daringlaughThat fish left me in stitches . <| sep |> OK , first things first , when you say independent cafe are we talking about a coffee shop or a restaurant ? I ' m assuming you ' re talking about a restaurant , because ain ' t nobody buying $ 3050 worth of drinks and food at a simple coffee shop . At a restaurant , where you ' re actually supposed to buy a meal , I fully agree with you . I would never even ask if there was wifi , let alone take a laptop out . And I think that most people with a halfway decent head on their shoulders know it ' s bad form to just hang out at a table in a restaurant for several hours , not buying anything . At a coffee shop , on the other hand the kind of place where people only get espresso drinks and maybe a bagel again , wifi is kind of the point these days . I ' d never go to a place that didn ' t have it . In fact , I can only think of one place over the past few years without wifi that I used to frequent , and that was because it was right next to my old office and was standing room only . Just like , a get your coffee and GTFO type of operation . Apologies for resorting to personal anecdote again , but here ' s one more tale of my spending habits . So I ' m selfemployed , I drive a lot , and I do a lot of mobiletelecommuting work when I ' m not near my office . Coffee shops are definitely my friend as far as that stuff goes . I have one specific place that is great for doing work free wifi , big tables , and they actually have full breakfast and lunch menus , which is nice . It ' s right across the street from a courthouse that I ' m in a lot , so that ' s a plus . Anyway , I go in there probably 2 times a week and camp for 2 hours or so . I go in the midmornings usually , when there ' s barely anyone else in there , and leave when the lunch rush hits . I use a 4 top table all to myself and spread papers all over it . I also order a full breakfast and coffee each time , and tip like 50 %. I probably spend $ 40 week at this place , so that ' s $ 160 month . I really don ' t think I ' m taking money out of their pocket in any way they love me in there . But if they had no wifi ? Zero dollars . If they told me good fucking riddance for hanging out too long ? Zero dollars . Just some food for thought . One last thing , if you ' re trying to limit the amount of time people spend on wifi , just use one of those setups where they sign in and the computer itself tells them that they have an hour . That goes over way better than an employee telling you to hit the road .