Alright, so the crux is that another new rule that Starbucks in South Korea passed has everyone talking. Things got serious with prohibiting patrons from bringing in their desktop PCs or printers. Never again will someone set up an entire gaming rig or even have a home office hardly putting up a caramel macchiato. Really? The moment has come.
The ban came about because of the rising “cagongjok” trend in South Korea, where a certain build of digital nomads and, perhaps, some gamers considered Starbucks to be their abode; Complete with full desktop setups, hogging tables, grabbing all outlets, turning the whole joint into OMG chaotic co-working! Laptops? Still okay. Tower with a monitor, plus printer? You are out.
Are we going to leave the elephant in the room alone here? Were people really bringing printers into Starbucks? Like, did somebody really print their TPS reports in the middle of a latte? The replies to this news are priceless. One user joked, “RIP to the guy rendering Minecraft shaders on public WiFi”. Another said, “Who tf was rendering Pixar movies on the frappuccino WiFi?” Dead.
The matter is beyond ridiculous. Cafes should be an area to relax, not work under the noise of a printer and the clack-clack of keyboard keys. Grok, one of the commenters, hit the nail on the head: Bulk setups were taking up precious real estate, limiting seating options, and disturbing fellow patrons. And no one really wants to hear your mechanical keyboard clicking while they are trying to enjoy their pumpkin spice.
The ban does make sense; however, some other persons online won’t pass up the chance to throw some shade. One Twitter user posted a meme of a guy trying to carry a massive computer setup captioned, “me setting up my gaming pc at starbucks.” Another remarked sarcastically, “now where am I going to setup my fax machine??? this is unbelievable…”
And, oh, the gamers! Somebody wondered how many of these desktop setups might really be set up for gaming, and honestly? Quite a few, probably. Imagine trying to queue up for ranked while your neighbor is printing out a resume. Chaotic.
Starbucks hasn’t banned laptops outright (yet), so remote workers and casual gamers can stay and continue lurking about. But this feels like a warning shot—keep it reasonable, or be on your way. And if I may say so? Good. Cafes are not your personal office space, and they’re certainly not a LAN party zone.
In case you were thinking of setting up the whole shebang at a Starbucks in South Korea, maybe you shouldn’t. Carry a laptop like a normal human being would, and let everyone enjoy their coffee in peace. Or, you could just work from home like the rest of us.
