Starbucks’ Etiquette Part 1: The Office

Today I am going to start a short series on Starbucks’ Etiquette.

I know i still have other series that I need to finish, but on those I am waiting for some more inspiration.

Even though I despise coffee, I visit Starbucks often to pick up a Venti Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino and to do a little work on my laptop.

Over the many hours I have spent at Starbucks, I have noticed some people misbehav’n in ways they shouldn’t misbehave inside of a Starbucks establishment. So I will enlighten you on some of these behaviors so that you may know what etiquette to use while visiting your local Starbucks.

The first behavior I wish to speak about is “Officing”. Officing is a term used when someone goes to Starbucks to work on their laptop and use the affordable T-Mobile Hotspot high-speed internet connection while they are there.

There is nothing wrong with this. It’s a great way for Starbucks to retain long time customers by making them feel welcome at their store- and in return those long term customers will spend money at said Starbucks while they are there (more on that later).

There is one man who I see at a local Starbucks literally everytime that I have ever been there. He is a college computer networking professor who teaches online and does it from Starbucks. He is a great guy, verry nice, and doesn’t get in anyone’s way. He is not loud or obnoxious, and he actually purchases food and drink while he is there- cheap office rent, eh?

But then there are the others who use Starbucks as their office, but tend ot forget that it’s a restaraunt also. Many people use it to make their professional phone calls and are very loud and obnoxious about it and there is no way you can escape their conversation even if you are listening to music on your iPod. If you look towards them, simply trying to see where all of the racket is coming from: you get the evil eye.

So rule number one when Officing at Starbucks: Use your cell phone as little as possible and if you do have to make calls; do it discreetly and privately- maybe even…I don’t know…step outside?

One other problem with Starbucks’ Office’rs is that some of them tend to use the restaurant as their own private meeting place. If it’s something like counseling (as long as the topics are a little vague due to the people sitting around you) or a simple planning meeting with a note pad and a couple of people that’s fine, but often it’s a full small business important decision making meeting with multiple laptops, tables pushed together, and loud chatter. This is rude. Plus, often several people in this ‘meeting’ will not even buy something!

So rule number two while Officing at Starbucks: If you have to use it as a meeting place, be quiet about it. Don’t bring everyone’s computer. Don’t move the tables and chairs around to accomodate your meeting. And, you have to buy something and technically if it is a work meeting for your company by whom you are employed by, your company needs to be the one to pick up the tab since they are the ones who made you have the meeting there in the first place.

One strange, but common phenomena for Starbucks’ Office’rs is to use the restaurant as a sale’s floor. Very often I see business people who peddle goods and services inviting their customers into their local Starbucks to try and sell them on something. I have seen this with wedding ministers, real estate investors, cheesy internet sales companies, wedding planners, and today I even saw a wedding photagrapher who brought in a hand truck with 4 very large boxes and albums filled with pictures. A hand truck! She scanned the Starbucks for open seating options and was visibly offended that it was so busy. So she proceded to gather several tables together with lots of chairs and literally blocked the entrance to a seating section with her stuff. She then laid out all of the photo albums as if it was her own photography studio and began to sell her photos to a mother and a bride. And, she bought nothing to drink.

So rule number three for Starbucks’ Office’rs: It’s not appropriate to use Starbucks as your sales floor. This is something that you need your own space for. And if you don’t have your own space, you need to rent one because you can’t simply use a restaurant for free to conduct your business. It would be like strangers walking into your house and doing a business deal at your coffee table without your permission. But, if you absolutely must conduct your sales at a local Starbucks, you have to buy something!!

Ok. Just one more. Starbucks’ Office’rs using Starbucks as a place to recruit, interview, and train their employees!!!! What the heck? This is the most common thing I see. This is not fair to your potential employees or the ones you’re training to have to conduct this kind of business in a public place and it’s not fair to the customers sitting next to you to be bombarded with businiess information that they didn’t solicite. And it’s especially not fair for Starbucks to have to pay your compnaies rent for office space to conduct such business. And yes, just like so many of these other Starbucks office faux pas; often these obtrusive customers are not customers at all because they buy nothing while they are there!

So rule number four for Starbucks’ Office’rs: it is never ok to conduct job recruitment, interviewing, or training at a Starbucks- never!

Part 2 in the Starbucks’ Etiqutte Series: The Cell Phone. Coming Soon!

2 Responsesto “Starbucks’ Etiquette Part 1: The Office”

1. Lori Trask Broncheau says:

   July 2, 2008 at 2:49 pm

   Good stuff and SO true. I have been guilty of a “light” meeting or two at Starbucks but have always purchased a drink (and sometimes even a scone ) and have never brought a computer or dragged tables together. I must admit that I met my wedding photographer at a Starbucks but she did not come with a hand truck (just a portfolio) and everyone at the “sales pitch” ordered a drink. Not to mention that she’s one of my best friends now…
2. Bobby says:

   August 13, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   Um… guilty… I’m a talker in starbucks… and a bible reader, and occasionally, I have a bit of gas because thats what milk does to my stomach. the Bible says to confess your sins to your brothers and sisters in Christ… this is my confession…