Love to spend all day using the free WiFi in your local coffee shop? You might have to say sayonara to this, if your beanery is one of the many in New York that are starting to ban laptop users from hanging out.
The restrictions are for peak hours and only discourage those who aren't eating while typing or surfing; downing coffee won't save your seat, sadly. I get it: nobody likes a mooch.
Add the sucking of electricity out of the shops' outlets for laptop cords, and you've made yourself an unwelcome customer — though ironically, many of these shops added free WiFi to attract customers. I guess they attract them a little too well, huh?
In any case, the daylong laptop visit is a tradition I enjoy carrying out, but next time, I think I'll to order more and make myself a little less conspicuous.
What would you do if your favorite coffee shop banned laptop usage?
Vic Matiﾏ
7 For All Mankind
Dries Van Noten
I wouldn't mind it if they banned laptop use at my coffee shop. It is fairly small and has seating for about 13 people and there are people who want to stop and eat but there are no empty seats because they are taken by people using laptops. When I used to work there I would notice people order only a coffee and they would stay there several hours using their laptop and drinking the same cup of coffee. People complained about it daily.
1i don't usually like to hang out and drink coffee inside, i like it to go, so i don't mind laptop users.
i like going inside though and seeing all these people on their laptops. it makes me feel like for a brief moment, i'm in a chill, cool city like san francisco or new york, not sunny and super hot socal. lol. so it would make me sad to see them go. lol
2I almost had a heart attack reading this because this what college students and career people love about coffee shops. They can get work done and have their cup of Joe. I don't know what I'll do if they banned it...look on the bright side, save money on the latte.
3Just wanted to add: I just read the article and I live in NYC. I can't believe they are doing this here!
4Cafe owners are driven to this because people would buy 1 cup of coffee, and drink it for hours or they were sneaking in sandwiches from home or bringing in tea bags. That's ridiculous. If you want free wifi go to the library. Wifi at cafes is for customers.
The coffee/bakery place at my corner in SF is called Tartine, and is ridiculously popular. When I see people in there with a laptop, I want to punch them in the face. There are customers who want to eat their food, and are eating on the sidewalk because there are people with laptops inside.
5One of my favorite things to do for "me time" is to drive to the nearest city, order a coffee drink and pastry and enjoy it while I'm surfing the web on my laptop. I've been known to kill several hours this way and I've never once thought that it might be rude.
Sneaking food or tea bags in and sitting on your laptop is one thing and I can see why they'd ask someone to leave. Legitimate customers shouldn't have a time limit though.
6Ah yes. Curse those laptop users. Cafes should take away the "Free WIFI" and cover the outlets if this were not the clientèle they were hoping to attract in the first place. Or Cover the outlets and do as Starbucks does and charge for internet. Then what can the whiners say? They will be alienating a lot of customers this way.
I fail to see, given an equivalent purchase, how a customer w/a laptop sitting there for hours is more of an annoyance than a customer sitting there gabbing there for hours on end.
7This is just silly.
8the panera in gainesville, fl where i live is the WORST for this! i mean go to the library! there are like 3 starbucks in and around the library! i can almost never find a seat, esp during finals time...students spread out on 4-top tables with their books and papers. it drives me crazy. i understand wanting to get a snack and study, but it is rude and i can't get my soup and sandwich.
9Oh, well. More money for Starbucks -- especially when their crappy AT&T contract expires.
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