What’s the etiquette for ordering "just water" or minimal items while working from a coffee shop?
Imagine this situation: A customer sits down in a coffee shop and gets their laptop out.
The coffee shop does table service, and it is a great coffee shop, with dedicated staff.
The barista comes up to the customer and asks, "What would you like to order?"
The customer proceeds to say, "Just a glass of tap water, please."
The customer then works from the coffee shop for three hours, plugging in the laptop and taking up a four-person table at the same time.
Sipping slowly on the tap water and then leaving the coffee shop.
What do you think about that?
Your thoughts are probably similar to my thoughts: this customer has been (in British terminology) 'impolite'.
This is wrong in my opinion, as ordering drinks is the ‘rent that you pay’ for the coffee shop desk you work on. It is good value, considering for around £5-£10 you can work at a desk with Wifi and get a nice hot drink as well.
Ordering nothing is out of the question.
However, the question of how much to order is, interesting.
How much to order?
After much trial and error, the best approach I have found is to order a drink, once an hour. This seems to be a favourable number of purchases for the time available.
Now, one note from me on this number is thinking about this from an all-day perspective. If you are planning to work from a coffee shop for 7 or 8 hours, that is 7 or 8 drinks at least, which is a mighty dose of caffeine to be consuming in one day. You will not sleep that night.
If you are planning an all-day coffee shop working session, plan your drink accordingly or ask for decaf coffee.
Final Thought
To sum up: not ordering drinks is impolite and takes advantage of the establishment you are using, you should find a reasonable number of drinks to order, try not to order too many caffeinated drinks if you are planning on working in the coffee shop all day.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. We appreciate it.
We have also written a number of books, which you can view here.
We have also created a number of digital resources, which you can view here.
You can also connect with me on: