Saturday, February 6, 2010

10 things I've learned from working in cafes:

As I've posted before, I've been doing the laptop cafe thing for awhile.  Here are a few little bits of wisdom I've picked up.  Use them wisely.

10 - It's impossible to sound masculine when ordering a latte.

9 - If you have to answer a call of nature, bring your laptop with you.  If you ask someone to watch it for you, they will always say yes before promptly forgetting about it.

8 - The girl smiling and cooing at her computer screen is talking to her boyfriend on skype.

7 - Get there before 9:30 AM if you want any hope of getting a table near an outlet.

6 - You can coast in a cafe all day on one cup of coffee, but it won't make you well-liked by the staff.

5 - People might look like they are doing important things on their laptops, but half of them are just updating their facebook status.

4 - Free wifi sounds like mana from heaven, but in a crowded cafe (with dozens of laptops) you might as well be on 300 baud dialup.

3 - The people you think are weird are thinking that you are just as weird.

2 - Nobody actually cares what you are doing on your laptop, no matter how interesting you think it is.

1 - Rainy days + warm cafe + sweet jazz music = best work environment ever.

2 comments:

  1. I've been doing a lot of uni work in coffee shops lately. Rarely with my laptop though, it's normally when I have reading to do.

    For some reason, even with people coming in and out, and conversations going on all around you, it's still much preferable to just sitting in clinical silence in a library.

    A few times lately, I've also found myself sitting alone with a pint and a cheap pub lunch, soaking up a few chapters here and there.

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  2. I do a whole lot of writing in various cafes. It's often difficult to concentrate at home: too difficult to resist the siren call of a cuddle break with the wife or cat, or a quick game of Pro Evolution Soccer. A cafe presents an environment where I know how long I'll be there and what I'm going to do with my time.

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