Starbucks reverses open-door policy: Buy something or leave
Starbucks reverses open-door policy: Buy something or leave
The new code of conduct also bans discrimination or harassment, consumption of alcohol, smoking, drug use, and panhandling in company owned stores.
I'm not sure how this is dystopian, to be honest. Pretty much any business expects you to actually buy something if you're using the facilities.
But "hanging out in a coffee shop" while buying little, and honestly even more specifically "going to starbucks to write" are such common activities that they have been the subject of show plots and memes for decades. There's probably a reasonable argument that this cultural perception of coffee shops drives a certain percentage of business.
I personally don't find it troublesome to need to buy a coffee if I'm going to hang out at a coffee shop (and I'm not one to do so anyhow), but I'm also skeptical it's such a widespread problem that they had any reason to do this beyond real-world enshittification.
I agree that people going to a cafe to write is a cliche, but aren't they typically shown to be buying something while they're there?
having nowhere to be where im not expected to pay up sounds pretty dystopian to me.
Yeah. Nobody expects to be able to walk into McDonald’s and sit at a table all day using wifi without buying anything. Same goes for any restaurant or cafe to be honest, except maybe ones in public libraries or on college campuses.
But, and this may be an important difference, McDonald's and restaurants aren't a coffee house that built its rep on the backside of an homage to Viennese coffee houses - see the decor similarities and learn about "suspended coffees" - in the hopes of filling the shop with literati and being just so damned hip that they were their own advertisement. And that worked a treat for it.
And now it's tearing up its Austrian passport. And now it will be as American as McDonald's, which has a 20-minute target for table turning.
I love that comfortable, coffe house vibe of 'get the fuck out', really helps me relax while reading a book or sketching or brainstorming, or waiting to meet up with a friend.
... I get the idea that basically no one in this thread has ever been to an old school, independent coffee shop that basically operates like a pub, ya'll act like everything is a fast food restaurant.
Go watch Friends, or something, and see if you notice how coffee houses used to be places you could just hang out and chill in basically all day untill close if you wanted to.
Its not just a contrivance to make the show work.
That kind of environment used to actually exist.
I used to go to one that just had an entire two and a half floors lined with books on all sorts of topics you could just pop open and read for 3 hrs, no purchase necessary, other people used to do school projects their, bring their laptop and do a days worth of remote work...
This was the original vibe of Starbucks, the original idea, like company mission statement, was to bring that chill, relaxed hangout atmosphere from Seattle and export it.
... But, over 20 years or so, it did just become another fast food restaurant, and now this is apparently so hypernormalized that I feel like the last living hipster or something, telling ancient stories of yore like a hippe explaining woodstock...
We need more buildings that are like public parks. A big open and inviting space with tables and benches and power outlets free for anyone to use.
Libraries are nice for studying but you can't eat and drink in there or chat with friends and family. I can't think of any public spaces that really reflect what a coffee shop could provide.
It's the problem of rapidly diminishing third places.
In Belfast there's a lovely space called 2 Royal Avenue which does exactly this. Hopefully it remains.
There's even a community bulletin board and such.
A chain that has historically built its business in being a cool place to hang out, now quadrupling down on being the lamest, most obnoxious place on earth...
We'll see how that goes
Not surprising from a store that infamously doesn't let you use their bathrooms unless you buy something.
In Manhattan there's a Starbucks on every block but you can't find one god damn public restroom anywhere. That and someplace to sit.
Visiting Manhattan is a fucking challenge because of this.
I left a whole ago once a COFFEE was $5...ain't no way in hell their shit is worth that.
I'm reminded of when Dunkin Donuts in my old state, one of the locations had a sign on the bathroom door. They wouldn't allow anyone to use it, unless they made a purchase of a $1 or more.
I wish I was kidding, their reason was to combat the people who only parked in their parking lot to just lounge but never go in or order something.
Poor way of handling that.
Plenty of times I've seen that. I got IBS, so I used to map out toilets on my way to work. Lots of public ones, but there were stops where you had to go to a cafee. Tons of signs. So now stand in line to buy a coke or something to be let into the toilet, it was infuriating. Also imagine my terror when they closed down a bridge and the tram went right to add like 30 mins of travel time across "unmapped" terrain. Shit(literally) sucks
Sounds like Paris.
I'll give it a few months or so before this is reverted.
Damage will be done. Starbucks can only recover so much goodwill on $6 milkshakes.
This is interesting, I'm currently in Japan and noticed the Starbucks here are huge with many tables and chairs and they are packed with people sitting and reading, doing homework, etc. Many don't have drinks or appear to hang out there all day.
Why has America made everything so hostile?
Good
What makes this dystopian?
Yet another place where you have to consooom only. No social spaces left in society