Sign Of The Times
This note was pasted to the counter at Groundworks in Venice, where I buy the coffee filters for my Chemex. Naturally, I buy all my coffee by mail order from Ristretto Roasters, where the beans are roasted by a coffee psycho -- and I mean that in the nicest way. No word on Ristretto's cell phone policy, but I wish more businesses would have signs like Groundworks'.
I also wish more people would suggest to more cafes and restaurants that they adopt "no cell phones" policies. Okay, I understand that, if you live on the Arctic Circle, or if you're in Chicago in January, in an emergency, you might need to talk quietly indoors for a moment or two.
In California? Go the fuck outdoors. And that doesn't mean sit outdoors, next to people in an outdoor cafe who are trying to have conversations with people across from them, and yammer into your phone.