填空题 With its recession-friendly coffee prices, plentiful tables and available bathrooms, McDonald's restaurants all over the country, and even all over the world, have been adopted by a cost-conscious set as a coffeehouse for the people, a sort of everyman's Starbucks. (1) .
But patrons have also brought the mores of cafe culture, where often a single purchase is permission to camp out with a laptop. Increasingly, they seem to linger over McCafe Lattes, sometimes spending a lot of time but little money in outlets of this chain, which rose to prominence on a very different business model: food that is always fast. And so restaurant managers and franchise owners are often frustrated by these people. (2) .
In the past month, those tensions came to a boil in New York City. When management at a McDonald's in Flushing, Queens, called the police on a group of older Koreans, prompting outrage at the company's perceived rudeness, calls for a worldwide boycott and a truce mediated by a local politician, it became a famous case of a struggle that happens daily at McDonald's outlets in the city and beyond.
(3) . If Mike Black's friends are looking for him, they know to check the McDonald's on Utica Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn, he said. That is where Mr. Black, who is in his 50s, spends hours opening and reading his junk mail. "We're pleased many of our customers view us as a comfortable place to spend time," Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email, citing free Wi-Fi and areas for children to play as part of the appeal. "McDonald's offers convenience and value in a fun and familiar atmosphere."
But the leisurely cafe culture and the business plan behind fast food are in opposition.
(4) .
In a McDonald's near Astor Place, a sign explained that customers were entitled to just 30 minutes of sitting time. But Raymos Martinez, an artist, sat tucked into a dog-eared paperback of historical fiction, and said the anonymity of the place held some appeal. "McDonald's, it's more like a bus stop. Nobody notices you." Or maybe they do. On the other side of the restaurant, in her uniform cap with the Golden Arches, Samantha Reyes, 39, swept discarded burger wrappers offthe floor. (5) .
A. Spending the day nursing a latte is part of modern cafe culture, behavior reinforced by franchises like Starbucks and others that seem to actively cultivate the endless sitting, lavishing free Wi-Fi on customers who park their laptops in the morning and do not leave until after dark.
B. Is the customer always right, even the ensconced penny-pincher? The answer seems to be yes among those who do the endless sitting at McDonald's restaurants in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; Midtown Manhattan; Astoria, Queens; and the East Village.
C. McDonald's is not alone in navigating this tricky territory. Last year, a group of deaf patrons sued Starbucks after a store on Astor Place in Lower Manhattan forbade their meet-up group to convene there, complaining they did not buy enough coffee.
D. Although signs hang in many McDonald's stores instructing customers to spend half an hour or less at the tables, Ms. McComb said there was no national policy about discouraging longtime sitting.
E. Such regulars hurt business, some say, and leave little room for other customers. Tensions can sometimes erupt.
F. She refuses to kick out those who seem to find refuge in her McDonald's. "For myself, ! could be in the same situation," she said. "Tomorrow, it could be me."
G. Behind the Golden Arches, older people seeking company and conversation, schoolchildren putting off homework time and homeless people escaping the cold have transformed the banquettes into headquarters for the kind of laid-back socializing once carried out on a park bench or brownstone stoop.