In cafes, it is common to see customers ordering coffee and sitting there for hours with their laptops. However, the reflections of restaurateurs who count their money and see how much more they would earn if the table was used for several social gatherings are new. There are already those who go further and introduce laptop-free cafes. Material from the “Poland and World” magazine.
Mrs. Agata is writing her bachelor's thesis in a café – she could do it at home, but there is always something to do there. He admits that he can stay there for up to five hours. Restaurateurs also count the hours and what they can sell.
– I consider it a lack of culture if someone opens a laptop and takes out documents and blocks places. It's still great in large restaurants, but what about small cafes with five or six tables – says Jacek Czauderna from the Polish Chamber of Commerce.
Another entrepreneur, seeing tables occupied for hours, banned the use of computers on Saturdays and Sundays, when traffic is the highest, but this is not the only café in Poznań with such a weekend ban. – The biggest problem was that our regular guests complained that they could not sit down, drink coffee or eat breakfast because all the tables were occupied by working people. In response to the appeal of our guests, we have introduced these restrictions – explains Kaferdam manager Wojciech Nowosielski.
Restaurateurs say “no” to laptop usersTVN24
During the week, the cafe designates several tables for work. On Saturdays and Sundays, laptops are banned in the entire premises. – Someone wants to buy a train or plane ticket and needs to open this computer for five minutes, we have no problem with that. But if he opens a computer or two to work, we inform him that unfortunately we are prohibited from using computers on weekends and ask him to turn it off – recalls Wojciech Nowosielski.
Jakub Berdyn from the Panna confectionery shop in Warsaw notes that “a social meeting is not much different from a business meeting.” – It's hard to tell the difference. Working on a computer, some of this work can be done on the phone, so the boundaries are very thin. I wouldn't like to be a policeman who will judge who spends their time in our premises – he adds.
A café is not an office – the owner of a café in Olsztyn assumes that. The premises became a work-free zone from the very beginning. – Very often we encounter aggression from people who come to our premises without respecting our space, without respecting us and our employees – admits Natalia Kwiatkowska from the Bless Coffee Roasters cafe.
In the West, there are also cafes where it is difficult to work
A little black dress with a large computer on the table is not only a problem for Polish restaurateurs. – Because I worked, I also had to pay a fee in the cafe – says Bartosz Bielicki from the Kahawa cafe in Poznań about his Dutch experience. – In addition to ordering coffee and cake, I had to pay extra, in this case it was 2.5 euros for sitting, drinking coffee and working at the computer – he adds.
There are also cafes in Portugal that are difficult to work in. Vasco points out that there are small tables there. He states that this makes working there uncomfortable. In addition, users are not able to use electrical sockets.
– As an entrepreneur, I pay five times as much for my electricity bill. Let him tell this to the person who wants to spend hours with us, what costs we incur – points out Zbigniew Andrzej Dobek from the Nasza Rynek Association, owner of the Wrocław PRL.
The staff works behind the counter, and when customers also work at the tables, the cafe turns into a workplace. It is therefore not surprising that such rules appear: coffee on the bench, no laptop.
Main photo source: TVN24