Fleabag– the BBC 3 sneak-attack that became the summer’s most banged-on-about comedy sensation – drew praise for its thrillingly dark humour, unapologetic filthiness and deft exploration of grief. But one of the show’s most devastatingly acute observations didn’t have anything to do with sex or death. In the first episode, creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s unnamed anti-heroine looks on as the sole customer in her ailing cafe declines to purchase any food or drink, before plugging in his laptop, phone and Kindle. It’s funny because cafe-squatters (and I count myself among their entitled number) are truly this brazen.
And now, this recognisable vignette of the reality in countless coffee shops, is giving rise to a fascinating new battle: cafe owners are hiding plug sockets, disconnecting their routers or ditching desk-style seating to stop their businesses being overrun by the familiar army of MacBook-clutching freelancers, scanning the floor for somewhere to plug in. Pour one out for smug workdays fuelled by free internet, siphoned electricity and complimentary cucumber water – the jig may be up for the nation’s Wi-Fi rustlers.
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