To begin with, I would like to state that I have been a regular customer of this establishment for a considerable amount of time—so much so that the cashier would actually remember my order—and I have never had a negative experience until today. However, today was enough for me to write this review and never go back. I went with a friend to finish some schoolwork, like we have done many times before. like we walked in, we noticed a sign saying that outside food and beverages are not allowed. Alright, well, we didn't bring any in. We proceeded to our customary spot and got to work. We've been there for about fifteen minutes when an employee tells us that she's at the counter to take our order whenever we're ready. We say, "Okay, thank you." After that, we carry on. My friend started a test about 30 minutes ago and was still working on it as of now, so it has been about 2 hours. We've been there for two hours when an additional employee approaches us and says we can't stay any longer unless we buy something. We've been there numerous times; most of the time we do buy something, and even on the occasions when we don't, there have never been any problems. We explained that we had been here for two hours and that this was a first for us. She persisted in saying that we needed to buy something or go, so even though my friend was still in the middle of the exam, I got up and bought a lemon grass tea. Returning to my seat, I discovered that my friend was speaking with one of the owners—I think her name was Sueha—and the first employee, who had informed us that she was at the counter and prepared to take our order. Aggressively, the owner started talking about how it's policy for us to have to buy something in order to sit there, that they have signs up stating this (they don't; there's just one sign about food and drinks outside), and that this isn't a library. While she is technically correct—Gateaux isn't a library—we repeated that we are regular customers and that we always buy drinks while we are there. The employee behind her then lied and said she did tell us that we needed to buy something to sit there, which she did not and I made it obvious that she did not. I then added that had someone informed us earlier, it would have been a bit more understandable than two hours in. The owner said, "Go somewhere else then," and left as I was in the middle of saying that I had purchased something and that my friend and I would not be returning after this encounter because it was just so uncomfortable. Now, it's not about the money or buying a drink; rather, it's about having common courtesy and not treating people disrespectfully, especially if they are regular customers of your business. I have experience working in customer service, and I simply felt that the entire exchange was very nasty and inappropriate. That is definitely not how I would have handled the matter personally. We had already spent two hours there, so it was really inconvenient to address this at that time. However, if my friend hadn't been in the middle of an exam, I would have gotten up right away. Granted, the owner did return and apologize, saying that they should have informed us about the policy during the first ten minutes of our visit rather than two hours later. She also claimed that, despite my repeated assertions to the contrary, she was unaware of this beforehand and that she didn't want to cause us any discomfort and she expressed displeasure with the way the conversation ended. Nevertheless, even though we did receive an apology it was such a disgusting experience that I don't think I could go back to a place that exudes so much entitlement. I understand now that leaving this review won't accomplish anything, and from what I've seen, every bad review response has been incredibly defensive and unremorseful. I don't expect anything more from you than that; just try to improve and do better because coming to try and apologize after handling it the way you did to try and save grace doesn't remove the bad taste left in our mouths.