There are way too many people taking up cafe tables at my local Barnes & Noble without purchasing a single drink. I’m generally fine with it when the place is half empty, but it’s bad etiquette to sit there at your drink-less table when paying customers are waiting for a spot (and it’s also against store policy). It’s extra annoying when these groups of two or three people can’t pool the money to purchase a $2 drink when they seem like they can easily afford it (well, they look pretty well off with their ipads and macbooks).
I miss the overzealous cafe supervisor who walked around and reminded people of the store policy every thirty minutes. That guy was awesome. Come back, hipster-glasses dude!
And in the time I took to write this stupid rant, two tables beside me opened up—oh, well, one’s taken now. Now it’s empty again ’cause I can’t find a suitable image for this post. Oh, wait, someone else showed up.
Photo by Luigi Novi, distributed under CC BY 3.0.
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A.D. Martin 
haha love this! It’s so true. It’s like this in our local Chapters Starbucks in Canada.
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It happens rarely in the Starbucks I go to (I moved from Barnes to Starbucks ’cause my netbook’s battery needed a charge), but it does happen. The problem with Barnes is that people treat it as a library and are willfully ignorant of the policy on cafe seating being reserved for cafe customers.
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Why doesn’t the store set up a sitting room or reading room? But I am with you on how annoying it is that people sit and don’t buy a drink. Soon, brick and mortar stores will soon go the way of record stores and video stores bwahahaha. Old timey books will be only be seen in a museum or an episode of Hoarders.
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I said “soon” twice. I must like that word.
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They have chairs throughout the store for non-cafe customers to sit (though not all that many). Then cafe is in a corner with tables reserved for its customers.
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In that situation, I recommend buying a drink and parking it right across from the drinkless folks. The best that happens is that you’re friendly, and he’s friendly and feels pressured to buy a drink himself, and the worst that happens is that he gets up and leaves and blogs about those totally obnoxious people who sit down with you with no invitation even though you have no drink and he does. That jerk.
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Haha. That’d be too weird for me. When a person is sitting at a large table alone (whether or not they have a drink), I ask if I can join them. No one’s ever said no.
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It’s an interesting phenomenon that people who could work at home choose to work in coffee shops. I’ve heard several people say they are more productive in the company of strangers than when they are isolated at home or in the quiet of a library. I wonder if anyone has studied it.
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I personally like the ambient noise at a cafe. At home, I have my desktop PC and giant television distracting me with the lure of Netflix and video games (which I sometimes enjoy simultaneously).
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I AGREE WHOLEHEARTEDLY! The bad service coupled with cramped quarters, dingy decor and too-expensive caffeine combines to create a very discouraging environment….
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The service is okay where I am. They know my name and my drinks (which are, admittedly, very simple).
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This happens at my BN all the time too, only it’s filled with college students like me. Our store is across from our campus and it used to have a study section on the second floor of the store but BN removed it and pushed everyone back to the Cafe seating. The biggest issue at my BN isn’t us college students though, it’s people and their kids who have the nerve to bring in outside food and come dine in the cafe as if it’s a cafeteria. Even with the annoyances and people who don’t have manners, doing my studying/blogging there is totally worth the aggravation. Something about BN or a Starbucks that makes me more productive. 🙂
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Yeah, the outside food thing is always interesting to see. Alright, maybe not “interesting,” but I do notice it.
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Also Isn’t it annoying when you’re just chilling at the B&N, sure your coffee is long gone, but the chair cradles the bum just so and the people watching is first class, suddenly you feel the leer of some bloggydude as he vigorously types something into his laptop. You know he’s probably putting an add on Craigslist for an overzealous cafe supervisor. Then he just pulls out his phone and takes a picture of ya, dang people are so rude these days. Can’t even chill out at the bookstore without without having my picture taken…gonna keep my empty cup on hand next, if for no other reason than to throw it at him when he goes for that pic. 😛
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Haha. It’s sort of an unspoken rule not to throw away your cup until you’re leaving (so people know you made at least some sort or purchase). Also, I didn’t take the photo I posted (I got it from Wikimedia’s Creative Commons database).
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So you’re critical AND lazy!
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It’s more troublesome to find the image, appropriately credit the author, and link the licensing agreement. So, there!
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..So not so smart then! Lol. You can’t win this one.
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I could win by editing all your comments into gibberish (tempting, but I’ll refrain from doing it), or by pointing out that I didn’t want to take photos of the Barnes I actually go to.
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that would;t be a win, it’s be a cheat..you want to add cheater to your credits! 😛 Ok ok, i’ sufficiently discouraged, i’ll behave.
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plus doing so to a fellow bruin is downright unmately
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Clearly, you’re a Trojan in bear skin.
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A trojan bear hahaha
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Ugh, this is so true. I rarely can take a seat at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble because all the tables are full!
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Yeah, I usually just wait somewhat patiently for a seat to clear up. On two occasions, someone else beat me to an open spot because they literally ran to it (despite having seen that I’m closer, was moving toward the seat, came to the store first, and already purchased a drink).
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Even as a rude German (a tautology, I am well aware) I have been taught not to go to a place that sells refreshments just to bring my own refreshments to consume them there. People these days *sigh* (yeah, showing I am an OLD and rude German – a double tautology, since Germany’s extremely rude population, no there is no other, is getting older)
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C’mon, I’ve met many polite Germans (four or five counts as “many,” yeah?).
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You met four or five polite Germans? That is indeed many, must have been the diplomats on a business trip … 😉
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Huh. I never assumed these people were loitering (perhaps because I have too much faith in humanity!). I always assumed they got there an hour ago, had a drink, threw the cup away, and they’re now just hanging out. Either way, I hate how cramped the seating in Starbucks always is. In my local Starbucks, all we’ve got is the bar, one long community table, and two tables that are uncomfortably close to each other in the corner. If I was to bring my laptop, I would not be able to focus on anything with all those other people up in my elbows.
And because of that, people sit in a way that gives them as much space as possible, so you’ve got half the seats empty but “untakeable” because someone’s got their bag or something there.
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