There was a very interesting story in the weekends Vancouver Sun. Essentially the subject was about people who sit in the coffee shops in Vancouver for the purposes of using the free wifi on their laptops or smartphones. It was a somewhat divided feeling from various Vancouver coffee shop owners. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I feel this way. I can’t recall the last time I couldn’t get a seat in a coffee shop. I also don’t stay in a coffee shop with my laptop for more than an hour. In that case, why would I care if the guy sitting over there spend $2 on a coffee and has been sitting there for three hours? I couldn’t possibly know. Sure the staff knows, but nobody else in the coffee shop would know. I’m sure we’re talking about what, 5% of visitors? Less than that? So in other words who cares? If your coffee shop shuts people off after 2 hours or gives dirty looks to patrons, then I’m sure that patron would gladly move on to the next coffee shop that treats them better. If it’s $2, then you made likely $1.50 more than you would have is that person didn’t even come in.
If you own a coffee shop and don’t offer free wifi then you must have really great coffee and a real senior type patron. You cater to the techless crowd obviously. It does bug me that people are so cheap about their wifi. Big deal. You buy the modem and let patrons use the wifi and if people overuse it, then it’s an issue? Get real. Nobody knows about the abusers other than your employees. If the person doesn’t smell bad and isn’t causing a disturbance, then what gives? I dare you to point out more than one or two coffee shops that has issues with seating.
