Internet Café Chronicles: 7 annoying kinds of internet café staff

In a previous article, I mentioned cybercafé etiquette, but before you can demand something like that from your paying customers, make sure to take a look at how your café is being run and by what kind of people. Before I managed my own shop, I was a customer. Through my experiences as a customer, I met different kinds of gamers. In the same way, I met different kinds of internet café staff. Some were friendly enough, others just ok, but of course, I can’t forget the staff members who found a way to turn our rented gaming hours into a little piece of hell. Take a look at this list and check if you can recognize anyone (or yourself) on it.

1. The bandwidth monster

A cybercafé with the bandwidth monster staff is not the ideal place for you to play online games. They will be the cause of your multiple deaths as well as lost and abandoned games. For some reason, this person thinks the server is the throne of I-can-do-anything when it’s actually supposed to be the throne of do-not-do-anything-except-work-related-stuff. But with that kind of mindset, this staff will proceed to do internet connection-straining activities on the server (or one of the vacant computers) that will make life difficult for the rest of the customers.

These activities include streaming or downloading HD videos, multiple MP3’s, or large torrent files. Whether or not the monster knows the consequences of said activities is something you would have to find out for yourself. Just make sure you can keep yourself from any violent reactions if you find out that the bandwidth monster simply doesn’t care.

2. The super dedicated gamer

The super dedicated gamer staff is someone who probably took this job so he could legitimately game-and-work. We’re not sure if he or she mistook the position for ‘game tester’, but what we’re sure of is that this person is more concerned about his/her game than his/her job.

This person is often at the server playing online games often MMORPG’s and MOBA games. Sometimes, he/she plays LAN games with the customers, too. What makes this not okay is that he/she prioritizes the game over the customers. Not to sound like the overly attached girlfriend, but, hey, I’m paying money for rental and service so can you please give me the attention I have the right to?

3. The eardrum destroyer

This staff plays music so unbearably loud that it qualifies as noise pollution. I have no idea why you think the bass is awesome when it’s the only prominent thing in the music you are trying to play, but that is not the kind of music you are supposed to play in a cyber café. Do you know what headsets are for? People have things they want to listen to aside from whatever it is that’s coming out of your speakers! And I don’t think the headset is serving its purpose when your thumb-thumping horrible excuse for music is piercing through the foam.

4. The clueless

I always believed that if you are going to be a staff for a cybercafé, you would at least have to know how to do the basic things. You are not expected to know as much as Bill Gates, but you are expected to at least know what’s installed in the computer units. How on earth do you not know if you have Microsoft Word on this thing? And why do you not know how to replace my mouse? How did you land this job?

5. The Trojan horse

It’s a staff that’s pretending to know something, but doesn’t and is worse than the clueless staff. The common mistake this type does is to not read error messages properly, but think he/she understood it anyway.

For example, you ask the person to install software you need on a computer unit. After the installation, a message appears saying something like, “You need to restart the computer before the changes take effect. Would you like to restart now?” The Trojan horse will proceed to click ‘No’… and then wonder why it isn’t working. Because he/she was sure that he/she was doing the right thing, something else must be wrong. He/she will either proceed to move you to another unit and install there instead or tell you your software is not working and therefore cannot be installed. Yes, all of this will happen regardless of what you say because hush, you, customer!

6. The world hater

This staff member is always angry, pissed, or generally in a bad mood. You have no idea what you or someone did to piss him/her off, but he/she is always sour. He/she may have one or two favorites, but it’s most probably not you.

7. The gang leader (and his gang)

The gang leader is basically the staff who has a lot of annoying friends over at the café and they get so comfortable that they become annoying to customers. For example, one of the friends will rent a unit and there are ten others watching behind him/her that they’re taking up the space of the customers using the units beside them.

These friends also get special undeserved and unfair privileges like cutting in queue of the people who are waiting for the next available unit or getting prioritized over other customers just because he/she is a friend. And because they’re ‘friends’, customers are also witness to their personal arguments and celebrations in the establishment. The worst experience I’ve had with this is that they hold drinking sprees in the café during operating hours and it was very uncomfortable.

Sometimes, the gang leader is merely a staff member, but other times, he/she is also a manager, or worse, the owner. Regardless of who this person is in the business, that doesn’t make it okay.

So how many of these people have you encountered so far? Share with us your experience in the comments section below!

The post Internet Café Chronicles: 7 annoying kinds of internet café staff appeared first on Games in Asia.

The post Internet Café Chronicles: 7 annoying kinds of internet café staff appeared first on Games in Asia.