The Hogging of Seats at Dining Places

It’s something that has been happening for a long time – the hogging of seats at dining places and perhaps just about any other place of business with air-con and comfortable chairs. But it didn’t go as far back as during my own studying days. Somewhere along the way, students have migrated from studying in libraries to studying in more trendy hangout places.

I don’t want to mind about this so much, except that it does get quite annoying when you’re a customer trying to find an empty table in a crowded place, and instead find tables occupied by people who look like they’ve been sitting there studying for a long time. Oh, they still pass off as customers because they buy a small drink or snack or something that will somehow last them for a couple of hours.

There’s worse, like in the photo above, when the people aren’t even there, but they have apparently “reserved” their spot by littering the table with all their study materials.

This happened while I was at Coffee Bean recently. I had actually already found myself a seat, so I wasn’t too bothered. But the cafe was actually quite crowded. A short while after I had settled down with my drinks, these two persons at the table in front of me (photo on left) got up from their seats and left the cafe. Yup, leaving no one left at their table… which was now only occupied by their study materials. They had just one pathetic drink that was empty or almost empty (at least from what’s visible at that point in time).

I don’t know where they went, but they didn’t come back by the time I left the cafe. Perhaps they had gone to have cheaper dinner somewhere else. Or maybe the rendezvous with their friends. What I know is… well, it is not very considerate to hog a table like that during peak hours.

Could Coffee Bean staff evict them? I suppose they could, but most likely they will try to avoid having to do that. After all, they don’t want to offend customers, or attract bad press to themselves. It’s the same problem any other establishment faces when they have people hogging their premises.

There’s no simple solution. I was thinking of suggesting to appeal to the civic-mindedness of these people. Try putting up some signage to explain the seats should be given to real customers, or that studying is forbidden during stated peak hours. I know some places already do that. I’m not sure how helpful that is. Considering how unsuccessful we are in appealing to commuters to give up reserved seats on public transport to those in need, I’m not very optimistic that we would achieve much here.

I want to ask: Is there really a lack of sufficient and proper studying places? Or is it a case of being more trendy to be seen studying in a happening place?