I'd say this is a "White People Problem," but...

[AZRedhawk44]

... it's in Queens.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/01/15/queens-mcdonalds-restaurant-faces-peculiar-popularity-problem/

zOMG, the old people are coming into McD's and sitting around and chatting and relaxing.  It's awful.


There's a McD's about a mile or so from me with a pretty high wrinkle count on Saturday and Sunday mornings, at the corner of Greenfield and Southern in Mesa.  I often go there for a road breakfast on my way to a High Power match, or use it as a meetup point for dual sport motorcycle rides.  Around 7AM or so, probably 80% or more of the tables are consumed by old folks on a "fixed income" (I hate that term... oulde pharts, here's a hint: everyone is on a fixed income... I certainly can't manufacture more money than I have!) that are getting their McMuffin or breakfast platter fix and relaxing with a cup of coffee.  I've never spent more than half an hour or so there, but I get the impression that they use it as a social meetup, a place to read the paper or a book, and just something different to get themselves out of the house.

[Boomhauer]

You ain't posting the whole story.

These people come in early in the morning and stay till night

It's not a small group of seniors, it's a large group that occupy most of the available seating

They buy practically nothing except maybe a small coffee and a hashbrown.

It's an abuse of what the restaurent is for. You don't go to a place, buy a very little bit , and stay all damn day and take up all the space. It's rude. It's one thing to go to Mickey D's for a couple hours in the morning and take up a couple of tables. I see that all the time. Fine. No big deal. But to do what they are doing is damn rude.

[MillCreek]

It reminds me of the people camping out at Starbucks all day writing their screenplay on a laptop.  A number of coffee shops in Seattle are have either eliminated the WiFi or disabled the electric sockets in the eating area to discourage the laptop campers.

[bedlamite]

It reminds me of the people camping out at Starbucks all day writing their screenplay on a laptop.  A number of coffee shops in Seattle are have either eliminated the WiFi or disabled the electric sockets in the eating area to discourage the laptop campers.

Sounds like they need to charge for wi-fi  by the hour.

[AZRedhawk44]

Story doesn't say they stay "all day."  Several hours, yes.  But that could be a perception bias issue where there's just so many oulde pharts that cycle through the seats, it seems like the same oulde pharts are there all day.

ETA:  The video says "2 hours, sometimes longer."

Two hours doesn't seem abusive to me.

[KD5NRH]

It reminds me of the people camping out at Starbucks all day writing their screenplay on a laptop.  A number of coffee shops in Seattle are have either eliminated the WiFi or disabled the electric sockets in the eating area to discourage the laptop campers.

Meh.  With Starbucks' profit margin on a cup of coffee, they could just change their standard design to something other than "pack people in like sardines" and just be thankful anyone will pay for burnt coffee.

The ones that bug me at McDonalds are the retired folks that wander through there at lunch time doing stupid crap.  Usually blocking the drink machine while they gossip and sweeten their giant bucket of unsweet tea one sugar packet at a time, tasting after every packet.  They have all day to screw around, so they assume everybody else does too.

[AJ Dual]

I think this problem is being made out harder than it is.

Too many old people loitering? Play some recent rock over the Muzak system.

Too many teens? Play some opera or classical.

Too urban? Play some country.

Too suburban? Play some rap and hip-hop.

Although it seems to me this is in part reaping what Mc Donald's has sown.  Every time I've seen a McDonald's get renovated, or a new one go up, they've largely gone from the 70's and 80's uncomfortable yellow plastic bolted down swivel chairs, greasy terra-cotta tile floor, and faux brick interior that says "Eat your quarter pounder and kindly GTFO", to a late 90's-early 2000's aesthetic of slate tiles, wood, padded seats, flatscreen TV's tuned to news stations or the Weather channel, a play-land rat-maze for kids to defecate in surreptitiously, and even a gas fireplace for ambiance.

I thought they were trying to compete with the coffee shops and the "hang out all day here" model.

[Boomhauer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/nyregion/leaders-urge-customers-to-boycott-mcdonalds.html?_r=0

Whether the Koreans, many in their 70s and 80s, were right or wrong to spend their days at the restaurant, arriving as early as 5 a.m. and paying as little as $1.09 for a cup of coffee during their daylong stays, seemed not to matter much to the small but vocal group protesting against McDonald’s before an assortment of television cameras and photographers. What seemed to nettle the Korean community most was the perception that in asking police officers to remove the group, the business had been rude.

I have no problem with someone hanging out if there is seating available for other patrons. No problem at all. So long as that person is paying. Hell I've done it myself when I do not have wifi at home. I've always tried to spend a decent amount in exchange for me taking up a table, of course, and if the restaurent was crowded and seating was short I packed my *expletive deleted* and left.

But to take over a small restaurant with a large crowd of people and stay for hours squeezing out the other patrons is wrong. It's costing the restaurent money, and it's rude to everyone else trying to use the place.

There is ettiquete and these people have none. And my time dealing with old farts with a huge entitlement mentality has left me very unsympathetic to them (you want to see some fun, tell an old fart driving a brand new Caddy that they don't qualify for a discount on admission because they are from out of state. They'll cuss you and your mother out with language that would shock a ghetto hood rat)

[AZRedhawk44]

I think it all has to do with the price of coffee at a given venue.

Circle K has $0.99 coffee.  Pour it yourself and get back in your car and GTFO.  No, we don't have any seats.

McDonalds has $1.49 coffee.  Enjoy it with your $1.49 McMuffin.  Take an hour to relax.  Then GTFO.

Starbucks has $2 coffee, or $5 fancy drinks.  Enjoy it with your $5 biscotti in a pink pastry sack.  There's wifi for you to use, and comfy padded armchairs.  Cafe/bookstore ambiance.  You're paying for the potential time you use in their store, not just for the food itself.

[Tallpine]

Reminds me of a sign in a small town cafe:

Coffee:  50 cents

Stool rental:
$1 per hour includes all the coffee you can drink
$3 half day
$5 all day (includes time to go home for lunch)

 

[KD5NRH]

Too many old people loitering? Play some recent rock over the Muzak system.

They'll just turn down their hearing aids.

[AJ Dual]

They'll just turn down their hearing aids.

Teach the staff on janitorial and garbage bin and table ragging duty to twerk then.

[Hawkmoon]

Sounds like they need to charge for wi-fi  by the hour.

When McDonald's first introduced WiFi in their "restaurants," they charged for it. Nobody bought it. Took 'em less than a year to get with the program and make it free.

[Devonai]

a play-land rat-maze for kids to defecate in surreptitiously

I object, truly surreptitious defecation takes years of practice.

[Hawkmoon]

Story doesn't say they stay "all day."  Several hours, yes.  But that could be a perception bias issue where there's just so many oulde pharts that cycle through the seats, it seems like the same oulde pharts are there all day.

ETA:  The video says "2 hours, sometimes longer."

Two hours doesn't seem abusive to me.

If the location isn't busy and seats are available for customers who want to just buy a burger, eat, and scoot, 2 hours shouldn't be a problem. There's a group of elderly people who occupy two booths at my local McDonald's for a couple or more hours every Saturday, from late morning through about 2:00 p.m. But they don't take up the whole place, and I've never had a problem finding a seat for my lunch (except for the time two school buses discharged a football team and the cheerleaders, right at the peak time of the day. Talk abut savages!).

Hogging seats when there are customers who can't find a place to eat shouldn't be allowed.

[MillCreek]

In the NYT article on this issue, the point was made that there are many senior centers, churches and other Korean social venues within blocks of this restaurant that would be happy to accommodate these people.

[Tallpine]

In the NYT article on this issue, the point was made that there are many senior centers, churches and other Korean social venues within blocks of this restaurant that would be happy to accommodate these people.

So maybe NYC needs to enact a law to make coffee cups smaller 

[brimic]

I liked the old phart contingent.
When I worked 3rd shift, I'd stop at McD's for breakfast and shoot the bull or argue with the curmudgeons.

[lee n. field]

Reminds me of a sign in a small town cafe:

Coffee:  50 cents

Stool rental:
$1 per hour includes all the coffee you can drink
$3 half day
$5 all day (includes time to go home for lunch)

 

From the customer side, I can handle that.  I usually don't park and read/surf for more than a couple hours anyway, before I get wanderlust again.

[Scout26]

While this is supposed to be satire, I think it hits close to home:


http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/11/ill-back-out-of-my-parking-space-as-slow-as-i-goddamn-please/

[roo_ster]

While this is supposed to be satire, I think it hits close to home:


http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/11/ill-back-out-of-my-parking-space-as-slow-as-i-goddamn-please/

That was fantastic.

[MillCreek]

^^^ From the comments at the DB article:

And 70 years from now it'll be the Iraqi Freedom vets writing articles on parody sites poking fun and openly insulting the 20-25yr old veterans of World War 4 for thinking they've seen *expletive deleted*it after working from home for the United States of Google and piloting drone planes against the Martians.

 

[Perd Hapley]

“I think McDonald’s should be proud of the fact that people want to sit in their store,” customer Jackie Lavalle said.

   Yeah, OK.


I don't see the problem. If the management wants them to leave, they throw them out. If other customers want them to leave, they bug management about it, or find another restaurant. A free market is not troubled by such things.

[grampster]

Us Olde Phartes quietly indulge in a gigglesnort as we watch all of the butt hurt we apply to you young'uns.

[never_retreat]

I read a different article, fox maybe.
Apparently they are camping for most of the day, And most of them buy nothing.
Just put up a no loitering sign, and throw them out.