I realize that I'm fighting the tide, but I'm going to ask anyway: please don't do this very often. And when you do, please have basic respect for other people, purchase from the business frequently (every hour or so, at minimum), limit your total seat time to an hour if the place is crowded, and don't be "that guy" -- the dude spread over two tables, with the laptop stand, the iPad, the backup drive, the portable keyboard, mouse, etc.
There's nothing worse than walking into an otherwise pleasant cafe and being unable to sit because the place is filled with laptop zombies and/or dudes (and it's always dudes) holding "business" meetings. In San Francisco and Seattle, there are dozens of cheap co-working facilities, but you still can't get a seat to eat lunch in a place like Coffee Bar or the Creamery for all of the nerds that crowd in between 9AM and 5PM.
Finally, if you find yourself working at a cafe for eight hours a day, every day, you're abusing the system. Go to a co-working facility, and pay the minimal amount of money for a desk. If you can afford paying for multiple coffees every day, you can afford a co-working space. If you can't afford either, you should work at home, or in a library. The coffee shop is not your personal, low-rent office space.
I see your point, but I absolutely do not think that a lot of coffee shops would be at the point they are today without the "laptop zombies" (which have supplanted people with books, or people with pencils and paper).
The coffee shop I go to has completely embraced them, and has little workspaces for everybody to use.
I probably wouldn't ever go to a boutique coffee shop if not to use it as a workspace, and I don't know many people who would either.
If I'm looking for a place to just hang out with some friends, there are many, many, many bars and restaurants that are much more conducive to "hanging out" than coffee shops are.
I think coffee shops have always been workspaces, and I don't think the modern coffee shop would exist without the customers that a lot of people seem to think are leeches.
thanks for posting this. I agree fully. The place I frequent is very small, so one person taking up a lot of space can be really annoying. The worst is when two people push two tables together (tables meant for 3-4 people!) and sprawl out over them.
Clearly you've never been to the Starbucks at Slauson and La Tierja in LA. There are guys there who set up everything but their nameplate and a picture of their family on their table.
There's nothing worse than walking into an otherwise pleasant cafe and being unable to sit because the place is filled with laptop zombies and/or dudes (and it's always dudes) holding "business" meetings. In San Francisco and Seattle, there are dozens of cheap co-working facilities, but you still can't get a seat to eat lunch in a place like Coffee Bar or the Creamery for all of the nerds that crowd in between 9AM and 5PM.
Finally, if you find yourself working at a cafe for eight hours a day, every day, you're abusing the system. Go to a co-working facility, and pay the minimal amount of money for a desk. If you can afford paying for multiple coffees every day, you can afford a co-working space. If you can't afford either, you should work at home, or in a library. The coffee shop is not your personal, low-rent office space.