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Permalink Reply by John Walker on September 16, 2009 at 9:40am

I think this person brought all this misery on herself due to lying to the police.
If you stand in front of a cop and knowingly state false ID and/or information, well it's all down hill from there.

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Fadorsen on September 16, 2009 at 10:13am

This is a huge problem, at my coffee shop people who except to use our services without buying something are wrong end of disscussion. The world does not owe her anything and she does not have the right to except others to pay for her internet use. A cup of brewed coffee at my store is $1.60 not bad considering the internet can be very costly. This is more of its all about me and not caring what it is like to be the other person. Do onto others as you except others to do to unto you. I also have asked people to leave my shop or purchase something and a few times I was told they where going to call the police on me. As it is their right to use the services I provide for my customers without paying for them. Bottom line the only charges that were filed stemed from her giving a false name, again brought on by her. Take responability for you self do the right thing and you can't lose. Karma Karma Karma

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on September 16, 2009 at 10:56am

there are only two ways in which customers using the internet without buying things will cost you:
1) they're eating up bandwidth and paying customers can't use the internet
2) paying customers are unable to get a seat because people who haven't paid are using the internet

unless one of those two things is happening, people using your internet are making you look full and busy, right?the only time i ever have had a problem with someone using the internet without paying is when they explicitly lie to me and say they're going to buy something but never do.

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on September 16, 2009 at 12:32pm

Don't think I'd ever call the police for Wi-Fi free loading. Every Wif-Fi box I know of is capable of being password protected. While my Wi-Fi is password protected, don't use a time metered system. If I was next to a college or similar likely would. I only change the password infrequently (once so far this year) when it did become a problem with one free loader. Simple solution. That was when I changed the password and they didn't get it again until they made a purchase. No confrontation needed:-)

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Permalink Reply by Benza Lance on September 16, 2009 at 1:38pm

This hardly seems to be a probably at the cafe, mostly because I have the staff trained that if someone sits down (regardless of if they're using the interweb) for more than 15 minutes to go over and ask them, politely, if we can serve them. If not, then we, again politely, ask them to leave. We've had people leave before, but by and large they opt for getting atleast a cup of drip. I would say in this scenario, I definitely wouldn't have called the police, but like John said, once you give them a fake name... well, that's just asking for a whole fuckload of problems.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on September 16, 2009 at 1:53pm

Unfortunate for everyone involved.

I agree with miKe's statement... there are lots of ways to deny access in a way that is not confrontational if that is your store's policy. Calling the police was not a good idea. Somebody lost their temper and reacted poorly. The police have better things to do than play bouncer.

Jared, I agree that the freeloader/camper isn't actually costing you anything. However, the person in the chair would be a paying customer if your policy required making a purchase.

Thanks for sharing this, Carter.

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