit in FOUR people, to spend 3-4 hours doing their oh-so-special, big important job.

If it bothers them so much, why don't they make a rule that customers can only have the table for a certain time? Or ban laptops at busy times, or even altogether? Lots of cafes do things like this.

The food isn't much more expensive than a drink. A group of 3 almost certainly spent more than she did.

I think that illustrates what I said above. It isn't a simple one size fits all situation.

They do.

Christ she sounds like she had a right stick up her arse! Sorry that happened OP, you weren’t being unreasonable and I’d have done the same

Right.

So there really isn't a problem then, is there?

But why shouldn't customers take up the " quieter, comfier spaces"? Does using a computer mean you don't have the same right to choose somewhere to sit that suits you?

What I said that I thought groups of yummy mummies shouldn't be allowed to choose tables they prefer in cafes because their children are noisy & messy?

That would be unreasonable - just as unreasonable as your complaint is @Speakeasy22

oh give over who offers money for the electric at cafe Nero!? 😂

WFH has escalated the number of people working in cafes. It gets a bit ridiculous in some of the ones near me. This includes loud Teams meetings, not just people listen on headphones. Most take up 4 seaters as they want more ‘desk’ space.

@YellowAsteroid true so it was not just a coffee but that's not really the point is it.

OP said she was 'deep in intense study' - the implication being that whatever she bought had been consumed a while ago.

Because cafes rely on turnover. One person occupying a prime space for hours spending only a tenner is probably going to be a loss for them.

The women’s approach wasn’t great but why wouldn’t you move to the edge of the bench so your not in the middle of it and put your bag on your lap or between your feet knowing someone else would also like or maybe need a seat?

I feel irritated when I can't get a table for my family because one person is hogging a table for four. Often they're not eating and drinking just using it as study space. I always wonder why the coffee shops allow it. But I wouldn't be rude to you.

But that's an issue for the cafe management to deal with, surely? Other customers don't have the right to take her seat so that the cafe can make more money, especially as there were other seats free.

As I said above, cafes have lots of things they can do to stop customers using their premises as an office. They can set time limits for occupying a table or even ban laptops. If this cafe hasn't done that, other customers can't take it into their own hands to evict other customers because they're insufficiently profitable.

Exactly this. I can't understand why some posters are being so obtuse, and not recognising this - or admitting it. (Or rather they are refusing to!)

I call bullshit. You are lying. I too know the manager of my local chain v well (after spending 1000s of pounds n there over the years) and he positively encourages mobile workers, usiness meerinbgs, NCT meetings, book clubs etc. Because its a franchise and all he cares about is total spend and he kows these people have high disposable income, higher than the old boy that comes in on his own and reads the paper and but one cup of tea. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

And I most certainly do spend around £25 when i go in once a week, often more, and the reason i can do that is because I'm already quids in from not having to spend £20 on a train ticket to travel into the office that day, not spending £9 on station parking and not spending £20 on lunch at some more expensive place in tbe city, and not paying for drinks after work. Its a cheap day for me. People have different lifestyles shocker.

Maybe they needed to use the socket? Both of you were being unreasonable.

Well yes, of course the other customer shouldn't have been rude. But she is being massively unreasonable to sit there for ages as well.
Poorly paid cafe staff shouldn't have to play security guard to people with no common sense.

Nero is the worst cafe for table hogging laptop users, no idea why they gravitate there more than other chains. However, it's fine for a reasonable length of time, say 30 mins max, but any longer us taking the piss. I often see people who have long finished their drink, staying there for hours, and usually on the comfiest seats! It's incredibly selfish however in this context the other person was unreasonable for making her point so aggressively.

Both of you were unreasonable.

she should have been polite when asking, and shouldn’t have verbally abused you when you declined.

you should have waited until a smaller table became available and sat there when you first arrived rather than taking up 4 seats when you only needed one. (As someone who worked in many different cafes and restaurants over the years, people hogging large tables for 1 or 2 people are extremely irritating and entitled). Also, it’s a coffee shop, not your personal office. If you’re in the way, just move.