Branches

Dear Freelance Ethicist,

As a freelancer, I spend all my days at home, by myself. This has its perks, but I find myself missing the human interaction of the office environment. No one to bounce ideas off of, or get over-the-shouler critiques from, or scam a free lunch out of. Fortunately, I have the ability to pack up all my work into my 13-inch laptop and move my butt to wherever I care to. Often this ends up being a coffeeshop.

I like the coffeeshop atmosphere, and I’m not alone. I know this because even though there are three wifi-enabled coffeeshops within walking distance of my home, it’s becoming harder to find a seat at any of them, thanks to other bedouins like myself. And who can blame them? Free wifi, a change of scenery, lunch made while you wait by a staff of highly trained professionals—all for the cost of…

Well, that’s my question. I’m beginning to wonder what the proper exchange rate is for time spent on another business’ network. I’ve seen a few places put up signs asking people to be courteous with their time, but it usually doesn’t get more specific than that. And I can understand why—they don’t want to appear ungrateful for the business, and certainly they don’t want it to seem like they’re counting minutes or bandwidth.

My usual rule of thumb is an over/under of three hours. If I’m spending less than three hours there, I can get away with just buying a coffee or tea. More than three hours there, I’m obliged to buy a sandwich. More than six hours, and I start washing dishes.

I’ve yet to get to a point, fortunately, where a barista has come up to me and asked me to either buy more food or get walking. And I’d like to avoid that situation. So I wonder, should I be more generous? What would you do?