Coffee shop etiquette.
Cafes are becoming second homes in this age of working and studying remote.
I know because I work in one. All day every day I see individuals blast through the cafe door with shifty eyes, find the nearest outlet, plug in, and not get up for hours. Some marathoners will outlast my shift—that’s 7-10 hours of sitting in a cafe chair with nothing but a vanilla latte and a pastry fueling them.
How their forearms don’t become a permanent attachment to the table, I have no idea.
With this new era of cafe living, I feel it’s important to establish some universal ground rules on how you ought to behave in a coffee shop—a societal code of ethics to ensure your fellow guests and baristas tolerate your long-lasting presence.
Buy something.
This needs to be addressed unfortunately. Wifi’s free to you but not to the company. Taking advantage of an open cafe, taking up a table, and setting up shop to study or work without purchasing anything is tacky and self-centered. If you don’t like coffee, or God-forbid you brought in your own, you should’ve just stayed home or worked in a public community space; not a business. Tables were purchased for paying guests.
A good rule of thumb is to buy one item for every hour you stay working at a cafe. Could be a pastry, a water bottle, another coffee. If you’re taking up space at an establishment, be considerate of that establishment.
Keep the volume to a minimum.
Don’t play your own music from your phone or laptop.
Take your phone calls outside.
Don’t read your book out loud.
Don’t watch a YouTube video without headphones.
Likely people are trying to focus on their work around you. Don’t make your barista come over and inform you that your obnoxious saxophonic playlist is disturbing other guests. Please don’t.
Don’t put your feet on the furniture.
You didn’t want to be at your house, and that’s why you’re here isn’t it? Your bare feet or dog feces-exposed shoes belong on your furniture; not ours.
Don’t take up more tables than you need.
One table for your laptop, one for your textbooks, one for your drink, one for that paper you tore from your spiral notebook. Stop. Even if the cafe isn’t busy, again, you’re in public; not your house. You get one table and the chairs it comes with. Leave the rest open for the other 98 people who are also trying to sit somewhere to get work done.
Don’t bring outside food or drink.
It isn’t cute and your Chipotle is consuming the air in the room. Bringing in strong-smelling cuisine or a competitor’s mermaid-branded coffee cup is unwelcome and annoying. If you need to break for lunch, by all means, but eat at the restaurant; not here. Leave the nest you’ve made at your regular corner table and come back later to get more work done.
Make friends with the staff.
This will benefit you in more ways than one. Take a little genuine interest in the staff you see every day, and in your case, all day. Learn names and build some friendly rapport. Free drinks, samples of coffee, and insider information about the best tables in the cafe are all benefits the customer with the staff stamp of approval gets to enjoy.
Don’t cut in line.
Just because you got here at 6am doesn’t mean you get to cut in front of the line when you’re tummy’s ready for a muffin. To the back of the line you go to wait your turn.
Tip your baristas.
These people serve you more coffee than you’ve probably ever made yourself. If you enjoy the service they provide you on the daily, tip them. Unfortunately, it’s likely the main form of income helping them pay rent.
If you want to be nice, bus your table.
Napkins. Straw wrappers. Cups. Plates. Water glasses. Trash.
Clean up after yourself. Bring your dirty dishes to the designated area. Leave an area better than you found it.
Say thanks.
A quick thanks when you head out is simple and lovely. How many milliseconds does it take to express gratitude to the staff that opened the doors to the business you got hours and hours of work done at? Why wouldn’t you do it?