He is Christophe. Christophe is a good husband, an excellent colleague, and he helps his son with his homework every evening. But Christophe has a huge flaw. He sits in a cafe for four hours to telecommute with just one espresso ordered, silent typing on his computer all morning. He barely looks away from his screen for a few seconds, enough time to glare at a couple who he thinks are speaking too loudly or at a group of friends who have had the audacity to laugh. Yes, but Christophe, we are in a café, and it is not shocking to see people chatting there – originally, it was even made for that.
We would be tempted to beg you “Don’t be like Christophe”, but maybe the guy is simply living with the times. Coffee style Central Perk In Friends, where we lean on the counter or on the sofa to laugh about each other’s breakups or the happiness of others, seems to reflect the image of the series. A little dated. Since the Covid-19 crisis and the explosion of teleworking – which concerned 4% of employees in 2019, compared to 30% today – people like Christophe, their computer, their mono-consumption in three hours and their silence of lead are more and more numerous in cafes and restaurants, at the expense of Chandler, Joey and Monica.
“We didn’t want a ghost and sanitized place”
Too many for the taste of Jean-Baptiste, co-manager of Café Dose Paris, which decided to purely ban computers in its establishments. A bit radical? Before permanently banning Christophe’s MacBook, intermediate solutions were tried – restricting WiFi, creating a space reserved for teleworking, only allowing it during certain hours – without finding satisfaction. “This created an area of vagueness and conflict. We are a café, our goal is to be commercial, we cannot welcome someone with outstretched arms with their computer at 11 a.m. then deny them access at 6 p.m. We had to establish a clear and understandable line, and the simplest thing was to ban it all the time, in all spaces.” To the point that the rule was even posted on the walls outside for a while.
The doctrine “has left many disappointed,” he admits. But on this November morning, all he has to do is take a look at his room on the Batignolles side to have no regrets. Here, people chat, they guzzle liters of coffee, it smells like brunch, toast, and go ahead whether it resonates with bursts of laughter or whispers of confessions. In short, life. “We didn’t want a ghostly, sanitized place where no one talks to each other and you just hear the clicks of mice. The goal of a café is to give people their best moment of the day, and that was a mission impossible when you were around people who were silent on their computers. »
“We don’t go to a café to apologize for talking”
A similar choice was made at Kabane : exit computers with, here again, an impossible attempt at in-between. “It didn’t satisfy anyone, and we received a lot of bad comments at that time,” emphasizes Pierre-Jacques, the manager. The decision was definitively made shortly after the lockdown was lifted, after a group of teleworkers chased away five tables nearby. “Customers told me they were afraid of getting in the way. But we don’t go to a café to apologize for talking! », chokes the manager.
He defends a choice made solely to save the atmosphere, regardless of the recipes: “There are people who talk and only drink coffee in the afternoon. I do not care. But stress is contagious, and no one wants to relax in front of someone who is working. And then naturally, we will lower our voices, be embarrassed to have taken children…”
Same policy at Buddy Buddy, another Parisian caffeine institution. “We only have 7 tables inside and we want to offer our experience to all customers,” indicates the establishment, which defends a choice that has become consensual. “In Paris, customers are increasingly accustomed to the fact that most independent cafes prohibit computers. » Camille, a teleworker, also noticed this: “We are very unwelcome as soon as we take out a computer. Before, I went to the local café, but because of getting bad looks or orders to drink, I prefer to stay at home. » Regrettably: “At work, the atmosphere is lousy and toxic, and there is always work going on in my building. Coffee was ideal, but even then they chased us away. »
Another roof for teleworkers, but under conditions
So, Christophe and the Friends, cohabitation really impossible? No, wants to believe Romain, manager of The Coffee Company in the 9th, ready to offer a roof, wifi and a Latte to poor Christophe (we ended up finding him endearing, poor guy). Proof of this is that after touring the capital’s cafes, we finally found computers and serious teleworkers here. “We have always had clients who come to work, and there is no problem as long as they play the game,” smiles Romain.
Understand: no computer at lunchtime and on weekends, more consumption than a coffee in a day, only one table for two people. For the rest, he assures that things are going well. “That’s the difficulty of a café: reconciling hospitality and rules. But above all we appeal to people’s common sense.”
The teleworker, mood killer or afternoon savior?
Calls to order are extremely rare, underlines Romain. “People come to telework here precisely to have the atmosphere of a café, they seek to preserve this atmosphere,” he emphasizes. The recent bankruptcy of WeWork, a company specializing in coworking, demonstrates his theory according to him: “If people work neither at home nor in open space, it is not to telework in a place that looks like an office. » Julie, a regular teleworker, defends her agency: “We are customers like any other, we will consume as much as anyone else and there is no need to speak loudly or burst out laughing to drink in a café. »
Romain even sees some great vibes among these homo numericus : “In the afternoon, without them, the café is empty. My goal is to have a living space, not to just be a cafe between 8 and 10 and at noon. They occupy off-peak hours. »
A choice defended by Bernard Boutboul, president of Gira, a firm specializing in catering: “There is no one between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the cafes, and the model is collapsing. Instead of chasing away teleworkers, establishments should welcome them as an economic salvation.” We finished our cup Café Dose Paris, and even Jean-Baptiste confesses to us: “Of course, on certain particularly empty afternoons, we wonder if we made the right choice. » A new burst of laughter in his coffee interrupts him. Come on, it was the right choice.