Home-workers should Zoom out of our cafes

SINCE when did WFH (working from home) become WFC (working from the cafe)?

Have others noticed how difficult it is becoming to get a seat at cafes near to pleasant walking/dog exercising areas because of someone taking sole occupancy of a table to conduct business?

This happened to me this week when I sat down at a table already occupied by one such worker. She told me she was “in a meeting”, but somewhat reluctantly moved papers and crockery aside for me. I responded that I thought I was in a cafe and not an office.

The meeting, on Zoom or suchlike, continued and, had I wished, I could quite easily have “tuned in” to hear about various families and “looked after” children and their needs being discussed in detail.

In my view, a meeting of this kind is best conducted in quieter surroundings, away from the public.

I sympathise with cafe managements who, having sold refreshments to a customer, have little control over what happens afterwards, though I did hear of one cafe owner who, faced with such a situation of someone conducting business at a table and taking up space, produced a mug of coffee and put it down alongside.

When the customer said, “I didn’t order another coffee”, the owner replied, “No, and I didn’t expect to provide you with a rent-free office either!”

Employers with staff WFH, please guide them towards more appropriate venues if for some reason they decide they need a change from home.

G Austen