The little amount of seating in the Starbucks on campus

Picture this: It’s a cloudy Thursday afternoon, you have a huge exam tomorrow and need to find a quiet place to sit down and study. 

It is no secret that finding a comfortable and accessible place to study on campus can be tough. The library can be stuffy and uncomfortable; the study spaces in the academic buildings tend to fill up fast and working on school work in a dorm room can be tough.

You decide to try Starbucks first, that familiar coffee shop ambiance always fuels your productivity. Upon opening the doors you are greeted first with the irresistible scent of coffee reaching out and pulling you in. Optimistic that you will be able to complete everything you need to, you begin searching for a place to set up shop for a few hours.

You then see it, not a single table is open for you to sit at. Every last table is occupied and nearly every chair is full. The space is filled with a disproportionate mix of students and members of the general public. 

Surprisingly, many of the tables and chairs are taken by people who are not Wilkes students and faculty. Some are working, some are chatting amongst themselves and some are scrolling through their phones. Your heart sinks and you decide to return to your dorm to study.

This exact scenario is one that is all too familiar to myself and many of my peers. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have walked into Starbucks, hopeful to get work done, just to find that most (if not all) of the places to work are taken up by families and nicely dressed adults who have turned the space into their personal office. 

Now, do not get me wrong, I do not fully disagree with the notion of the general public being able to access the campus Starbucks; I am sure the university benefits from this in a number of ways. I do disagree with the high volumes of general public use despite the sheer lack of seating available in Starbucks. 

The campus Starbucks can sit 28 people at full capacity. It has three tables that sit four people, four tables that sit two people and eight overstuffed chairs. This number, though, is rarely representative of the number of people who actually are able to utilize the study space.

More often than not, single people will occupy the tables that sit four, which in of itself cuts back on a significant number of seats. Alongside this, the eight single chairs are nearly impossible to do work at due to their lack of table/desk space.

It goes without saying that in its current state, the seating availability within the campus Starbucks is less than adequate to properly accommodate our campus population, let alone the members of the general public who utilize the space for hours at a time.

The frustration with the lack of seating available in starbucks is not one that is felt only by me. 

“The current seating in Starbucks is not enough to accommodate the needs of both students and faculty,” said Katelyn Matos, junior psychology major. “There are many days where I need to relocate because all of the spots are taken. Sometimes the tables are occupied by students, but often the space is filled with faculty and locals.”

Our student body should be able to utilize the facilities they are paying for without having to worry about whether or not they will be able to find a spot to sit. It is unfair that students have to indirectly compete with other people for seating. College is full of stressors, but worrying about finding a seat to get work done should not be one of them.