[ATTENTION] Coffee Houses: Have More Outlets, k, thnkx, bai
- Thread starter SirKonstantine
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I'm on a Chromebook and never plug into an outlet. I get about 5 hours out of the battery.
It's very liberating to be able to sit where I please and work.
Also worth considering, offering numerous outlets invites people to spend hours in a coffeehouse, nursing a $1.50 iced tea while working/playing on their laptops. They take up valuable real estate, a problem for small joints with few tables. Worse, they often refuse to buy anything, simply taking a table and plugging in. I've watched many potential customers walk in, look around, and walk right back out when they realize there are no available seats.
This is a big problem for joints near colleges.
As for the most annoying thing I've experienced at a coffeehouse, it's not the lack of outlets. It's the loud, caterwauling women who travel in packs and shriek like hyenas when they hear something they consider funny. Worse, many of them bring their offspring, which would be fine if they had the class and awareness to prevent them from bothering other customers.*
Unfortunately, women seem to think everyone loves their brood as much as they do. They also tend to be oblivious and narcissistic, neither of which helps the situation.
Back to outlets... at the moment, I'm sitting at Panera Bread. Got 15 tabs open, streaming Liquid Tension Experiment, and working in Google Drive. My battery says 3 hours, 14 minutes left (I've been here awhile and didn't arrive with a full charge).
No outlet.
But no tears. Life is good.
* I can tell you stories.
Something like that anyway. It's more like lack of power outlets cause people's phone and laptops to die. When people's phones and laptops die they stop nursing the coffee they've been sipping on all morning and get the fuck out.
It's about turnover and resource management. If you're going to work or hangout in a coffee shop, you should be making at least one purchase an hour. The electric you're using isn't free and that $2.50 cup of coffee you bought 6 hours ago is no longer profitable when you're consuming 6 hours worth of electricity.
So, fewer outlets = fewer freeloaders = higher margins.
ETA: damn you jake. You beat me to it.
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If some politician ran a single issue campaign based on ridding the world of this scourge, I'd probably vote for him.
That's how much I hate this phenomenon.
As an anarchist, I can't get behind that. But I'd love to see the return of gentlemen's clubs. Not the kind with scantily-clad bimbos contorting themselves around poles (to pay for college, of course), but the private kind with plush chairs, good liquor, rich cigars, and engaging conversation.
... and no women. That's important.
I find that in any decent sized city, one can find generally find nice coffee shops that allow one to work without requiring headphones. It won't be a starbucks, but that's probably a good thing. YMMV, but I also find spending more than 2 hours on the computer is rarely actually productive. One of the reasons I like going to coffee shops is the walking there and back, which is a nice break.
Uhh, just a guess, but there's probably not too many coffee house owners reading STS, so your cause probably won't get any love.
Sidestory: When I went back and finished my degree a couple of years ago, in nearly every class I took, these kids would have to show up to class like 30 minutes early so they could be the first to rush in and get a seat somewhere near a wall outlet. Obviously there were only so many outlets, and a dozen or so would have to survive without their laptops for a couple hours. Meaning, they couldn't fuck around on FB and Twitter during class time.
Sidestory: When I went back and finished my degree a couple of years ago, in nearly every class I took, these kids would have to show up to class like 30 minutes early so they could be the first to rush in and get a seat somewhere near a wall outlet. Obviously there were only so many outlets, and a dozen or so would have to survive without their laptops for a couple hours. Meaning, they couldn't fuck around on FB and Twitter during class time.
I'm sitting at a health food cafe type place right now, not one single outlet. The place is pretty new and I'm sure they did this on purpose. Luckily I have a Macbook Air so I have another 4 hours on battery with like 50% charge.
That's true. I haven't stepped into a Starbucks in months. I prefer the privately-owned - or even franchised - houses where I can get to know the owners, folks who have a lot of skin in the game.
Regarding headphones, I sometimes put earbuds in just to discourage interruptions (i.e. sans tunes). Works like a charm. I'll also stream white noise to dampen the highs and lows around me. It won't block the shrieking females - not even a motorcycle helmet will block 'em - but it still helps me to focus.
And I agree with you about working productively. I visit the coffee shop every day for a change of scenery after toiling for a few hours at the house. After 90 minutes or so, it's back home.
I've never done work in a Starbucks, could never see the appeal. One of these days, I will try it. Do Google Chromebooks support side tabs yet? That's my only real reason why I don't own one.
LOL what are you babbling about and how old are you? This is 2014 bruh. You pay, drink your coffee and go about your bidness.
But how would you stay hydrated with 300ml of liquid for six hours? When I work at a cafè for 3-4 hours I usually get 3-6 drinks depending on the weather etc
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I've heard that some people like Veritabs, but I have no personal experience with it. It supports side tabs.