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Starbucks in Korea asks customers to stop bringing in printers/desktop computers
“You can just go and have a cup of coffee, work there—but people are taking it a little bit to the extreme nowadays,” one Korean studies professor said.
While laptops and smaller personal devices are welcome, customers are asked to refrain from bringing desktop computers, printers, or other bulky items that may limit seating and impact the shared space,” a Starbucks spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. But the coffee chain’s crackdown on cagongjok, a term referring to individuals spending prolonged periods of time working at cafés, may indicate a changing attitude toward customers who may be loyal but taking Starbucks’ burgeoning efforts to become a cozy third space for granted. For years, there have been pockets of cagongjok as a result of the COVID-induced remote-work boom, as well as the rise of temporary-contract jobs following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, according to Jo Elfving-Hwang, an associate professor of Korean society and culture at Curtin University in Australia.
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