Tea Lounge (aka The Noth Slope Internet Cafe)

When will the owners of Tea Lounge realize that offering free internet
access is sucking the life out of the place? It used to be a great place where people could meet - have a drink and/or some food - and just talk. They played great music and had games like Chess and Backgammon. Well the game tables are still there, but like everything else in Tea Lounge they are being used by the Laptop Army. Yes, I'm afraid offering free internet access has officially killed Tea Lounge. Last night I counted over 15 members of the Laptop Army, aimlessly clicking away on their computers. It makes the place feel dead and I don't see how the owners are getting anything out of this financially. The place was always crowded before having free internet access and it seems like the Laptop Army rarely - if ever - buys anything.

When the revolucion comes the laptop army will be the first against the wall, followed by the double stroller armada.

Viva la revolucion!

-Che_mjr

Subject: huh?

wow. I mean if anything I would think the Tea Lounge problems are :

(a) having the music so loud that you can't hear yourself talk - or think - no matter what you are there for - a mommy gathering, to work on your computer, for a meeting or gathering with friends

and

(b) too many babies! (and moms with babies)

nothing to do with the Laptop army. but that's me. please don't try to take away one of the remaining FREE things and cite that as a problem!

Not to mention an unfailingly surly, too cool for school staff (in my experience). I have always gotten an unfriendly vibe from the people behind the counter at both locations. It really makes me feel unwelcome.

citizen jane wrote: Not to mention an unfailingly surly, too cool for school staff (in my experience). I have always gotten an unfriendly vibe from the people behind the counter at both locations. It really makes me feel unwelcome.

Really? I've only been to the one in the South Slope but the people who work there seem pretty nice to me -- but maybe only because I'm comparing them to the unfriendly, indifferent, "why are you bothering me with your annoying request for coffee when I'm trying to chat with my friends?" people who work at Naidre's.

They do sell delicious DUB Pies!

There are at least two excellent business opportunities here:

1. Laptop-free coffee shop. Like a smoke-free zone.

2. A space that caters to "laptop army," and specificallly the 10 million freelancers in the neighborhood who are looking to get away from their home offices/get some work done outside of the client office. Coffee, workstations, free secure wireless internet, maybe some music at a very low background level. A spot like the Microchip Cafe would be perfect, but in its current form, that place not only has zero atmosphere, it has negative atmosphere. I've been in a few times and couldn't wait to leave.

I'm starting to think that every argument on this board boils down to one thing: the inability to deal with the fact that there is more than one kind of person in Park Slope.

* parents with kids and strollers
* freelancers and telecommuters with laptops
* grad students, artists, intellectuals
* high-paid professionals
* old-neighborhood people
* new-neighborhood people
* Type As
* Type Bs
* bourgeois
* flaneurs
* boring marrieds
* boring singles

each believing they have a unique claim on the soul of Park Slope. etc., etc. And guess what? You can't all have your own damn cafes!

And don't forget

* Food Co-op members

* people who hate the Food Co-op

* Dog owners (divided into the two camps of those who clean up after their dogs and those who don't -- can also subdivide the first group into those who will walk ten blocks carrying a bag of dog shit because there are no garbage cans on 8th Avenue, and those who toss loose turds into my garbage can)

* People who hate dogs and shout "Curb your dog!" at everyone walking a dog.

I'm sure we can think of more.

Likes/dislikes aside, as a business owner it seems like financial suicide to offer free wi-fi. Sure, the place is packed with people working on their laptops, but I don't see them buying much. Maybe 1 cup of coffee every 4 hours? And while they're sitting there, I see other people coming in who would presumably buy something if there was a place left to sit down.

There are lots of groups, as one of the previous posters pointed out, and the laptop army, for example, might get annoyed with the stroller brigade and vice versa. But regardless of who's most irritating at any given moment, it's just bad juju to go to a place of business to sit and take up space without buying something, whether it's just a little cookie. Tea Lounge, Starbucks, Ozzie's--they're not the library, and they're not the park. You have to rent your spot.

linusvanpelt wrote: I'm starting to think that every argument on this board boils down to one thing: the inability to deal with the fact that there is more than one kind of person in Park Slope.

True. As I mentioned on another thread even the New York Times on Sunday referred to the Slope as stodgy. Stodgy people are set in their ways and easily annoyed by their humorless approach to annoyances. Do the definitions of Stodgy below fit the new slope?

1. Dull, unimaginative, and commonplace.
2. Prim or pompous; stuffy: “Why is the middle-class so stodgyso utterly without a sense of humor!” (Katherine Mansfield). See Synonyms at dull.
3. Indigestible and starchy; heavy: stodgy food.
4. Solidly built; stocky.

dailyheights wrote: A spot like the Microchip Cafe would be perfect, but in its current form, that place not only has zero atmosphere, it has negative atmosphere. I've been in a few times and couldn't wait to leave.

The funny thing about the microchip cafe (at least its 7th ave form, I heard it moved to 2nd street or something) is that one of those TV remodeling shows on TLC did the design. It sorta reminded me of being inside a math textbook.

I tried to work on my laptop at the Union Street Tea Lounge once, and after two hours the pain in my arms was unbearable. Talk about bad ergonomics! (I was at that long table in the back, not a sofa.) The chairs are all really low-slung there. I don't know how the all-day laptoppers do it.

Not that I want to encourage them. I get two afternoons "off" a week (off from taking care of my kid) and more than once I've planned on stopping by the Tea Lounge for lunch, only to get there and find that there's not a single open seat. But there's twenty people with their laptops and bags and etc. spread out all around them. It makes me sad.

There's also the people who rush in and put their coats down to reserve seats BEFORE standing in line for their coffee and snack. Aw, don't get me started!

In any case, I've always found the staff there to be really friendly. They're hipsters, but still agreeable.

As an alternative laptop work place, what about the big central library (at Grand Army Plaza)? I haven't tried this, and maybe there's no wi-fi there... but there's got to be tables and real chairs, with no pressure to buy anything, and no loud music. They even have a (tiny, crappy) cafe! Has anyone tried to work there?

I have never really liked tea lounge. I don't really care about the laptoppers (I am one) or the babies (Headphones?) but the staff at both locations has always seemed largely indifferent and the furniture sucks for the most part.

Fot the first time ever I went into Tea Lounge. This was the gigantic one on Union St. My first thought was "WTF?" My second was "I guess it's great place to meet someone if your a teenager." It was kind of eerie though, all the computers and little conversation.

What is really needed is a THC Lounge!

allez-y oiseau!

More than once I've been turned away from a coffee place because all the seats were hogged by people on laptops, sitting next to a cup that was dried up long ago. It's frustrating, plus it can't be good for business. There was a piece in the NY Times a few months ago about coffee joints on the west coast cutting down on free wi-fi because 1) it actually hurt their bottom line and 2) it was a mood killer.

linusvanpelt wrote: You can't all have your own damn cafes!

and why not?

:evil:

I want a cafe that only accepts gay, upper-middle-income, wildly attractive, edgy-but-not-too-edgy, cat people with no more than 1 child and definitely no bugaboos who only use their laptops to surf gay porn sites. Is that too much to ask?

Sarah from the Slope wrote:

As an alternative laptop work place, what about the big central library (at Grand Army Plaza)? I haven't tried this, and maybe there's no wi-fi there... but there's got to be tables and real chairs, with no pressure to buy anything, and no loud music. They even have a (tiny, crappy) cafe! Has anyone tried to work there?

The new outdoor plaza at the library will have free wi-fi, AND food (not free). Actually, the museum currently has free internet outside too, but I rarely see people using it. If they parked a hot dog cart there, I'm sure word would spread.

caaahyoko wrote: [quote=Sarah from the Slope]

As an alternative laptop work place, what about the big central library (at Grand Army Plaza)? I haven't tried this, and maybe there's no wi-fi there... but there's got to be tables and real chairs, with no pressure to buy anything, and no loud music. They even have a (tiny, crappy) cafe! Has anyone tried to work there?

The new outdoor plaza at the library will have free wi-fi, AND food (not free). Actually, the museum currently has free internet outside too, but I rarely see people using it. If they parked a hot dog cart there, I'm sure word would spread.

the free wi-fi at the museum is cool in theory, but everytime I've tried to use it in some bizarre effort to be both connected to the net and enjoying decent weather, I've either suffered excessive sun glare on my laptop screen or excessive splash from the fountain. woe. half's backyard is way better, and if they'd fix their little chipped glass problem, I might even go there more. except for the whole winter thing.

8thandPrez wrote: I want a cafe that only accepts gay, upper-middle-income, wildly attractive, edgy-but-not-too-edgy, cat people with no more than 1 child and definitely no bugaboos who only use their laptops to surf gay porn sites. Is that too much to ask?

uhhh, no cats

Subject: dogs

Rose wrote: And don't forget

* People who hate dogs and shout "Curb your dog!" at everyone walking a dog.

Reminds me of the old proverb:
Love the dog, hate the waste products.

Subject: Bravo!!!

linusvanpelt wrote: I'm starting to think that every argument on this board boils down to one thing: the inability to deal with the fact that there is more than one kind of person in Park Slope.

* parents with kids and strollers
* freelancers and telecommuters with laptops
* grad students, artists, intellectuals
* high-paid professionals
* old-neighborhood people
* new-neighborhood people
* Type As
* Type Bs
* bourgeois
* flaneurs
* boring marrieds
* boring singles

each believing they have a unique claim on the soul of Park Slope. etc., etc. And guess what? You can't all have your own damn cafes!

Bravo ... Couldn't have said it better myself.... you'd think that it was beginning to look like the Upper East side or the UWS, except the UEShas no soul and never has, and the UWS can't figure out what kind of soul it is supposed to have.

i love the tea lounge!
especially the one on 7th, that one's got atmosphere
the one on Union, is too big. kinda like a garage but with coffee
the staff at the 7th avenue Tea Lounge behave like rock stars

the Gorilla Coffee staff also has attitude
but more intellectual. intellectual attitude
with big square glasses

Gorilla Coffee coffee is tons better than Tea Lounge coffee

Tea Lounge has good bagels -- chewy, little too big

linusvanpelt wrote: I'm starting to think that every argument on this board boils down to one thing: the inability to deal with the fact that there is more than one kind of person in Park Slope.

* parents with kids and strollers
* freelancers and telecommuters with laptops
* grad students, artists, intellectuals
* high-paid professionals
* old-neighborhood people
* new-neighborhood people
* Type As
* Type Bs
* bourgeois
* flaneurs
* boring marrieds
* boring singles

each believing they have a unique claim on the soul of Park Slope. etc., etc. And guess what? You can't all have your own damn cafes!

a little harsh towards the end but well put I think we all wish we could find a cafe utopia close to our dwellings but instead find every way to bitch about the one we wished were that perfect life. Ah, the paradox...

I went in on Saturday, and I definitely know what a lot of you folks mean by your comments:

1 - Ton of internet users. I must have seen 10 or so laptops, at least.
2 - Lots of Moms with kids. Seemed like every kid had tupperware with their lunch in it. Didn't look like they were buying anything.
3 - We sat in the front, and the music was really loud. Hard to actually have a conversation.
4 - the lineup of strollers when you walk in is hilarious. It's a parking lot!

That said, I did have a good time, and the couches were comfortable. Might try to sit in the back next time, where there are less kids running around, and the music is a bit quieter.

The last time I went to Cocoa Bar, a couple changed their baby's diaper on the counter where you pick up your drinks. Nobody said anything. I won't be back.

Sorry, should have posted previous message in the Cocoa Bar thread. Apologies for the mix-up!

Teppaz wrote: The last time I went to Cocoa Bar, a couple changed their baby's diaper on the counter where you pick up your drinks. Nobody said anything. I won't be back.

OH my god, what is the matter with people? Maybe it was the woman who writes Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn -- she recently wrote about changing her neice's poopy diaper in the Cocoa Bar (on a table) and then got all defensive when people pointed out that that was inconsiderate and disgusting.