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Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
There are a lot of rules when you visit Soho Tea and Coffee in Dupont. Customers must spend at least $5 to use the wireless Internet. No credit cards are taken. Non-customers are charged $3 to use the unisex bathroom, adorned with a helpful reminder than only one person is permitted in the single stall at a time. Two months ago, another rule went into effect: no cell phones at the front counter.
Owner Helene Bloom told us multi-tasking at the register was beginning to create unmanageable lines. "It's really hard to wait on somebody while they're talking in the phone," she said, adding it's also "very disturbing to other customers when you've got a line halfway down" the cafe.
Leah Thomas, sipping a smoothy while checking e-mail, said she wishes mobile phones were completely gone from the cafe. "People on cell phones talk way louder than they would to the person sitting across the table," Thomas observed.
While some customers may balk at the idea, Bloom isn't alone in asking patrons to hang up. Murky Coffee also requests that people don't chat and order at the same time. What to some seems like common courtesy to cashiers and people on the other line is now company policy.
Some swankier restaurants have taken a firmer stance. The award-winning Maestro curbs phone use in the dining room at all times. Russell Gravatt, manager of Sushi Ko explains the need for the restaurant's all-out phone ban. "People are no longer considerate. They only attend to their own needs and are not aware of other people around them," Gravatt told one reporter.
It's more than a cliche to say Americans can't live without their mobile phones, but area restaurants are still feeling their way towards a balance between patrons' need to communicate and their desire to create an efficient and appealing business. The always persnickety Tom Sietsema echos many diners' frustration with eating out next to someone yakking away. Guess not everyone enjoys hearing the details of the latest subcommittee meeting or legal maneuver. Do you see a growing trend among Washington restaurants or is phone prohibition a passing fad? What's the craziest conversation you've overheard in between soup and salad?
Photo by Flickr user begutierrez.
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I'm happy for the phone ban. I was getting a hair cut and the 26 year old guy next to me was so important that he had to talk on his phone to work while he was getting a hair cut. Total jackasses, center of the universe stuff. Step outside and do it.
I'm happy when places institute a ban. I was getting a haircut and the 26 year old guy next to me was so important he had a 20 minute phone call in the chair as the guy was cutting his. It's so center of the universe and people look like amateurs.
Oh, man, breakup conversations over cellphones are always 100% comedy gold.
"Babybabybabypleasebabybaby, I f***ed her but I LOVE YOU!"
Or the high-maintenance, crazy-in-the-head/crazy-in-bed type weeping into his/her Razr. "But you can't leave ME! Why are you doing this to ME?" Hot tip, Narcissisto: the only consistent factor in all your failed relationships is YOU.
Why do people feel the need to do this over dinner?
what is up with our phone addiction ( among others?) ive heard everything from conversations about sad sex lives to struggles with credit ratings from cell phone users. (privacy-discretion. whither goest thou?)
for every cell phone call which saves a life, there seem to be 50 which amount to little more than verbal masturbation... goodness, we have so many important people in our city... how can there possibly be any problems within our borders?
I love the ban. People use their phones simply because they can, and they're afraid to project the appearance of having nothing to do for a few seconds, so they fill the void with inane calls and mindless chatter. The cell phone feeds the ego, at the cost of disturbing everyone in the vicinity.
If you really need to make a call, excuse yourself and do it outside or away from other patrons.
I basicaly think that talking on a cell phone in any public space (unless you're downright whispering) demonstrates a serious character flaw. It indicates to me a supreme self-centered and entitled attitude. I consider it on par with blowing cigarette smoke directly into someone's face.
It's particularly depressing because I think everyone under the age of 25 thinks absolutely nothing of it. Like those that think you ought to dress up to fly, I fear I'm just caught on the wrong side of history.
I despise when people talk on their phones on the bus. They're just so loud and usually boring. If you're going to force me to eavesdrop, at least you could talk about something interesting.
I've always seen cell phone chatters as people who are afraid to be alone. They need company in some form, so rather than try and meet new people or (god forbid!) make eye contact and smile at someone they dial thier BFF or co worker and chat about x, y or z. And yes, there are always the self absorbed folks running around feeling very important.
Two thumbs up for the ban.
First. Soho Coffee is lame. So many rules equates to not giving the customer what they want. From personal experience about a year ago I was sitting outside with a friend there I met. I already had my Bucks and they got a coffee from Soho. The manager all in a tizzy came around and made me pour my Bucks coffee into one of their cups. Better service, friendly staff, and an accessible environment will help them grow as a local company. Not rules and regulations about their crappy experience. END my 2 cents on that.
In terms of the ban - can't people just start taking the initiative and asking their neighbor to talk quietly or get off the phone. Can't wait staff help out too? Why a rule? If a place like Soho keeps attracting cell phone talkers why push your customer away..they'll just go elsewhere. Instead just give them a polite heads-up to keep it low and keep it cool.
$3 to use the bathroom?
Waiting behind people in line who are on their phone and trying to order/pay for/pick up food is obnoxious. (Add in the constant Blackberrying and it's a recipe for disaster.) I'm all for a no cell policy. As for asking your neighbor to talk quietly, some people don't take too kindly to others asking them to stop doing something they are otherwise allowed to do even if common courtesy suggests they should hang up.
What about Dos Gringos? They have a no cell phone policy throughout their joint too. I approve of such bans also - but it is unfortunate that people do not have the common courtesy to know when they're being a jerk with their phones.
I often talk on my phone in public, but I make a point to keep my volume at a normal/quiet level and my conversations brief. And if I HAVE to be on the phone in a line of some kind, I tell the person to "hold" while I order or whatnot.
Talking on a cell phone is part of life these days. Yes, sometimes it's rude...but that doesnt mean rules need to be established. I find it rude and obtrusive when I walk in a restaurant and there is a sign in my face telling me what I am not allowed to do.
It's all well and good, of course.
But it's a sad reflection on our society (and a quite disturbing harbinger of things to come) when we have to start making rules to enforce common courtesy.
Why do we like our rules so much in this country? Why the need to regulate and control everything?
If you're trying to interact with someone else and they need info from you, or say money, then you're a boor. I hate standing in line behind some trash in like at the grocery store and have her hold up the line because she has to discuss her pathetic little life with her hipster bf while the very patient and nice cashier is trying to get her to pay and apologizing to the rest of us. Talk about something fun, like how you peed yourself last time you had sex. Your embarrassment makes it worthwhile.
They charge because they're right next door to a club, Apex, and they had problems with drunk club patrons coming in, using their toilets, making a mess, and then not buying anything. It was an issue especially because on some nights, SoHo is open until like 3 or 4am.
More important than ending cell phone use in restaurants and coffee shops is forcing all the cab drivers in town to hang up their cell phones and drive. I take cabs frequently and every time I'm in a cab the driver is yakking away. It's not only annoying but it' dangerous as well!
This place sucks. I went there in a few months ago to get money out of their ATM machine (prominently advertised in neon in the storefront window), which happens to be situated right near the bathrooms. I watched as the counter boys began bristling with excitement as they thought I was headed for the bathrooms and would thus have a chance to berate me and demand their $3. They were visibly disappointed when I just got my cash and left.
$3 to use the bathroom is insane. If I wanted to drink coffee in Europe then I'd do that, I don't want to have orders barked at ME when im in an establishment.
It's a coffee shop, for god sake! I don't need a sign telling me the RULES for a coffee shop. I think people in this town take themselves WAY WAY too seriously....
If you don't want cell phone use in your establishment, there are ways to block those signals inside the building. No need for signs, and if some crackberry / cell phone addict needs to get a fix, they'll stand outside, unless there's a sign prohibiting that as well...
Kaz Sushi Bistro has a similar ban on cell phone use in the dining room. I think it helps contribute to the calm atmosphere.
I hate hate hate cell phone use in the gym. There is no need for you to be chatting on the phone while lifting weights or riding the bike. That goes double for personal trainers who talk on the phone or send text messages while training clients.
The $3 fee applies only to non-customers. A lot of places do not allow non-customers to use their bathrooms at all. If the $3 fee offends you, you are free to pretend that SoHo Coffee is one of those places.
"Talking on a cell phone is part of life these days. Yes, sometimes it's rude...but that doesnt mean rules need to be established. I find it rude and obtrusive when I walk in a restaurant and there is a sign in my face telling me what I am not allowed to do."
"But it's a sad reflection on our society (and a quite disturbing harbinger of things to come) when we have to start making rules to enforce common courtesy."
It's not a sad reflection on society that we need to enforce rules like this. Nor is it rude for restaurants to limit the behavior of its customers for the benefit of its other customers. It's no different than a restaurant that requires men to wear jackets. I'm sure that there was a time when fine restaurants wouldn't need a rule to ensure every man wore a jacket, but as wider trends took hold, the rules became necessary. It's simply about an establishment controlling the product (i.e. ambiance) that it is selling.
It's not like it's ok to bring a bright lamp into a candlelit restaurant just because you'd prefer more light. Actually that's another great analogy for what cell phone users are like: a halogen lamp in a candlelit restaurant.
I've never been to soho but this sounds like a very restrictive environment for a coffee shop. A $5 minimum, $3 to use the can, no cell phones. Now I remember why I never hang out in dupont circle. Anyway the worst abuse of the mobile phones are those walkie talkie things where I get the pleasure of listening to both ends of a very garbled conversation along with that annoying beep every few seconds. Its bad enough when you hear it outside on the street but I can't tell you how many times I've been sitting at bar or diner or waiting in line somewhere and had someone sidle up to me and then start yapping/beeping away on one of those things. Makes me borderline homicidal.
to Alex:
tee-hee, you should have used the bathroom anyway, and then told the counter boys to screw when they pounced on you, as I'm sure you'd just been charged at least $2.00 (by SoHo) to use their ATM. i think that counts as something a customer would have done- spent money. yes? no?
I was sitting in crowded Soho last weekend with my girlfriend when a guy next to us calls someone up demanding that he pay the money he owes (paraphrased convo):
"Dude. I sold you crack, you owe me $60. Don't f with me." Other threats, yada yada yada. hang up. BANG. Slams his hand down on the table. Shoves the table out of his way as he unplugs his cell phone from the electrical outlet (the only reason he was in there, likely) and storms out.
Gosh was he rude! Hah. I was laughing to myself thinking about how this guy has to harass someone for $60 and has to use a cafe's electricity to use his phone. Drug dealing must be a tough racket nowadays.
Actually that's another great analogy for what cell phone users are like: a halogen lamp in a candlelit restaurant.
To me, it's more like bringing a small caged rodent into a restaurant and setting it on fire (the rodent, not the restaurant). Actually, I'd rather listen to THAT. At least the animal's death throes have some pathos value, as opposed to the sex-life (or lack thereof) of homo districtus moronicus
Talking on a cell phone is part of life these days.
If my experiences in the various restrooms throughout DC is any indication, so's not washing your hands after taking a violent, noisy dump. Hope you're not advocating that as well.
I find it rude and obtrusive when I walk in a restaurant and there is a sign in my face telling me what I am not allowed to do.
You can always turn right around and find some nice restaurant where everybody's talking on their cellphone. It's not like there's any shortage.
You do know there was a time when DC didn't have traffic lights, right? Major intersections had a traffic cop, but that's about it. Most people were courteous enough to let the other people pass when they got to an intersection. Then people started being self-centered dildos, and, well, there it is. Welcome to DC!
i'm with 7 on this one. a long bus ride home doesn't mean you have to invite everyone in on your family & wedding drama with co-commuters. seriously lady, i'm not entertained.
Comment no.9, you are lame for using the term Bucks. Call it what it is or coffee. Also, would you take food from one testaurant into another? It's rude. Don't ever do that again.
This ban is great. Cell phones has got out of hand.
If you don't want to pay $3 to use their bathroom while not paying for their drinks, then don't go in there. How else are they to pay their water bill?
Some people need to lighten up. Yes, cell phone chattering inside a quiet restaurant or on the Metro is rude and annoying. But in a gym? With all the grunting, panting, techno music, and clanking and whirring of machines, someone talking on a cell phone is actually one of the *less* offensive sounds around you. In 2007, people just have to accept a certain amount of cell phone use in public places and get on with things.
Cell phones and restrooms: a great combination. A while back at the 9:30 Club or the Black Cat (I can't remember which), I went to use the restroom and some guy was in there text messaging someone while taking a whiz at the urinal. Talk about multi-tasking. At least he wasn't talking and taking a whiz.
"In 2007, people just have to accept a certain amount of cell phone use in public places and get on with things."
I think all of us accept a certain amount of public urination and fellatio on the Metro, but that doesn't mean we have to embrace those lifestyle choices. But I'll agree to be more tolerant of public cellphone useage if people agree to wash their butts more often and quit passive-agressively peeing on the rim. Learn to aim, people! One of the downsides of the smoking ban is that kids can no longer practice aiming their pee at cigarette butts. A whole generation will never know the simple pleasures of re-enacting the attack on Pearl Harbor with urine and Kool butts.
When I worked at Tryst, a lady once pointed to what she wanted (on the menu) while talking on her phone. I smiled, and nodded, and she never got her food.
"Bucks"
Hell, Mike, within the last couple of weeks I've twice heard people making cell phone calls from inside bathroom stalls, once in a restaurant bathroom and once at an office. It really does seem like some people just don't have any sense of propriety or boundaries any more.
yesterday i was at the spa getting waxed when my phone rang in the middle of the process. i apologized because i really thought i had turned the ringer off beforehand. the waxer says to me, "do you have to take that call?"
um yeah hi, like i would WANT to take a phone call from inside the salon wearing a pair of paper underwear? "hi mom, how are you? oh i'm just fine, thank you." thanks, but no thanks, i'll just let that one go to voicemail.
Hell, Mike, within the last couple of weeks I've twice heard people making cell phone calls from inside bathroom stalls, once in a restaurant bathroom and once at an office.
I poop and talk on the phone all the time, but only in the privacy of my own home.
AQ (post #8) is right on. It would seem that the days of actually being able to meet somebody on the Metro or in the supermarket are long past, since most people are engrossed in their cell phone conversations or are shut off from the world by their iPods. Blackberry use of any kind is an absolute dealbreaker for me when it comes to meeting the fairer sex. Limiting? Of course, but a good way to separate the self-obsessed from those with relationship potential. For P Walk (post # 13), please oh please keep on walking when you see those "rude and obtrusive" signs that are meant to curb anti-social behavior by ignorant, me-centric dullards like yourself. And finally, to gbm in post #20, I think it's obvious we do need rules to enforce social behavior because so many people haven't been taught, or refuse to learn, common courtesy and how to behave in public. On the other hand, I love the idea of jamming cell phone signals, but I'm pretty sure it's a federal offense to do so.
I fail to see what a cell phone had to do with somebody getting lousy service at Tryst.
Everybody gets lousy service at Tryst.
I'm going to that crapper of a coffee shop tonight, throw $3 at the cock boy behind the counter and then piss all over the floor.
Similar to my sex life: If I'm paying for it, it's gonna go down however I please...
If there's someone on the phone in the bathroom I do everything in my power to make sure the person on the other end knows they're getting a crapper call.
We sure have fallen from the days when the cell phone walk and talk was mocked on Seinfeld.
And by coincidence, MSNBC.com has a column today on cell phone etiquette, with a link to printable "shhh!" cards you can hand out to offenders.
coudal (dot) com/shhhcards (dot) pdf
"When I worked at Tryst, a lady once pointed to what she wanted (on the menu) while talking on her phone. I smiled, and nodded, and she never got her food."
And this accomplished what exactly? She was rude. So what? Grow up already.
First,
Buck's Co. Coffee isn't Starbucks, it's an entirely different company.
Second, yeah have a little respect, and don't talk in a restaurant, or have an extended conversation at the coffee place (dispensation if there is a sudden snow or rain storm)
Third, Buses or metro: keep it down, but I get very annoyed by those bastards that have their headphones turned up so load I can't ignore them. Which is worse, cell phone lady, or boomboy in front of you (which is constant)?
I just wanted to say really guys, SoHo isn't that bad. I've been going for about two years now, and find that if you're nice and generally respectful, the 'rules' are rarely enforced. Act like a dick, and you get a different result. I'm ok with that.
Most of the wait staff and owners are cool peeps, and I think the owner's harsher-than-usual rules are, as mentioned earlier, largely in response to having to handle a disproportionate number of self-important assholes who feel entitled to everything.
I completely agree with their at-the-counter cell phone ban. Hell, I'd even understand if they barred cell phones in the whole of the shop.
For those of you annoyed by having your 'ability to do what you want' curbed by a simple rule requiring you to exercise what you were obviously not taught as a youngster (etiquette and respect for those around you), I suggest you consider forming a city of like-minded folk, where you can co-exist in a 'me-me-me' utopia. I won't be at all shocked if the service in your world sucks though...
I think the most amusing one was in a B&N by Metro Center. A guy was threatening someone on the cell in such a serious way I thought he was crazy or joking. He was going on and on about in detail about killing, beating up the person and their kid it’s a wonder they stayed on the phone for more than 30 minutes.
I was thinking who needs to watch crappy crime dramas when you got guys like this.
It's about time! Maybe this will break the ice for other retail (especially theaters) and eating establishments to follow suit. Frankly, I'm at the point I wish cell phones were banned in cafes and restaurants, as it's really become annoying and intrusive. Look..I have a cell myself, but some people need to practice phone discipline. There is a time and place for everything
I forgot to add that I appluad SOHO for running their business this way. It will make for a pleasant atmosphere and experience for everyone. I will also visit there soon!