Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Coffee shop community ? [test2]

[Fred H. Olson (fholson]

Stuart Staniford-Chen  stuart [at] silicondefense.com / stanifor [at] 
cs.ucdavis.edu
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"Fred H. Olson" wrote:
> 
> I heard an interview on public radio this morning with the
> founder of Caribou Coffee shops (fairly big locally at least).
> One of his comments was something like:
> 
>    Neighborhood coffee shops are popular now in part because more
>    people work in home offices and businesses but they still
>    want / need social contact with other people during the work day
>    so they go to the coffee shop.
> 
> I bring this up because I wonder how true it is.  Do coffee shops serve as
> community building / gathering places (rather than just places to buy and
> consume coffee)? If so, how does this social contact compare to that in a

I spent a couple of years telecommuting from home to a remote employer. 
It was miserable.  I did used to go to the local cafe with my laptop
sometimes just to be in a mildly more sociable setting.  I met a few
people, not too many.  I found that simply being around other people,
even if I was not directly interacting with them, was a lot better than
being alone all day.  The scene was nowhere near as social as a typical
British local, but a lot quieter and less drunken.  I don't think I'd
have taken my laptop to the pub to work, if I'd still lived in England
:-)

Stuart.

-- 
Stuart Staniford-Chen --- President --- Silicon Defense
                   stuart [at] silicondefense.com
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