I've Got The Gnu's Room Blues

I've got the blues. Seriously.
One of my favorite spots in Auburn has seriously ticked me off, and I have decided to boycott this hipster hangout until they decide to redeem themselves.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Gay Street's, The Gnu's Room, whether it be for your love of curling up and reading a good book or grabbing a locally-brewed coffee from Mama Mocha's.

I enjoyed it for both. Especially since I live walking distance, it was always my go to spot for when I needed to study or do homework and didn't want to drive to Starbucks in Tiger Town, or even Toomer's Coffee just down the road.

Just recently, two of my good friends headed to The Gnu's Room to work on grad school work and were planning on spending a majority of the afternoon there. Since they go there quite a bit, they expected to once again be greeted by the cozy, quiet and pleasant atmosphere of Mama Mocha's.

One of them bought a tea, and even tipped (although it's hard to get away from the awkwardness of not tipping at a coffee shop when they make you tap buttons on an iPad in front of them), then found a table and got busy on their work. The afternoon passed on, but the girls were unaware that they had messed with the wrong mama.

The owner, Mama Mocha, had checked on them earlier to see if they needed anything else, in which they responded 'no thank you.' But now she was back, and she wanted them gone. After some snide remarks were made to another employee, Mama Mocha approached the girls and said that it was time for them to leave because they had been sitting there all day ( false), they hadn't purchased anything (also false) and that people were coming in and needed their table (again false, no one was searching for a table).

After a little more bickering from Mama Mocha, telling my friends that they weren't entitled to use anyone's Wi-Fi, my friends packed up their belongings and left The Gnu's Room for their very last time.

Here is why I am mad. If you are going to open up a coffee shop in a bookstore, provide free Wi-Fi to your customers and get angry when your customers are lingering for too long, some changes need to be made. I understand that it is a small business and they are just trying to make money, but there comes a point when you need to let your customers know that they are on a time limit.

So long are the days in which you can go to a local coffee shop, buy one coffee and catch up with your friend for the afternoon.

While the decision on whether or not to provide free Wi-Fi is completely up to the employer, Mama Mocha's may need to provide a sign explaining that more than one purchase needs to be made every two hours in order to get on the Internet.

Or, if they even want to take it a step further, lock your Wi-Fi and only give the password to those who purchase something. If they are that serious about saving money and not letting customers overstay their welcome, one of these changes needs to be made.