"Cafetalism: On the Issue on Table-Hogging in Cafes" : A Response to Starbucks Singapore

CAFETALISM: On the Issue on Table-Hogging in Cafes: A Position Paper

Hogging tables for an end had been the recent topic among netizens. A student who was studying for only half an hour who was yet to finish her drink had been asked to leave the café. Her frustration and her expressing of it nevertheless backfired. Many agreed with the Singapore Starbucks management for asking her to leave, while many netizens also took her side. (You may check this link for a backgrounder: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/students-complaint-over-starbucks-staff-backfires-with-netizens-criticising-her-for )

The issue that had to be resolved was, “should cafes kick out students who are hogging tables to study?” My stand about this argument among netizens and “café-tizens” is NO (except on the premise that the customer uses the place without purchasing anything and if they are causing disturbances in the café). I will provide further evidences for my argument.

The History of Coffee House : A Heritage in Danger

Firstly, let us go back to the history of café culture which got its roots from the European coffeehouses. The first European coffee house apart from the coffee sessions done in Malta and Ottoman Empire was opened in Venice in 1645. Back in those old times until today, European coffeehouses are a place to just slow it down and unwind – to just sit down and relax, or smoke, or get some second-hand smoke while sipping your cup of coffee, people watch, or yes read, write, or study. It does not matter. The coffeeshop is a place to be still and relax your butt off (tumambay). In a blog that I have read, a foreign student in the Netherlands went to a café to grab a coffee and asked the barista for a quick coffee. The barista laughed at him and told him that if he wants a quick-brewed coffee, he should have gone to Mcdonald’s. So from this real-life illustrations, it only shows that coffee is brewed which only shows that the real coffee and café culture is something that promotes reflection and taking things purposefully slow.

Coffeehouse owners seem not to care a bit as every café in Europe gets too crowded on the afternoons and there were not any issue about anyone getting kicked out in these cafes because they hogged a table for hours. Cafes are a place to just relax. No time limit. Just sip your coffee. That’s how they see it and that’s how it is for the original café culture that is to be found in Europe.

It is helpful to remember that the coffee culture and cafes in Europe started with the freethinkers, artists, writers and revolutionaries as a place for free expression and discourses that last for hours. In 17^th century France, the public court ceased to be the arena of public forum and by 18^th century, all of great artists and writers pursued their ideas at coffee shops or tea salons. Would you just imagine how these great artists and writers hogged tables for hours on end!  

That is ultimately where the café culture we have nowadays came from, including Starbucks café. Across history, the café had been and was seen as a place to sip your tea or coffee, just sit back and relax, meet with your friend, or work with your ideas just like how the great writers and artists of Europe did for, surely, hours on end – because that is how the café culture is. It is based on this nature of coffee houses and café culture across history I firstly anchor my argument that cafes should not kick out customers (unless the customers have not ordered anything or is causing disturbances in the place) – so cafes including Starbucks is supposed to be these traditional cafes/coffeehouses. Coffe and café is a global thing with ancient traditions.

This is the how the café culture had been across history and is supposed to be the nature of cafes. Or perhaps, the giant coffee owners had been changing the coffee house/ café culture due to the changing times which I will discuss in the next section of this paper.

Values in Contradiction to ‘what was’ and ‘what is to be’

Let us contrast the nature of the values system of the 15^th to 20^th century against the value system of the 21^st century in relation to the café culture.

Let us first start with the 15^th to 20^th century when cafes across Europe started to bloom and take its influence in the European and World History. 15^th to 18^th century was Renaissance Period for Europe which means that new ideas in arts, music, literature were birthed. It was also a time when nations were born. 19^th to 20^th century was when liberalism took toll, which means that there was a sudden boom in technological, communication and transportation advancements. It was a time in history wherein the values of critical and creative thinking, intellectualism, and diligence with formulating of new ideas were the society’s priorities. The café cultures reflected these values very much as the coffeehouses were where the freethinkers and intellectuals—who were very much esteemed during those times— worked on and  ‘concretize’ these values. As great thinkers, values that they greatly prioritize that these cafes offer and respect are solitude, privacy, personal and creative space and time to work on ideas.

 As what was mentioned earlier, it was in the coffee or tea house (cafes, basically) that the artists, writers, and freethinkers hogged for ideas for hours on end. It was not a big deal to be spending too much time in a café, none was kicked out for overstaying, because the values during those times are, sadly, far different from the values of the 21^st century.

Let us go now to our present time, the 21^st century. As a modern, capitalist driven world we have nowadays, we know that the core values of our society are busyness, haste, and wealth. The coffeehouse values bred from 15^th to 20^th century clearly contradict with the modern-day 21^st century values of our times. 

 Lastly and most importantly, the one who own cafes are capitalists. More than an educational or recreational place, it is a business. This is most true with Starbucks café, of course. From the cafes which originally existed as a business AND AS A PLACE TO FORGE RELATIONSHIPS, AND FORM AND WORK ON IDEAS, the café now had been evolving to satisfy the commercialist and capitalist framework from which our lifestyle have been modeled.

Customers, Capitalism, Coffee, Calming Down, and Creating a Stand

Now that my framework had been laid and that is based on the original culture purpose of 15^th-20^th century Europe, I strongly say that IT IS WRONG TO KICK OUT CUSTOMER/S. What Starbucks Singapore did to its customer is plain rude provided that (1) She had an order and is not yet done with her coffee, (2) she had been there for less than an hour, (3) She was just peacefully minding her business, and (4) she was not causing the café some trouble. She just followed the Starbucks culture which had been existing ever since the company started. It may well be said that Starbucks projected a greater profit if customers would have a certain time-limit for staying. However, that would mean changing the Starbucks culture that we all have gone accustomed to and that would also mean going against the original purpose of culture of a café which is to just sip your coffee and let the time pass by.

I disagree with changing the café culture because in these times of rapid change and so much busyness, the café is the last bulwark where we put our money to just stop, relax, let the time pass and most especially to eat and have coffee. What is coffee without the luxury of just sipping it as long as you want to? Coffee is being still -- to have the comfort and calm to work on our ideas. BASICALLY, WE PAY FOR FOR CAFES PARTLY FOR COFFEE BUT MOSTLY FOR THE COMFORT AND CALM TO WORK ON A PROJECT AS LONG AS OUR BRAINS AND STOMACHS CAN TAKE IT.

Now, it would be outright mean and stupid for someone to be staying in a café without ordering something. That is taking advantage. That is being mean. This is where we can learn from our the vintage people of the 15^th to 20^th century—it is a code that if you want to use a place, make sure that you also help the business that you are using by supporting their products (in this case, coffee, tea or pastries).

I disagree with what Starbucks Singapore did to its customers because it only shows its poor treatment towards its customers (who makes them rich, excuse me). Where is now the RULE “CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.” And again, availing a purchase/purchases should be the first rule before they can be called a customer, the one who’s supposed to be treated like a VIP by any company, before they can be given the privilege to do table-hogging.

Is not the privilege to use their place to work on ideas, aside from the coffee, one of the big ways Starbucks rose to fame among petit bourgeoisie (or middle class workers). Now that they have gained fame among a larger market and have made their café a part of their lifestyle, they are quickly changing the rules of the game – all for their capitalist’s agenda, by shaming the customers for making them feel that they do not know the “new rules” of the coffee culture. Ah, marketing strategies and capitalists really have a way of getting into the human psych so they can manipulate the ‘coffee-hooked’ masses for their commercialist gains.

Commercialism and Capitalism, indeed, is fastly changing the coffee culture, the original face and purpose of a café. All thanks to yes, the reign of capitalism and capitalist. Artists, writers, creatives and intellectuals are marginalized. “Work, work, work, work, shake your leg faster, kick your lazy ass! No time to waste!” had been the core value of these times. “Why are you even resting here in the cafe? Faster! More customers are waiting to be accommodated so get your business done elsewhere but not in our café!” is the emerging café norm. Even on a cafe where you’re supposed to stop, relax, reflect, think, and BREW friendships or ideas, your every action will be timed. Well then, if you value reflecting or working on ideas with a cup of tea or coffee and some pastries on the side, I guess you got to pay more. More leisure time, more reflection, more personal time means you should pay more.

The Capitalists (and some Anti-Hogger-Customers’) Point of View

Of course for the capitalists and for the very busy corporate workers, the ritual of brewing, sniffing the aroma of the coffee beans, sipping the coffee, calming down, formulating thoughts and ideas—like how the Zen Buddhists or the 17^th century intellectuals regularly do— is a violation to their productivity and acquiring of wealth code. The priority of the capitalists, especially of the big Western corporations, is the capital of their business and not the well-being of their customers. The value system of being filthy rich of corporations is in directly opposing to the value of the customer which is to just relax and pass the time (which costs the company a lost of capital per minute a customer “procrastinates” in his/her seat). The capitalists would argue that the customers should pay for every single minute they stay in their premises because it is like they steal more customers and money from the business.

I would also hypothesized then that those who lashed at the customer who complained against Starbucks Singapore are busybodies  who get to have a bad luck securing a seat at Starbucks every afternoon. Also, perhaps, they are the corporate busybodies who just want a taste of a Starbucks seat for 20 minutes every afternoon—but the students have already invaded the chairs by that time.  I would hypothesize that these are professionals who are by nature fast and driven, so “slowpokes” like artists who take a whole day in the café to just complete the creative process irritates them.  It would then be easy to say that these unfortunate Starbucks customers just wanted a fair system for everyone – a chance for them to be able to enjoy staying at Starbucks even for an hour even though they may have gotten at the café late.

Sadly, Starbucks is so commercialized and so in-demand. And how many Starbucks does Singapore have? I bet there’s only one. Because of this, there is too much competition among Starbucks customers in Singapore. Those who come to Starbucks earlier to ‘hog-a-seat’ gets to enjoy the place the whole day or the whole night. Those who arrive at Starbucks late get no chance to even enjoy the serenity of the café because all of the seats have been hogged. The fittest survived (and enjoyed Starbucks Singapore!) while the weak species only had the internet to vent out their frustrations against another “hogger” and ultimately express their satisfaction for Starbucks Singapore’s strict “anti-table hogging standards.”

All these less-fit coffee-loving species want is equality in enjoying their coffee and café time. For them, they have been at a disadvantageous position and have felt less privileged due to the abuses of overstaying of the more advantageous coffee-loving species. What Singapore Starbucks did made them have hope that they would have equal chance and opportunity to unwind at Starbucks and have their favorite Starbucks beverage – a vital part of their life and sanity.

Resolution

To end this position paper, I will again point out my conviction regarding this matter: coffee houses/tea houses/cafes should be a place where customers may relax for as long as they want (Yes, they should be customers first so they should make a purchase first to be rightly called as a customer, right?). No one should be kicked out of a café unless (1) he or she is using the space for a certain time without making purchases – which means he or she is not a customer anyway, and (2) he or she is disturbing other customers or causing the store some troubles.

 Starbucks Singapore should have not kicked out its customer (the one who ranted online) because the existing café culture, especially in the Starbucks culture, is that a purchase of coffee means that any customer is free to stay in their place as long as she is not yet done with her drink. It had been done so many years from that. If they want to change that culture and mindset among many customers, then they should do something about it – explicitly stated rules.

So for commercialized cafes such as Starbucks where the demand is high and its customers are asking for “equal coffee rights” and longing for “equal staying privileges”, then Starbucks should then set new rules to ensure that each customer will be accommodated and no customer shall be left behind (and more money will come in too), which is possible because new cafes have already implemented it. These rules may involve time constraints (eg. paying of an extra hour fee which costs 70 per extra hour per head), no one should stay in the café unless they have made an order, no group study, etc. Setting new rules would make customers aware of the contract he/she and Starbucks have which would save the customer some irritation issues about the management and would also save Starbucks from some customer issues in the future.

SOURCES:

Natalie Burns-Holland. “Everything You Need to Know About Coffee Culture If You’re Studying in Europe”. From Spoon University > Lifestyle ( https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/european-coffee-culture-when-studying-abroad) on October 12, 2015. Accessed on May 14, 2018.

Mira. “The Lure, The Intrigue of Café Culture”. From Days to Come by Tour Radar (https://www.tourradar.com/days-to-come/history-of-cafe-culture)  on May 26, 2016. Accessed on May 14, 2018.

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PS: Just days after I wrote this position paper, Starbucks released a statement saying that anyone is allowed to use the C.R. or just sit in Starbucks cafes even without making a purchase. So to all the basher netizens and inconsiderate customers out there, let us take a moment of silence and check these reliable sources out for that -- (1) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-starbucks-policy-no-purchase-needed-sit-cafes-n875736 and (2) http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/21/news/companies/starbucks-new-policy/index.html. 

Dear Starbucks Singapore, kindly evaluate whether the ways you have dealt with these Singaporean customers of yours reflect the true Starbucks values.

For Research reference, please cite me properly:

Ibarrientos, R. (May 28, 2018). CAFETALISM: On the Issue on Table-Hogging in Cafes: A   Position Paper. Retrieved [insert Month Day, Year], from Freed-Woman. Freedom Fighter. Peacemaker:  http://bolaksonday.blogspot.com/2018/05/hey-know-what-coffee-shop-really-is-and.html