'He's just sitting there watching anime the whole time': Fustrated cafe-regular asks young man to give up his seat at crowded cafe, says since he didn't purchase anything, it's not ethical for him to take up seating

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Jul 25, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

Is it possible for an action comic to lack an obvious hero and villain? 

What if no one person is perfectly right or undoubtedly wrong? Is there such a thing as the 'middle-ground' when it comes to one person against another, or is the angel vs devil mentality too painfully secured? Okay, maybe in a comic strip, this type of story structuring is essential. People like having someone to root for, whether they know it or not…

But life is not always that simple. Sometimes, there isn't an obvious distinction between actions of the purest form and behavior that would be frowned upon. Sometimes life is a big, bold mess of rights and wrongs and 'he said, she saids.' That's what makes people so interesting, our ability to group and label them in comparison to our own moral compass, or in this case, our inability to. 

Moral dilemmas can appear anywhere: airports, high schools, and in this case, a simple, overcrowded cafe on a random Tuesday afternoon…

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  • When this cafe regular is left without anywhere to sit after work, she takes it upon herself to ask a young man to leave, as he has not ordered anything to eat or drink, but is taking up prime cafe seating. 

    Some would argue that this is a valid response, whilst others could agree they are smelling some entitlement in the air… Is it her job to rearrange all the restaurant's seating, or should that be left up to the very capable employees…

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    "Many times I have simply just waited for non-customers to finish their hangouts before I plop down with my purchase"
    via Ksenia Chernaya

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    AITA for asking someone to relinquish an outdoor cafe table for a paying customer?

    There's a very busy cafe in a crowded pedestrian area that I go to nearly every day after work, to do more work at. It has 8 outdoor
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    tables with umbrellas. In 4 different places next to the tables it says "outdoor seating is for [cafe name] customers only". This past weekend, the ordering line
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    was super long. I stood outside in the baking hot sun for 20 minutes to buy my drink so that I could sit at the outdoor table in good
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    conscience and work. Am I going to just sit at the table and take up space without buying something? No. I don't think that's right.
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    Upon getting my drink, I walk out and every table is occupied by paying customers, except for one. Some young dude who had been
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    sitting there watching anime on his phone the whole time. I ask "hey, are you waiting for your order to come out?" and he's like "no".
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    So I said "look man, I'm sorry but these tables are for customers. It's written right there. I come to this cafe all the time, and every single
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    time I buy something so that I can sit at one of these tables". Being the type who thinks victimhood is a virtue, he replied
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    "Can I ask, why did you target *me*?" Losing my patience slightly, I said "Look around you, you're the only one here who didn't buy something. Everyone else paid."
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    So, realizing he was in the wrong, he started packing up and left with a soft "A little patience goes a long way". In a way, he would be right if it were only that one
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    Cheezburger Image 10533559552
    via gettyimages

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    instance -but I've patronized this cafe over 500 times in the past 5 years. I always buy their rather expensive drinks to enjoy the
    via ThinkAboutIt909
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    outdoor ambience at the tables while I work. And many, MANY times I have simply just waited for non-customers to finish their hangouts before I plop down with
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    my purchase. That day I simply had to ask that the rules of the cafe were respected. They own the tables, and the price of those tables is absolutely reflected in
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    the price of the drinks. Can someone please help me? I want to be a good person. I don't want to end up like Michael Douglas in "Falling Down". I want
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    to be receptive. I want to be chill. Please reply with a sound, reasoned argument. Should I have just waited?
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    Willie365 Only one seat at the table? Otherwise, "Mind if I share a table?" could have been all it took to make everything good for everyone.
    via Willie365
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    BunniesnBroomsticks So you buy one drink then sit at a table and work for how long? I'm curious to know if someone approached you the same way after you had finished your drink and been sitting there for a while, how would you have reacted?
    via BunniesnBroomsticks
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    thechaoticstorm ESH The cafe staff needed to handle this and not you.
    via thechaoticstorm
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    BigBigBig Tree ESH. You happened to be correct in this instance, but a person who isn't visibly consuming something may have easily just finished their drink, or be waiting for someone who is in line, or whatever. The person didn't owe you an explanation for what they were doing. Even if he had bought something, he had no obligation to explain himself to you.
    via BigBigBigTree
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    dealbreakerstalkshow NTA, but you don't need a table for a drink. That's barely a good enough purchase to take up a table, especially when you admit to using it for longer than you'd need to finish.
    via dealbreakerstalkshow
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    stroppo I would say gentle YTA because shooing people away is the job of the cafe staff. I would also have just sat down myself, saying "May I sit here? Everywhere else is taken." People generally say yes.
    via stroppo
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    captainsnark71 "I was patient with the other people that weren't him so it's fair that he gets the brunt of my rudeness."
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    thunderling_x YTA. It's not your place to embarrass someone that you assumed did not order something. Also how does buying one drink entitle you to take up a whole table to work in public? I find that extremely annoying personally.
    via thunderling_x

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drinks manners fully-booked polite sharing unfair etiquette victim generous entitled memebase moving food purchases no space cafe entitled people
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