Techie is surprised he's allowed to hang at Starbucks six hours a day

Vivek Sharma, 29, who works on his social network software program at a Manhattan Starbucks, says:  "It sometimes amazes me that they are not bothered by how much time or money you spend here. Melinda Lee, 22, doesn't even order coffee, but spends up to seven hours a day at Starbucks. "I am a starving artist," she says. "I bring my own teabags and get them to give me hot water. They don't seem to mind." (New York Post)

Comments

[DaddyTorgo]

which just goes to show you...if you don't act smarmy, and you treat the employees like people (as I would guess these people do, spending all that time they're sure to strike up friendships with the employees) then they'll give you the run of the place more or less.

we used to have a lawyer who had an office but did 90% of his work out of the store. Did any of us ever complain or force him to buy stuff? Nope. Cuz he was a nice guy.

just be considerate of a paying customer when you aren't one. and most people are. it's unfortunate that a few aren't.

This is an issue that will never cease to exist. For a coffee shop it is less of an issue. However I ran a restaurant where students would try to do this. The students that were considerate to paying customers would get free drinks and desserts. The ones (ironically it was almost always law students) were the first ones we asked to leave. It was an added benefit that their instructors/professors were regulars too.

It's the way the coffee shop world works. Honestly a coffee shop that is full will usually attract more customers than one that is empty. "its the place to go" attitude prevails

[melina]

did she bring her pillow and sleeping bag with her too? facial cleanser, cotton pads, mascara, tampons...really, it's cool she's not hassled, but, damn...that's a long time to set up shop on a daily basis. but wait a minute, this sounds like me, only i have something called a "job"!!! i guess *$ is the library of the new millenium (spl)!!!

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

Hey. I think its cool to hang out at Starbucks even though I work for the company. I also like to hang-out at different ones. The longest I ever spent at a Starbucks I think was like 12 hours straight and that was on my day off!!! I of course knew everyone who worked there so I bought people pizza and they gave me my drinks for free so who cares. Anyways I think people should hang out at Starbucks as much as they want. The only problem is that Starbucks should learn to build bigger stores where custoemrs want them because sometimes some customers get angry when there is not enough seating.

Whocares about Starbucks anyway? Their baristas couldnt make an authentic Cafe Au Lait if they were given written directions. VIVA COMMUNITY COFFEE!!!

ummmm....?????

yeah sure...

[tam]

It's fine to hang out for six hours straight...but I think spending five bucks on two cups of coffee over those six hours would be pretty good value back. Otherwise, you're just a freeloading leech taking up valuable table space.

[Aaron]

I think it is only a bit excessive if the customer isn't regularly purchasing drinks and/or food. If the place isn't really busy and there is table space, then more power to them. Starbucks used to have board games like other coffee shops, so that shows that they want a close community feel.

[Oxhead]

Spending hours at a restaurant or coffee shop without buying anything is rude, plain and simple. It's rude to the other customers who might want a seat and it's rude to the owners and managers who are obviously too polite to tell you to move your lazy butt.

[Brent O.]

Notice that the two people involved are young women, though? I've seen homeless guys tossed out of Starbucks quick fast and in a hurry, but if you look like a college student, you get free reign. I think the understanding is that one college freeloader tends to bring in a couple/few paying friends, whereas the homeless guys don't bring in any business.

[Pedro]

That's crazy, like a free office. Build and they will come...and won't leave.

I'm wondering about how they handle the homeless or people who don't smell real good. Never been in a S'bucks, there're only two of them in my city of almost a million which prob'ly tells you what kind of place this is. My whole town is composed of people you wouldn't want in a coffee house.

[not a starfucks gal]

this broad would be kicked out of my cafe so fast
it'd make her lipton tea bag combust.

why can't she stay @ home?

now THAT is keeping a loyal customer base

[nicole]

at my old starbucks we used to have.. i dont think he was homeless.. but he was slow and he'd come in every day and sit down, he'd buy a large coffee in the morning and one of those jones root beers at lunchtime.. his friends would come in and sit with him and talk.. it was never a big deal cause they never bothered anyone and no one bothered them. so brent O. you dont know what you're talking about.

[The smilin Barista]

alright, lets get real about the hospitality that is provided at Starbucks. It is all about the "experience" and making people feel welcome. Who is this lady hurting by relaxing in the cafe for a few hours? Guaranteed that she will be back into the store to purchase other items, and likely never return to the lady who would like to make her "lipton combust"

Its not all about the money, thats why they're taking over the world, one store at a time.

[A.Ho]

Longterm. That's how Starbucks thinks. When this young lady is no longer a 'starving artist' where do you think she's going to take her business. And most Starbucks are rarely full for any real lenght of time, so it's unlikely she's taking up space that another customer might want, and they don't know she's been there hours and hours so what do they care, it's full, it happens, wait or move on.

[Barbara]

Why is it that Starbucks will not ship coffee to our soldiers in Iraq? You as a corporation don't have to agree with the war but you as FREE AMERICANS have an obligation to support our men and women who are giving us rights to decide out own destination. This article in AOL states that a military personel wanted to have coffee sent to him and Starbucks denied that request because they didn't agree with the war. Well I don't necessarily agree with it too but I am backing our soldiers. By sending them the coffee you are saying Thank you for your service to us.

[this is truth]

Starbucks did send hundreds of pounds of coffee to Iraq, regardless of their position on the war. A little off subject though, don't you think?

'you as FREE AMERICANS have an obligation to support our men and women who are giving us rights to decide out own destination' huh? Barbara, wake up and smell the coffee!. First, its a bullshit story, Starbucks WILL sell to service personnel, but they DON'T donate to them. Why? Because thier policy is to GIVE to charities, the American military is NOT a charity. If the soldiers want better coffee, spend part of the military budget (currently 3% of GDP) on it: see GW bout that, your Illustrious & Righteous Commander-in-Chief.
And Barbara, please stop with the spreading freedom bullshit, it was ALWAYS about the oil, stupid. If America really wanted to spread freedom, they would have been in Rwanda a decade ago and stopped the persecution of the Palestinians by the Israelis long ago.
America spends 47% of the worlds defence budget. It's not for defence, its not to 'spread freedom'; its to project power wherever they wish, for whatever conveniently suits the administration at the time.

As far as Ms.'starving artist' Lipton is concerned, Starbucks is a business that provides a product & service, if you want charity, go to the many help agencies out there tthat support social programs for those in need and starving loser artist who have no class so they have to go to Starbucks and ask for hot water and sit all day buying nothing.
If you have no money, don't go in the fucking store, stupid. Go get a job instead of sitting on your ass pining about not having any money. Better yet, get an app to apply for a Starbucks Barista position, you classless loser.

[Max]

Last night I was hanging out at my usual Starbucks location, chatting with some friends when I was told to "Buy something or get out." I've been going in there for six weeks, and I don't buy a drink every night. ($2.50 * 30 days in a month = $75.00/month to be a part of the coffee club. A little steep for me.) I left and went to Coffee Bean, where I didn't have the same problem. Does Starbucks have an official policy on this or was I just being singled-out?

I was at my local SBUX in Austin, Saturday nite, making a CD and having an espresso, and a kid came in, chilled in a chair and ate two packs of Domino's cheese sticks. Once he finished he stood up, brushed some cheese off his shirt, and bailed. The SBUX guys seemed pretty chill with that.
When you've got Schultz saying that he wants people to relax in the stores for up to eight hours playing with the Media Bars (cnbc back in Nov), I personally don't see how this could be much of an issue. If Schultz says camp, let 'em camp.

[Typing While Naked]

I'm a barista at a store in downtown San Francisco...we get roughly a dozen homeless people in the store each day. (Some are regulars and others are merely rotating members of the cast.)

I would say we deal with them on a case-by-case basis, but mostly we hold them to the same standards as regular folks: paying customers and/or respectful mild-mannered clientele are allowed to hang out, but anyone who takes off his shirt and starts yelling unintelligibly will get a quick ticket outta there. That may have sounded like a joke but it comes up *way* more often than I would like. Some of them are downright deranged and scare the customers shitless, to say nothing of the baristas who are paid minimum wage to deal with these loons on a daily basis.

I don't remember who posted earlier about the homeless but here's my take on it: not only do they (usually) not bring in any business of their own, but also potentially can take business away by being abrasive, intimidating, and/or foul-smelling in the extreme. I can think of a couple stores in SF (not Starbucks) that I no longer frequent because they are overrun with panhandlers and bums.

Overall our store handles the homeless situation not according to any Starbucks policy I know of but rather the policy of most shopkeepers in the SF area: conduct yourself normally and keep from bothering the other customers and we'll leave you alone.

[RonnyB]

Max, I was the poster just before yours, Re: to the classless loser starving artist who never uys anything at Starbucks but asks for hot water and sits there all day. I own a coffeehouse and I can see your point, you go there alot with friends and it gets expensive.
Our shop policy is at least 1/2 the people MUST order something to sit there(not including pre-teen kids). If 4 come in, 2 gotta buy, but we use discretion -3 fairly well dressed people or students, if one orders -fine. I think thats pretty fair. Now if regulars come in and don't order sometimesbut sit with someone who does, fine. I wouldn't have a problem with Max's situation. Ms Lipton would 1st get a 'brief' on our policy that we have counter service and that we'd be happy to serve her (after about 15 mins of sitting). After another 15 or so mins, we'd then tell her but 'sorry, its shop policy that customers have to order something to sit at a table.'
If this sounds prickish, so be it. Its a business and we try to make allowances, but if you let everyone sit there, guess what? Word get out fast.
Also, anyone who will take up a table without ordering anything is the same type of classless customer that will bring there own sandwich to a restauarant and eat it there. Thats not to say everyone should feel obligated to order, but geez; Id be embarrased if I went anywhere and NONE of us ordered...what the f*ck are we doing here?

RonnyB

Other than the fact that you just stated that the shop you own discriminates, you have valid points. However you must walk the fine line not to ever annoy a customer

[Jess]

Oh, she's a starving artist? really? Gee, how sad for her. Perhaps she should consider getting a job, because if she's so destitute that she can't afford the approximately $1.50 for a cup of coffee, she's got some problems.

Which begs the question: why do we, paying Starbucks customers, have to put up with this crap? I'm fed up with paying my hard-earned money to buy my coffee, so that I can sit at a table and study or write or whatever, only to find that EVERY table is occupied, and then noticing that two or three of the tables are occupied by one person who doesn't even buy anything. What the hell is this, a public park? (Hint: no, its a private business). I'm all for being polite to the baristas and so forth, but there is a limit to what should be considered acceptible behavior by these non-paying leeches.

Jess

actually, in legal terms it's not private but it's also not public. it's a big gray area.

[RonnyB]

Hi, I dont try to be discriminatory, but we do have a posted dress code, and it's legal to refuse service in Ontario if the dress code isn't followed (and to kick them out).
I've been in business for 12 years doing this, and though I'm not doing NEARLY as well as some guy named Schultz, I'd have been closed years ago if I didn't monitor our seating. We are in the middle of downtown with a Salvation Army about 3 blocks away, many of those guys would sit all day if we let them. If they buy a coffee and don't have ripped & dirty clothes, then fine, stay awhile :)
Jess has a great point, people who pay to keep Starbucks and similar businesses in business deserve to be treated well. THEY are the customers, not the person who waltezes in and thinks they have the right to a seat.
We also give quite a bit to charity and non-profit organizations, but not IN the shop.
PS coffee IS a tough racket!

[Cunning Stunt]

"actually, in legal terms it's not private but it's also not public. it's a big gray area."

Not quite.

In several states with ballot initiative processes, the question has been placed before the courts: If shopping malls are the modern village green, should political activity (petition signature gathering, leafletting) be permitted? The courts have ruled that yes, that level of political expression can be permitted. Note that such decisions are in an almost-constant state of flux.

No argument has yet been accepted (or successfully upheld) that would require Starbucks or any other cafe owner to allow the same sort of activity. And although I have not done the research, it is safe to assume that no one has successfully convinced a court that lounging about on the couch in a storefront is a valid form of poltical expression (though likely not for lack of trying).

yes but as I said and you sorta said it is still a gray area in some ways

[Winter]

If Starbucks every did start placing time limits on how long you could sit with your laptop, in a place like Manhattan it would be ridiculously easy to circumvent--you'd just have to walk a block or two to the next one. You could hang out at a different Starbucks every day and not get back to the first for months, even excluding the ones that don't have seating.

[melina]

Winter-I like what you had to say...I almost didn't want to comment b/c I thought you summed the article and it's location perfectly.

That's a perfect summation of the ubiquitousness (spl? word?) of our beloved *$!

It is not a gray area in any way and will not be, unless and until Starbucks creates a multi-tenant shopping mall.

[Zen]

I really want to know what is Starbuck's policy on charging for water. I've been working for Starbucks for about four years. I go to school full time and I'm studying to become a secondary education math teacher. About two years ago I transferred from a store in Connecticut to a store in Houston Texas. Now I'm told that the district manager had given the store I currently work at permission to charge for cups of water. This policy is used to single out teenagers who come at night. I've never seen the policy applied to any regulars that come during the day. And I just thought it was generally discriminatory. I generally sympathize with the teenagers in this that the policy is unfair and discriminatory. Does Starbucks have a written standard on what to do when a customer asks for a glass of water and if so where can I find it?

[IL]

Zen: at my starbucks (in canada) we have a button, "cup o water", there's no charge. i think it's just to keep track of how many cups we're using.

starbucks is about the experience. the only time someone has been kicked out of my store was when he repeatedly ran out of the store chasing cars at 5:30 in the morning and creeping my manager and me out. we have several people who come in to sit and don't always order.

i don't understand why you people are making a big deal out of giving the girl water. it's water. get over it.

[Concerned! Starbucks manager is preventing local folks from gathering?]

Grapevine Texas: Event to explain the Texas process in the 2008 Primary. Most people don't know the process. I am a supporter of Barack Obama, but wanted to share how to get through the process to voters in my little town. I went into the facility 3 weeks before we advertised the event.

The asst. manager had no issue with us, but I stopped by yesterday to confirm the number of people (50)and the Manager – arms folded, standing her ground…she said blurted out eloquently, “We don’t want you people here”

I was stunned and slowly said, “Let me understand this, let me rephrase what you have just said, so that I communicate it properly to the 50 Grapevine residents that are intending to come and drink your coffee……you don’t want them to gather here and explain the democratic process of voting in a Texas primary?” She thought about it….she got quiet…arms folded. I went on, “Have you ever voted in a primary convention?. Did you know there are two steps to voting?” She said, I have lived her my whole life and never heard of that!” I said, “Well then, you may benefit from this information, because it applies to all parties.” “Oh, but they won’t all be drinking coffee right?......and we don’t want you giving out literature!” she said. I said these people are coming on Friday night to drink coffee and hang out, there will be a 15 minute training about the voting process…and then they will enjoy the experience of Starbucks.” She took my name and number so she could give it to her Regional manager who may call me.

I have never felt anything like that. Wow….anger, and almost…dare I say it….”racist”.

We are going tomorrow irrespective of her objections.