Why are coffee shops always full? It’s not the cappucinos, it’s the free wifi. Table hoggers are causing upset and angst in the High Street according to a right wordy report in the erudite Journal of Service Research.[1]
The authors, who could do with a lengthy course in the writing of plain English, disclose that customers “engage in territorial behaviours that communicate to other customers that intrusion is not welcome.” Even worse, purchase of a coffee gives customers territorial rights, thus “decreasing turnover and discouraging other customers who want to sit and consume café products.”
I confess to frequent obnoxious territorial behaviour in various branches of well-known coffee chains. I have even been known to buy two café products in an apparently vain attempt to pay my way and avoid upsetting other café product consumers. Despite this I have never been asked to leave, nor have I noticed any obvious signs of distress in fellow coffee consumers. I am fairly sure, also, that I have never bumped into the authors of this gripping research. I must try harder.
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Memo to self: Take out a sub to the Journal of Service Research. I wonder if they do a Kindle edition so I can read it in bed? ↩