A café in the New Zealand city of Napier has launched furious online debate after staff asked a patron – who just so happened to be the deputy editor of the local paper – to leave the establishment after he had been working from there for an hour.
Mark Story, deputy editor of Hawke’s Bay Today, had spent NZ$12.50 on a coffee and brioche, which had finished, then continued to work at his laptop – something he says he does regularly without trouble.
He was approached by a staff member asking him if he wanted to order any more coffee or food. When he declined, the staff member told him he would need to move on.
Mr Story says there were free tables available in the café, and that if he had been restricting paying customers he would have left of his own accord.
The event left a sour taste in Mr Story’s mouth, who then subsequently wrote about the incident in his paper, giving the café some bad publicity.
When Mr Story attempted to contact the café owners, he was told he had now been banned permanently from the café and any other businesses owned by them.
It has raised some questions about who was in the right. On one hand, if Mr Story wasn’t going to order any more coffee or food, does he really have any right to linger in the café? But on the other, is it really good business to shoo away regulars, especially when they’re not stopping other people from sitting down?
The incident has sparked fierce debate in NZ and around the world. What do you think?
.
