IF you're going to sit at a cafe all day using free wifi &a

I think you should at least buy something every 1-2 hours (depending on how crowded it is) to make up for the lack of table turnover.

No - catwalker, it's hardly that extreme. A laptop uses like $8 of electricity -- IF it was plugged in 24 hrs a day for a WHOLE MONTH.

I hinted at what the owner said above -- you being there makes them more attractive to other customers. And no doubt, if you aren't one of the depressing laptop zombies and actually interact with your neighbors periodically... that's really cool. The park slope and cobble hill type neighborhoods don't usually have many (enforced) limits during their slow times of the day either -- people in the shop attract more people. It's just the peak times. Some places just have a no-plug rule... not because of the electricity cost, but because laptop batteries die and it naturally limits your stay.

Glad you talked to the owner... that's the best approach. I've heard really good things about this Cafe. Too bad I've moved south, so i'll have less of a chance to stop by.

huh?

if the owner thinks it's okay, where's the conflict?

catwalkertexasranger wrote: Until a short time ago(pre wifi) sitting and not spending money was an activity for winos or vagrants. Laptops changed the rules. I hope people buy coffee for taste and price not by the flanneled fodder sitting at the table dribbling over poetry and life's spoils.

Before laptops, didn't people hang out in coffee shops with books to read and notebooks to write in? Those are winos and vagrants? It's not like it's a new thing for people to hang out in coffee shops. If I'm going to do read a book or a magazine in a shop for a few hours, I try to buy something once an hour or so, just like I do when I am using my laptop there.

marla_singer wrote: [quote=catwalkertexasranger]Until a short time ago(pre wifi) sitting and not spending money was an activity for winos or vagrants. Laptops changed the rules. I hope people buy coffee for taste and price not by the flanneled fodder sitting at the table dribbling over poetry and life's spoils.

Before laptops, didn't people hang out in coffee shops with books to read and notebooks to write in? Those are winos and vagrants? It's not like it's a new thing for people to hang out in coffee shops. If I'm going to do read a book or a magazine in a shop for a few hours, I try to buy something once an hour or so, just like I do when I am using my laptop there.

I realize why I got slammed for my generalization,and I can take it when it's due everything from the drinking one to a history jab. Yes people have always holed up in a book stores or a coffee shop to read, write and enjoy the company of others or just to sit and ponder. Wasn't a big deal then and it's not a big deal now. Sitting down with a plugged in laptop ,a phone and a portfolio and doing business out of a coffee shop is BS. Guys pretending to be captains of industry while exploiting what was intended as a value added product/service to customers always goes wrong in NYC. There are no public toilets not because people in NYC don't need to go just as bad as everybody else , but because if you get 7.5 million people together a few 1000 are going to see the toilet as a campground or sex room or hotel and ruin it for the mom that wants to change her kids diaper or the guy doing the peepee dance because he really needs to go. My brush was a little broad, A student working on a project or some blue boy pondering a poem over his latte is not the problem. The asshole trying to run a production company or his dot.com start up on table space intended for the consumtion of scones and coffee is a disaster. Many places all over Brooklyn have had to change the way they do business, not because of the polite student or the person looking for a change in scene but for the hardcore exploiter. I realize my opinion is unpopular but it's shared by the majority of the coffee house owners. Look at your model and put it to the test. 1.50 per hour. Overhead + the wholesale of what you bought probably yields .80cents for the hour. Often people want to grab a cup of joe and take a load off only to find there is nowhere to sit. Maybe what I really talking about is absolutely no cell phone use inside a place of business. Another small correction may be to remove or de-energize all the electrical outlets in the customer areas. Then when a person's battery runs out so does their welcome,Mule,Nadrias,and Tea Room all learned the hard way. Maybe a phone scrambler inside the business.