OK, seriously?

I have a favorite coffee shop over on the east side. The coffee is local and tasty, they don't charge extra for soy milk, and they serve delicious vegan soups. Plus, they usually play eclectic and enjoyable music. It's a lovely place to study on rainy mornings or snowy afternoons. But lately there's been an issue.

Most of the seating consists of small cafe tables, couches, or bar-style counters. Further, not all of the little tables have lamps nearby and the ambient lighting is limited at best. There is one nice, big table about the size of what you'd find in a family dinning room, with a nice lamp, and it's great for studying. However, the past few times I've been by, a new barrista was working who is very strict about who may use the table. If you put your stuff down anywhere near it he will say, "Oh- are you meeting people? Because we try to reserve that table for groups, otherwise they have no place to sit." He's said it to me, and in the 9 or 10 total hours I've spent there over the past couple weeks, he's repeated it to many others, including groups of two. The upshot- the table has remained empty and people who show up alone or with one other have to deal with limited surface area and poor light.

I've sat at that table before, and other barrista's have been totally cool with it, and when other people show up and want to use the table, well they ask to *share* and it works out fine. As long as I'm busy ranting here, the law library is pretty clear that no food whatsoever is allowed anywhere in the facility. Obviously the rule is broken all the time but someone near me just ate the most odorous banana imaginable and it's making me kind of sick.