What gives you the right to walk into a business, sit at a table, (alone), order a cuppa coffee, and sit there for hours doom scrolling? A table in a restaurant is pretty expensive real estate. Go into any restaurant, (fast food to five star) and look around for a few minutes. People sitting there with a doing what-ever on there phones while customers wait for a place to sit down and order. I’ve owned a restaurant, the management is not doing this to be mean, it’s doing this because people are assholes and sit there for hours, buying nothing.
I live semi-rural and live alone. When I go out I’m usually by myself. The places I go to are not that rushed, and nobody says anything if I hang out a bit longer. That said, if the place is more upscale and I’m with friends the phone gets put away unless I’m sharing photos.
CC
If you have to dine by yourself while traveling, would you allow a kindle? A book?
Guilty as charged, except if I was at an establishment that was so crowded people were waiting for tables after I finished my coffee, I would gather my what-ever and make the table available for who-ever. That's just plain common courtesy.
Having said that, I rarely find myself in such popular places.
Once years ago in the BC era (before cellphones), I went to a restaurant with a co-worker for lunch. It was early so the place was practically empty, but they demanded that we sit at a table for two. Nothing wrong with that except that table was only a few feet away from the door to the kitchen, and the noise and brilliant lighting therein. It was extremely annoying to have to endure the swinging door and the constant traffic of waitresses as the lunch crowd filled in.
The management cared only for the bottom line, and had no concern for their customers. Yes, people can be a-holes, but the management can be that too.
We never went back.