Is there no café culture in the U.S?

[lockedout]

This is a thing that exists?

IIRC Alpine NJ is second to Beverly Hills.

New Jersey is one of the wealthiest states in the United States of America, with a per capita income of $35,928 (2012) and a personal per capita income of $50,781 (2010). Its median household income is $71,637 (2012) and its median family income is $87,389 (2012), both the second highest in the country. The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit is $337,900 (2012), ranked fifth in the country.[2][4] New Jersey has the highest percentage of millionaire residents in the country with 7.12% of New Jersey households having $1 million or more liquid or investible assets, not including equity in homes.

[Coffeexbean]

its common for people to spend 1-2 hours in restaurants and i always see starbucks full of people on their laptops or reading sounds like you got some shitty service lol

[Unhinged]

Its a country woth shot coffee and food. They also cannot pay people properly, so ehat do you expect.

[tumppu]

Threads like this one are always hilarious to read for a variety of reasons, but my all time favourite is americans pleading europeans "not to think of usa as a single country", even though it is, while referring to europe as if it's a single country, while it most certainly is not. Not all of you, mind you, but theres always the odd fellow who does that.

[Deleted]

2 hours in a cafe is excessive though in all fairness, European or not.

[dragonballgtz]

I think of cafes as a hipsters hangout for the most part. There are some people, like myself, that do enjoy a cup of "fancy" drank (looking at you pumpkin spice latte), but there is no way in hell I'm staying there for an hour let alone two. Gimme my drank and I'll be on mah way.

[Deleted]

Yea in the US we don’t take 2 hour lunches like they do in Europe. However, we do have Saturday and Sunday off on the weekend. Where in Europe the typical work week includes Saturday. Just a different way of doing the work week. There are plenty of coffee houses in the US. The US is also less densely populated so maybe you are feeling that as well.

I don't know ANYONE who takes a 2h lunch break. Never heard of that. The only exception would be if I'd take a client/supplier out for a lunch meeting. You're talking about the Spanish siesta and lazy cunts in Southern Italy.

Saturday also isn't a regular working day. A lot of businesses work regular Monday-Friday schedules. We only have our callcenter employees come in on weekends, everyone else is home.

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With empty life.

Says the guy with 17.000 forum posts in 6 years.

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Does the US also has this thing called 'terrasje pakken'?

Like this:

There is absolutely nothing better than spending an afternoon outside with a few friends, drinking some beers, in the sun like this. Nothing. It's a huge cultural thing in Belgium and the Netherlands (and many other Continental European countries).

[Elim Garak]

Says the guy with 17.000 forum posts in 6 years.

I fail to see your point. Are you bad at math? Or are you implying that online communication is a sign of empty life AND you are bad at math? It's like 9 posts a day on average. Is it too much? Only for people with empty lives who have nothign to talk about.

[PaterMDx]

Spain take siestas and shut down because it's too hot, sure it's not the same? And since when is India in Europe

hahaha, they dont take siestas becouse its to hot, they do it becouse they are lazy wankers. no wonder why spain is poor as shit, and one small region carries the country

[Deleted]

I don't know ANYONE who takes a 2h lunch break. Never heard of that. The only exception would be if I'd take a client/supplier out for a lunch meeting. You're talking about the Spanish siesta and lazy cunts in Southern Italy.

Many comercial businesses in Portugal do have 2h lunch breaks (12h-14h or 13h-15h).

[Elim Garak]

Many comercial businesses in Portugal do have 2h lunch breaks (12h-14h or 13h-15h).

Many comercial businesses there don't work outside without air conditioning anymore though. They don't really need such long breaks.

[Deleted]

Many comercial businesses there don't work outside without air conditioning anymore though. They don't really need such long breaks.

Good to know that you have the economical and cultural mandate of nations.

[-aiko-]

I enjoy a nice visit to a cafe with friends, but to stay at a cafe for hours? Sounds like an inconvenience to the cafe and staff tbh.

[|Dexter|]

In the USA, we got Starbucks for that, we meet up, we chat a bit and move on with our lives... however lots of people these days not even take the time for that, everyone here always seems in a hurry.

[Noradin]

It felt more like they expected you to buy whatever you wanted, and then drink up and leave ASAP, while in my country a café can very much be seen as a home away from home and where you make friends with the staff.

Yes, that is the difference exacty.
For the staff it's the difference between having to be polite and having the choice to be friendly.
It is the same in restaurants. They act polite and make lengthy smalltalk but they expect you to rush through it where as in countries like Germany (where it is the height of rudeness to steal someone else's time with inane things) will leave you be for hours if you so wish.

That is the downside of a tip-based employment: Staff acts overly polite but has incentive to rush guests.
It is really off putting to Europeans and the reason why I never feel comfortable in restaurants and cafés in the USA.
They hover and they rush me and I prefer staff to leave me alone unless I signal that there is something they can do for me.
(Yes, it is a bit different in more classy places, but staff still tends to get on my nerves even there, it's just not an enjoyable experience.)

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It's not about the tips. The servers in US will be pissed about the tips but who cares about them? But the CAFE that has less sales because of people who occupy a table for two hours to drink 2 coffee - will be pissed EVERYWHERE across the globe. Servers in EU will be "whatevah" about it cause they get paid jsut as much and it's less work. But their managers will be furious.

That really isn't true.
The café lifes off its atmosphere and reputation, and part of that is that they give everyone the choice to stay for a long time.
Nobody has to rush on account of them, and that is something that makes even those who do not make use of the opportunity that time around feel better (in Europe).
Thus, no, the managers won't be furious if they have any sense. The time gets paid even if it does not look like it to you. It gets paid indirectly by every patron.

The USA have something similar: Free refills. (Yes, part of the reason they can afford those is because they rush their guests.)

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I don't think so. I could see myself sitting in a coffee shop with my laptop studying or doing some work.
A lot of digital nomads work that way. On the contruary, I think it's rude to attempt to shoo away those people if they have bought their coffee.
If the coffee shop doesn't like that kind of behavior, they should make a rule about it.

Exactly, in which case I would know take my business elsewhere, always, even when I do not intend to spend more than five minutes on a coffee.

[Darkeon]

Sipping coffee for 3 hours anywhere is not very profitable for the business.
Drinking booze in a bar for 3 hours is a bit different.

Can't talk for other countries, but here, in Portugal, we go to the Café for the coffee.. then for the afternoon of beers with the mates, on the days off. That doesn't sound that bad in terms of profit..

[namecraft]

In USA we have jobs so we can't just sit around cafes all day

every american?

[Noradin]

Only if the population approves. Nothing wrong in annexation in and of itself. it's just a word that describes a process of a territory changing ownership.
No one in cafes likes laptop hobos. Not even laptop hobos themselves.

You definition of "population" is a group of people made up of only yourself, right?

[Vargur]

Anyways. I come from Europe where we have a strong café culture. Sitting at a café, either with friends or alone, for a few hours is not all that uncommon here, sipping away on your coffee while reading the newspaper, a book or whatever.

"We" don't.

[Noradin]

"We" don't.

We do, feel free to list exceptions, but everywhere in Europe I went (which is very nearly everywhere) they had good cafés and restaurants where you could eat well and spend some time.