If the following description resembles your coffeehouse behavior, then the answer to the headline question is: You are.
The arithmetic of operating a neighborhood café is unforgiving. When a customer occupies a four-person table for six hours, plugs into the store’s electricity, uses its Wi-Fi and orders one $5 cold brew with a refill, that customer is not supporting a small business. That customer is slowly suffocating it. Rent, insurance, wages, utilities and inventory costs have climbed sharply.
For an independent coffeehouse to survive, every table must serve a reasonable number of paying customers throughout the day. An all-day camper prevents that. The table produces almost no income while other customers—people ready to order coffee, breakfast or lunch—find nowhere to sit and leave.
Independent cafés operate on narrow margins. They are not public libraries, private offices or rent-free coworking spaces. Buy your coffee. Enjoy the surroundings. Conduct your business. But if you plan to remain for hours, keep ordering—or surrender the table. The corporate chains may be able to absorb your six-hour visit. Your neighborhood coffeehouse cannot.
Hey squatter, don't look so innocent. You're the problem.
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