This morning in the cafe at Robinsons Bookshop in Frankston my phone rang. It was an unexpected, quite urgent work related call.
Considering that I was with my six year old son, had no pen, had 3 or 4 bags of shopping and, most importantly had just been served a fresh long black, I chose to take the call and deal with it then and there. The cafe is at the rear of the bookshop and there was no way I could take the call outside, keep an eye on my son, drink my coffee and carry my shopping.
I spoke quietly and quickly and the whole thing was taken care of in 5 minutes. The barista was kind enough to lend me her pen.
After I hung up, a gentleman in the cafe berated me for having taken the call. In the manner that one does he assumed that all in the cafe (there were 5 in total) were as affronted and disgusted at my behaviour as he was. He then suggested I could have taken the call outside.
In a complete fail I did not respond with my normal grace charm and wit. I didn't ask whether he'd had too much coffee yet, not enough coffee yet, etc. I made a smartass comment about this not being a library. Not my best work.
Up until now my experience in cafes is that mobiles are allowed, even encouraged. The longer we spend in the cafe, the more we eat and drink. Cafes are vibrant active meeting places where people gather to chat, read, eat and drink.
So my question is: Is there a new etiquette regarding mobile phones? Are cafes off limits now for taking calls? Is there a critical mass of people in a cafe before one is allowed to make or take a call?
Was I rude?
1 comment:
Not at all... I may have even flipped the bird...
Post a Comment