Customer Turns Starbucks Into a Study Room
Sets Up Partition and Disappears for Over Three Hours
Controversy has arisen after a customer at a Starbucks coffee shop in South Korea was spotted leaving personal partitions at a table and being absent for an extended period. As debates continue over people who study or work for long hours in cafes?commonly referred to as 'Kagongjok'?this incident has reignited the discussion.
On June 19, a post titled "There's an Outing Villain at My Neighborhood Starbucks" appeared on a social media thread, accompanied by a photo. The photo shows a Starbucks table with a partition set up, along with a headset, keyboard, mouse, and tablet arranged on the table.
The user who uploaded the photo claimed, "They always reserve the seat like this and are never there," adding, "On this day, I stayed for three hours and not once did they return to the seat." The user pointed out, "It's a small store, and there are people waiting because there are no seats, so it's too much to just keep a seat without using it." The user continued, "What bothers me is not that they brought a lot of equipment, but that they occupy a seat without actually using it," and added, "Even if they had brought even more equipment, I might have just thought, 'That's impressive,' but I dislike that they're reserving a seat they're not using."
Another user who saw this scene shared a different photo, saying they had witnessed the same thing. This person said, "I saw it the day before yesterday, and at that time, the person was at the seat," identifying the individual as "a man with long hair." They also noted that the man was covering his face with a black mask.
After hearing about the incident, other users responded critically, saying things like, "Just from the photo, it looks more like a shared office than a Starbucks," "At this point, Starbucks needs to impose some restrictions," "How did they even carry all that stuff in?" "There are traces of a banana in the photo. Are they occupying a seat all day after buying just a 1,500 won banana?the cheapest item?instead of coffee?" "Why not just go to a study room?" and "Kagongjok are really a nuisance." These were among the critical reactions.
This is not the first time that 'Kagongjok'?people occupying seats for long hours at Starbucks?have become a topic of controversy. In November last year, an 'Andong Starbucks Electricity Villain' who brought a printer to work in the store drew attention. In April of the same year, another incident sparked debate when someone was seen working at a domestic Starbucks branch with a laptop and an office monitor set up on the table.
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