After a long day of running errands, I decided to take a break and have a beer in your bar. My phone battery was running a bit low, so I plugged it into the outlet I saw on the wall. Then you, Ms. Assistant Manager, came by a minute later and pulled it out, telling me that I wasn’t allowed to charge my phone. Really? I was a guest in your restaurant. What happened to service? Then you proceed to tell me that your establishment does not give away electricity for free. “If we did that for everyone we would be out of business,” you explained. Of course, I couldn’t help but note the three lonely customers in your place. Perhaps giving away free electricity is just what your place needs before it goes out of business. Otherwise, people might just keep going to Starbucks, where they let paying customers recharge devices, which is exactly what I did.

Illustration by Ron Pitts