Re:What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
by PascLeRasc on Wednesday February 14, 2018 @11:25AM
(#16376943)
Did you read the article? Coffeeshop owners are not open office landlords, they want to cultivate a cultural hub for the local area. Yes, to them conversationalists are more interesting than non-talkers, not to mention that it feels awkward to be the only one talking in a room of people not talking. If you want a quiet space with wifi and power, work from home, rent an office, or go to the library.
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Re:What to Do When Laptops and Silence Take Over Your Cafe?
by always_good on Wednesday February 14, 2018 @04:06PM
(#16379362)
I get that, but I also get a vibe of "adapt or die" we said about Blockbuster when they thought they were cultivating an atmosphere of the joy of picking out a movie with your family.
I'm sure everyone wants to be a real life Central Perk from Friends, but that's not coming back in the age of smartphones, laptops, and remote workers without some serious trade-offs like the alienation of a potentially majority subset of your customers in the first place.
Business owners of course are free to do as they please and I think it's interesting for them to experiment with cultivating a modern social experience in a cafe. Hopefully they are upfront about their rules, though. I would feel some resentment if I was blindsided by some of the behavior in the article.