The cafe in Tokyo has come up with a solution to prevent artists or any other coffee workers from leaving unfinished business. The staff makes sure that they do not relax even under time pressure.
Manuscript Writing Cafe in Koendzhikita has 10 seats for manga artists, writers, editors and others who make a living writing and facing the pressure of deadlines. The café is self-service and provides unlimited coffee and tea. However, there is a catch – guests cannot pack up and leave until they have finished their work.
According to Reuters, customers write down their work goals for the whole day before settling down. In addition to recording the time of arrival and departure from the café, they must also state whether they want to perform their tasks in a moderate, normal or demanding mode. The cafe staff will then adapt the system of monitoring services according to what customers choose.
For visitors who want to work in mild mode, the staff only checks to see if they have the job done. It checks customers with a normal mode every hour. For those who want to work under even more pressure, the employee stands behind them and monitors their work.
According to one of the rules of the café, customers are not allowed to leave the premises until they have achieved their business goal. To motivate them even more, the cafe also has a notice board that lists the names of everyone who left without completing the tasks for the day.
Cafe owner Takuja Kawai said he was there to support his customers rather than control them. “The cafe has become viral on social media and people say that the rules are scary or that they feel like someone is watching them from behind,” says the 52-year-old writer.
“As a result, what they thought would take a day was actually done in three hours, or the tasks, which usually take three hours, were completed in one,” he added.
Kawai said it also allows customers to extend their business hours after closing hours by paying the cafe a fee of approximately $ 1 for the first 30 minutes and $ 2.34 for each additional hour.
Blogger Emiko Sasaki told Reuters that the cafe allows her to work without being distracted by social media. “It’s good to focus on writing,” she said. She managed to write three articles in three hours.
“I don’t know what works might be born here, but I’m proud to be able to offer my support so that the things that are written here can be made public,” Kawai said. The cafe has been hit hard by a coronavirus pandemic, but its owner hopes the new format will help.
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