My Life Without Loosecubes
Part 5: The Refrigerated Conclusion
For my final destination on my tour of popular, public wifi hotspots, I chose to check out the often imitated, never duplicated Think Coffee. I had heard a lot about their flagship 248 Mercer location, so I thought it was worth giving it a shot.
When I walked in, I immediately fell in love with the aesthetics of the place. It’s a huge location, much larger than the exterior leads you to believe. I quickly ordered myself a hot cider, sat down at the bar in the back room, and fired up my computer. The wifi password was clearly labeled on the cash register allowing me to be up and running in no time. The space was packed with tons of twenty-somethings all hard at work (or at least pretending to be), and the playlist might as well have been pulled straight from my Spotify. This was it. I finally found my office away from the office that wasn’t a Loosecube. And that’s when the internet cut out…
‘It’s in the fridge,’ my fellow barmate said. ‘What? What’s in the fridge?’ ‘The router. They put it in there to cool it off when it gets overheated.’ Interesting. Whether this was true or not, I couldn’t find a signal. I patiently occupied myself with some offline work, and about 10 minutes later, the internet returned. Phew. Crisis averted. Or not.
For the rest of the day, the internet disappeared every hour for at least 5-10 minutes at a time. With each occurrence both my blood pressure and frustration level rose until I couldn’t take it anymore. I left broken and disappointed thinking I’d never find a productive, public place to work, and that’s when it hit me. Of course I was never going to find what I was looking for. It was impossible. All this time I had been trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Coffee shops, hotel lobbies, cafes, libraries - they’re good for brainstorming sessions and casual meetings but something’s missing. Something big.
We’ve all heard stories about great ideas being born on the back of bar napkins. Even Think Coffee’s Foursquare page has a tip from Dennis Crowley referencing that the ‘mayor’ feature came from his and Naveen’s time there. But these public places all lack the pure collaborative and productive elements of a Loosecube. When you enter one of our locations, you’re instantly introduced to new people. You can bounce ideas off of the host and your coworkers throughout the day. You don’t have to worry about the internet cutting out, or where you’re going to take your conference call in the afternoon. It’s a much smoother experience; one that results in new business ideas, partnerships, and friendships.
But why should you take my word for it? Why not try it yourself and see how it goes? I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed.
