Cafe , pub or pop up office?

If I was in your position, I would have had a word with the cafe manager. It's unacceptable behaviour. I'd also have e-mailed the company's HO, asking if they would make it company policy not to allow workers to use cafe tables as workstations.

Same situation when I was with my grandson. Table was full of paperwork, so we sat down, I gave GS some crayons and said "Now try not to crayon on that man's papers." The man in question looked up sharply, and I smiled sweetly and said, "Any piece of paper is drawing paper to him!" and laughed.

And poof! He was gone!

I took my 6 year old grandson out for his tea last week, to a place where you wait to be seated. I was surprised to be shown to a table set for 4, even though there were plenty of smaller tables for 2.

The other version of this is the people who take up tables in reading rooms of research libraries, not to read books that are only accessible there, but in order to work online!

Most research libraries have put a stop to that. I imagine any café or restaurant could do the same, after all they are losing business if those who want to eat and drink there cannot get a table.

Last evening I went out for supper with H and D to a local pub , and was so pleased to see a sign outside the door saying Laptop Free Zone ( during busy hours), and a comment ' Not Everyone enjoys a working lunch'. Bravo that establishment!

A friend with a learning disabled adult daughter was shocked to be asked by the house manager, from where her daughter lives, to meet with the house manager, a psychologist and a care worker in a Museum Cafe to have an informal meeting about her daughter. She didn’t want to say no, so attended with the ‘team’ but worried all through the meeting about confidentiality. Plus they were there for well over an hour with just one cup of tea each.

It feels like cost saving for care organisation and very, very poor practice. My friend has said that she won’t allow this to happen another time. I completely agree with her. ?

Me too situpstraight! I’d hav3 no qualms.
I was in a coffe shop the other day with my Husband and a three way business meeting was going on, planning and discussing the whole lot, I thought it was pretty awful and wondered how it was tolerated!
So it seems its the norm these days then ....

I belong to a retirement group and we used to have our committee meetings in the cafe of a local garden centre. We always booked first, had coffee on arrival and lunch when meeting over - approximately twenty-four coffees and twelve lunches for the owners.

Maybe the solution is that the WiFi code only lasts for 30 minutes free use! Or that it’s only given out if the person orders a meal

I don't think the wifi code is necessary, jenpax? I can access the interenet from my phone without one in coffee shops, and if that is used to get the signal for the laptop, no code is needed.

Same with our supermarket, people park there, then do their shopping in the town, also leave their car there to be cleaned while going into town, annoying at peak times when there aren't any spaces left and you are a prospective legitimate shopper in the supermarket.

If the occupant of that table had said to me he wasn't planning on moving for another hour and a half I think I would have .... "Oh I am so pleased to hear that, I'll join you - I like chatting while having coffee and not sitting alone!"

If that didn't get him thinking about moving I would have carried on with....."your face looks so familiar ..... I have a friend who has a husband who is the image of you but let me tell you about all the problems they are facing......."

I can more or less guarantee that at this point he would be pulling together all his paperwork an shutting down his laptop and bolting for the exit!

I travelled home recently from a short break by train. Two businesswomen, one opposite and one next to me, had papers all over my side of the table, plus their laptops open, again, on my side of the table. No consideration for me at all, they just seemed to think that they were more important and took priority, although presumably I had paid the same fare as them and had paid for myself, although I assume that their companies would have paid their fares.

I went out for lunch with a friend last weekend and the large restaurant had few tables occupied. We had booked and were told to choose a table but I chose one for two people although I would have preferred a table for 4 or 6 because the light and view were better but I would never do that. Within an hour the place was very busy.

We once went for breakfast at a well known Italian restaurant. Next to us, and again using a large table were two 'office types' They were conducting interviews . Quite a few young people came in . We could overhear all the conversation. Most strange.

The job on offer had nothing to do with the restaurant.

My DD works for a large coffee chain and some of the stories she has told me over the years .....

A mother changing her baby on a table .

A Business meeting held in one corner with tables and chairs pulled together to form a mini board room then one of the “delegates” telling other patrons to “shhhh, he was trying to conduct a meeting”

A group of ladies and their kids who frequently take up a large corner, never buy a thing then proceed to empty their own food onto the tables and pretend the can’t speak English when challenged.

Someone else is bound to have said this but email the store and complain. Free wifi in many places (Costa, Starbucks, etc) encourages people to use them as their office but it must cost them business. It is possible to put filters on wifi so that people only get a set time and then it stops and they must log in again - our community wifi has this and also filters to stop people downloading large files such as films. It is possible to buy an annual pass but for most the 20 free minutes is enough to check anything important!

Glad I'm not the only one. I love the stories of GC playing their part in scuppering the culprits.