Do cafe owners mind when customers linger for hours? Their honest answers

Apart from lounging with friends or taking a few minutes for a quick cup of coffee, cafes have certainly become the go-to place for Pinoys who want to study and work outside their own homes.

Cafes offer a perfect solution for those seeking a productive and vibrant atmosphere for both studying and working. Strategically located in streets or areas frequented by people, these shops provide easy access to amenities such as high-speed internet, meeting rooms, and the opportunity to network with other professionals.

Then, of course, there's coffee which you can usually purchase for less than P200 a cup to last you throughout your stay.

However, a certain video featuring Scottish travel vlogger Dale Philip sparked an online debate for criticizing the students who spend hours studying or doing paperwork in coffee shops here in the Philippines.

Philip, who has traveled to over 50 countries, said he "hates" those people who sit in coffee shops with their laptops, doing their homework, and using it as their personal office. The vlogger aired his sentiment as he noticed a long queue in a coffess shop where he was about to get his coffee.

"I would hate to have a business, where people just come and use it as their personal office. Use your WiFi, your electricity, and buy like one coffee," he said.

"Just sit in your house, just sit in your condo, just sit in your hotel room and do your work. Why do you settle in somebody's coffee shop, to do you work with people disturbing you," he continued.

X user, @maroontito, who reposted the video which earned more than 6.7 million views as of writing, wrote his outrage towards Dale.

"The audacity of white people to make a living off of Filipinos while simultaneously criticizing our own culture and social norms. Didn’t even bother blurring their faces. Nakakainit ng dugo," he wrote.

Other X users agreed with Dale and said that coffee shops are, first and foremost, businesses rather than remote workplaces. 

"Imagine, several hours and that's a fact, most of them stay that long with 1 bev and pastries. If they can afford coffee and pastries, why not just invest for a pocket wifi, surely they can afford it," one user wrote.

Meanwhile, there are also those who pointed out that several coffee shops have business models where allowing customers to use their amenities all day long is actually part of their services.

"Plain and simple: PAG DI NAMAN AGAINST STARBUCKS' RULES, IT MEANS OKAY LANG. I've been doing my work in Starbucks for so many years sa iba't ibang branches pero walang ni-isa ang nagbawal sakin na mag work doon bukod sa nagiging friends ko ang mga barista," another X user commented.

Coffee shops as 'conducive learning and coworking spaces'

Among those people who preferred doing school work in coffee shops during college is multimedia artist Erwin Kim Albalate. In his chat with PhilSTAR L!fe, he said that there is a certain comfort and vibe that coffee shops offer that one can’t find at home.

"I guess for the majority of us who don’t really have that personal working space at home, you can easily access that through coffee shops. Not to mention the drinks and pastries you can order while working," he said.

"There’s this sort of 'community' that you know you’re part of where everyone is just working their a** off and not giving a single care on everyone."

He also told L!fe, that as long as a customer paid for the drink, he or she earned the right to do whatever business they need at the shop, given that they also know their limitations to respect others who are working or dining in the cafe as well.

The same thing goes for Lorangely Hernandez, a campus journalist and language major who is an avid customer of coffee shops as they also double as coworking places.

"We, Filipinos, do not have the same conducive and work-friendly situation or areas at home. That’s why co-working spaces, like select coffee shops, are very helpful when it comes to finishing a write-up or any work/ school stuff, one is using the space for," she told L!fe.

"If I don’t find a certain cafe shop peaceful or work-friendly enough, I will move on to another. And if I cannot buy a drink because there are too many people in a certain cafe shop, I can order or buy from another shop. We are all trying to get by, do what you have to do, and finish your loads at the end of the day," she added.