This 'No Studying' policy at the above cafe confuses me, for a nong nong time.

Simply because studying in cafes is such a normal thing to do, although it can be irritating when people refuse to leave and planting themselves in the cafe for 24 hours, affecting business yadda yadda.

On the other hand, it is rather flattering that people choose to do that in your 'nice, little, cosy cafe' - isn't that a true testament of the level of comfort that they enjoy to stay there for such long hours just to enjoy the coffee and the comfort to do their work, no?

So I was at this place 'studying', because of that sign, I was very cautious and in the end, decided to type out some of my work and at the same time, do some photo editting while I waited for Mum.

As I was doing my thang, this barista/waitress (yes, they actually wait tables at this particular branch - moving furnitures for the customers... serving drinks if they are not collected... and waiting by the tables - to ensure that people leave once they are done, I guess?) came up to me and pointed this specially printed sign to me and explained the commandment to me.

I told her politely that I wasn't studying, I mean, I was only correcting colors and piecing up photos together and looking less than professional with it (NOT a true story, heh).

Her reply was really shocking - "Oh, we don't encourage our customers to do their work over here, because of the peak hour crowd that we are expecting."

I obliged. But I have to say that their supposed good service is not good enough. In fact, I find it amusing.

Firstly, they said they were "expecting" a "peak hour crowd".

Ok, today was an off-in-lieu -- so by right, it's peak hour every hour. And I was there at 5.30p.m. - by Comfort Cab's standards, it was already 30 minutes into peak hour...

The best part? There were many empty tables around me - I would say the cafe was 60% full only - orders were mainly for takeaway. And I suspect the reason is that the 'comfortable' spots were all taken up. Because the rest were very near the bar counter, where they prepare drinks. Oh, and peer at their customers.

Secondly, the fact that she pointed out the sign when I was not studying really pissed me off man. I mean you only printed "No Studying" but not "No Working", "No Doing Any Sort of Work Here"... I wouldn't mind if you asked me to leave if I was in actual fact, studying, doing my Ten Year Series with my GC or something. But I was NOT. I was on my Mac, minding my own business! In fact, I would say that I was leisurely entertaining myself on the computer!

But all is well... I didn't flare up or anything. Because I understand that they have a business to run and their coffee wasn't that good anyway, so that would have prevented me from making another purchase after I was done with my... drink? I packed up and left, thinking about how ridiculous it was.

Probably that cafe should consider the Long Run impacts of their 'No Studying' policy.

By now, many of us would have already know for a fact that customers no longer just look for a good cuppa in a coffee house. But rather, a package for maximum enjoyment of the experience. Coffee. Music. Friendly staff. Temperature of the airconditioning. Cushioned seats. You know, those things, and that is basically service in a nutshell, meeting the needs of the customer.

And now, my (which shall henceforth be referred to as The Customer's) need was to have some leisure time and do work without disturbance. And they have failed. The Customer's need was to have a good place to sit down and enjoy the place. But it was not met. So basically, the cafe did not fulfill its role, or rather, failed to fulfill its role of providing a service for The Customer.

Furthermore, they are losing their potential to be better, more famous, etc... Imagine the amount of free publicity should there be a budding writer sitting in there doing his/her 'work', but rejected by one of their staff. "Sorry, you have to leave although you are just minding your business, but by doing that you're affecting our business. Sorry."

Look at J.K. Rowling, she spent most of her writing time for the Harry Potter series in a cafe, and acknowledges it in her interviews. Why? Because they did not chase her away because she was taking up space, "obstructing" their business. And although, it has ceased to serve coffee, it has a commemorative plaque installed at its previous site for providing a service to Rowling.

I doubt this cafe will have a plaque for itself soon. Or maybe they can go make one for themselves with all the money earned by chasing customers away so that other people would come swiftly to take over the space - except they do not (only 60% full...)

And the plaque shall read "The famous people came, but we managed to chase them away... And they never came again."