Chair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Our bookstore has a small café inside. Between the café and our customer service desk, we used to have two big comfy chairs and a table. They were meant for customers to relax, read through books, or enjoy their coffee.

Notice how I said used to.

We had to get rid of them because of one specific customer.

This man comes in multiple times a week, sometimes with his wife (they’re not homeless). He never buys anything. He doesn’t even pick up a book or magazine. He just sits there for hours, sometimes until closing.

He takes off his shoes. He props his feet up on the table. He plays YouTube videos on full blast. Sometimes he falls asleep like that, shoes off, phone blaring, like he owns the place.

We ask him several times to put his shoes back on. He’s literally feet away from where we serve food!

His wife isn’t much better. She never buys anything either, but she comes up to the café counter, even when I have a line of ten people, and demands a cup of hot water. And heaven forbid she has to wait for it.

Eventually, it becomes too big of a problem. We get rid of the comfy chairs. 

When the man comes back and sees they’re gone, he’s furious. I watch him walk around the store, looking for them. All he can find are the small chairs and benches. Finally, he storms up to my manager.

Customer: “There are old people like me who need a place to sit!”

Me: “No, dude. You just loiter. You and your wife aren’t even paying customers.”