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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that campers in cafes are really, really annoying?

203 replies

LinnettdeBelleforte · 15/01/2025 19:26

By 'campers' I mean people who sit for ages and ages after they have finished their drinks, either talking on the phone or on zoom on their laptops, or just chatting, while other people are wanting to sit down?
I was in a coffee shop today which is quite small and very popular. It's a bit cramped, but beautifully furnished, spotlessly clean, the coffee is great and the staff are lovely, so it's always heaving. I dropped in for a quick one this afternoon to find it heaving, so I said I'd wait for a table. There were four tables of people who were just sitting with empty cups. I waited for ten minutes and was about to give up when finally one couple got up and left. I then grabbed the table, which I shared with two gentlemen who had also been waiting. The woman next to us who had also been camping took the hint after about five minutes and left. I ordered my coffee and drank it over the course of about fifteen minutes. Over that time, one man was sitting on his laptop with an empty mug the whole time, one girl on her phone was the same. People kept coming in and then giving up, I drank up and left. The staff kept looking meaningfully at the campers who just blanked them. If I had been running the place, I would have a notice saying that at busy periods, people are required to vacate the table if they are not ordering.

OP posts:
Noglitterallowed · 20/01/2025 18:57

jesus wept!! To be honest if you were stood there with your sour face glaring at me like you’ve said then I would have stayed even longer. How entitled can you be? How the hell do you know that that little bit of them time is not really important part of their life especially mental health wise?
you sound so bitter. Yes it can be a bit annoying waiting for a table but your responses are so extreme

LinnettdeBelleforte · 20/01/2025 19:22

UPDATE!

I was in the cafe again today and they've changed their policy! I knew it would happen, but didn't expect it so soon.
There is now a sign up banning laptops between 10 and 3, and asking that people 'be considerate of others waiting'. It was clear that this was on the cards, it's been at tipping point for a bit. I'm so pleased, it will be so much better now. All the other non-chain ones in this area have similar policies, so management must have been persuaded that this won't hurt the business.

OP posts:
CheekyRaven · 20/01/2025 19:30

I'd have to make my Internet intermittent/slow to discourage the workers with laptops. Definitely a sign though

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