After calling out customers for turning Starbucks into their workspace, Scottish vlogger Dale Philip faced criticism
DALE PHILIP – The Scottish travel vlogger faced backlash from online users after he called out customers turning coffee shops like Starbucks into workspaces.
While in the Philippines, Dale recorded Starbucks customers using laptops and expressed disapproval of their extended stays at the establishments. He remarked, “Look at all these guys with their laptops just sitting, using it as their personal office. I would hate that.” Philip added, “I would hate to have a business where people just come and use it as their personal office, use your WiFi and electricity, and buy like one coffee.”
His remarks garnered mixed reactions from netizens. Some agreed with his opinion, while others criticized him and accused him of exploiting Filipinos for profit while simultaneously disparaging the culture. One netizen, Ralph, expressed frustration, saying, “The audacity of white people to make a living off of Filipinos while simultaneously criticizing our own culture and social norms. Didn’t even bother blurring their faces. Nakakainit ng dugo.”
Another netizen commented: “Ralph, regardless of the culture, its about workplace and also a business. Imagine, several hours and thats a fact, most of them stay that long with 1 bev and pastries. If they can afford coffee and pastries, why not just invest for a pocket wifi, surely they can afford it.”
But according to Starbucks Philippines President Noey Lopez, the coffee shop giant doesn’t mind when customers stay for as long as they want at its coffee shops, even with just a cup of coffee. Lopez said Starbucks wanted to be the “third place” customers would want to be at after home and the workplace. “Third place is between home and work, right? That’s where you come up with the third place, so we wanna be the third place. If we can be the first place, then even better. We don’t really mind.”
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