Regular patronage buys informal access for purposes outside a setting’s official function

Evidence

The patron, however, has more to gain than simply a reduction in anonymity and an increase in short-term pleasure. By reason of having established semipersonal relationships with the setting’s employees, the patron is in a position to gain acquiescence, even assistance, in utilizing the setting for purposes other than those for which it is overtly intended. He may, for example, be able to take a respite from his busy rounds on the comfortable bar stool of his favorite bar without being required to buy a drink. He may use the corner newsstand as a shelter from a sudden downpour. He may receive his phone calls at the local delicatessen. Or, as in the taverns of Colonial America, he may use the setting as a meeting place where he and his friends can plot revolution. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 706

Categorization

• XREF: The tavern-as-revolution-meeting-place line exemplifies a semi-private home territory whose hospitality is earned, not owed — links to Lofland’s stranger-management framework I’m cross-reading. — connects to: Some Capitol Ministries patrons seek business access rather than doctrinal conviction — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 217
• CANDY: The colonist taverns that doubled as revolutionary plotting rooms is a catchy framing detail usable in lighter conversation.