Would you move tables at a Cafe?

Yes this, where we live coffee tables have allocated a small number of single chaie tables for laptop users. It of course isn’t an excuse or reason for someone to be horrible.

Only on MN will people insist you move when a smaller table becomes available. They also insist a group of people queue together, and not reserve tables.

You did nothing wrong, and the lady giving you agro was a CF.

Good luck with your studying.

But this isn't about what the cafe management wants. They are always free to step in, but they weren't a party to the situation the OP is writing about. And many cafes encourage working customers.

No patron has the right to kick another patron out of their seat. Solos have just as much right to ample space as anyone else, and because a booth COULD seat four doesn't mean it MUST always be used to seat four. She also wanted the space and the charging station, in addition to the number of potential "seats."

"Families" and "groups" shouldn't expect to inevitably take precedence over people who are out in the world solo.

As others have noted, if OP were a big bloke, I doubt she/he would have been approached. It seems to always be unattached women who are expected to defer. I'd not move just to take a stand against that unreasonable societal norm, aside from all of the other good reasons to not move.

The OP clearly states she would have moved, and has done so previously, had the woman not been so rude, effectively demanding that she give up her place for them.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

I'd wager the cafe would rather have 2-4 people at a 4 person table who leave and are replaced by more people all buying food / coffee than one student who buys lunch at £10 and is there for the day.

They should ask people to move. They're running a business.

Totally agree with the people who are arguing for you not being unreasonable.

It's a coffee shop, you buy coffee, you choose your seat. If you choose to be in your own company - reading, working, studying for example - how is this less legitimate than sitting with someone else doing small talk?
People need to be less rude and more respectful of other people that may or may not be doing their life in a different way to them.

Both were unreasonable but they were incredibly rude to you.

The library was shut, @Astrabees - and can you rent a hot desk, last minute, on a Sunday?

I was in Switzerland recently and noticed lots of polite notices on cafe tables for four people requesting that those tables are only used for three or more people. I thought this was a really good idea and I didn’t witness any verbal abuse happening.

If you want to work or study go to a library or hire a hot desk for a day. I am sick and tired of there being no seats and no atmosphere in coffee shops because of the lap top brigade. You were spoken to in a very rude way but I think you have no idea of how exasperating people who hog seats for hours are. The party only stayed 10 minutes ? Yes, this is how long a quick coffee with friends takes.

Difficult for the OP to do, @SwordToFlamethrower, given that she said the library was shut, it being a Sunday.

YANBU on balance. Etiquette varies on laptop working, so different places have different policies. So long as you respect them and try to aware of not taking the piss if it's busy I think it's fine.

Whereas I think she was pretty rude. There were other seats so it's just tough luck her prefered one wasn't available. Even if it had been the only large table I don't have a lot of time for people who act entitled with this sort of thing. You are putting the other person out so acknowledge it. 'I'm terribly sorry, but could I sit down, I'm pregnant, have hurt my leg etc...' rather than 'Let me sit down'.

Not if she needs that space.

If it were a mother with lots of baby supplies and an infant in a sling, would she be called selfish to spread out in a booth? How about a large single person who is not comfortable in chairs? A couple who are using a laptop to view houses on Rightmove or gps software?

People have all sorts of reasons for wanting a booth. Just because it can seat four doesn't mean other uses are inferior. It's not A&E; people are free to go elsewhere.

This reminds me of a time at a park when I asked a lady sitting at a picnic bench on her own whether I could “perch on this end for 2 mins while I wait for my husband to come back from the cafe” and she said no!
So I said ok, stood further away from the bench, husband came back, we walked off. She was still alone the whole time. She could have just said yes until my friends come or something. I didn’t want to join her!! lol. Unfriendly behaviour. But I didn’t call her a bitch or say anything rude like the people in OP’s story. She didn’t give a reason but she didn’t really need to.
People going off on each other in public places is so common now, I can’t imagine calling that lady a bitch. Even if I thought it!

No it’s up to individual coffee shop owners. Whom I can’t expect would tell a whole group of regulars not to come to their coffee shop to please a bunch of entitled grumps

Not unreasonable. You can sit wherever you want in a cafe. It is mildly annoying when 1 or 2 people take up a larger table but that’s life, people are everywhere and they are mildly annoying. They found somewhere else to sit, you had a reason (the plug) not that you needed to give them one, and their attitude was unnecessary.

Why couldn't you move your bag so one of them could sit down?

I don't fully understand the problem. It's a table of 4, and you're taking up 1 seat. There are 3 seat left.

3 adults arrive and, whilst they are not entitled to your seat and should accept you saying no to their requests, they could just sit at the three free seats, no?

You are not entitled to the three free seats, they are not entitled to your one occupied seat. Everyone wins, though!

This ⬆️. I think it’s unreasonable to use a coffee shop as a library, taking up a lot of space, using a lot of electricity and prob buying very little for the time that you have spent in there. Who do you think makes the coffee shop more money, you or the people whi asked you to move, who bought drinks and only stayed 10 mins? I don’t agree with people working in or holding interviews in coffee shops, they are often talking very loudly on their phones or asking questions very loudly and seem annoyed when you are sitting having a chat. It can be anti social. Go to the library or pay for an office space. Most of this seems to be a consequence of covid.

Well you had me at her not saying please. If she can't be polite she can go swivel.

I do think it’s a bit rude to take up a space for four when it’s busy like that but she should have been far more polite and graceful. When she called you an arrogant B word she gave up her human rights at that point as far as I’m concerned so screw her

You were right not to move, she was an entitled CF.
My husband and I have received similar requests/abuse about parking his motorbike in space that "is meant for cars", luckily my husband is a big bloke so they soon scuttle off...

Quite. It's astonishing that people think they can dictate in a cafe!!

It's up to the cafe what they want people to do in their café not random members of the public. They have plugs precisely so people will work there and spend a lot of money. They'd rather that than 10 minute woman who clearly wasn't even having lunch.

If there was a problem with where the poster was sitting it was up to the other party to ask staff if they might make that space available to them. It’s absolutely not up to the individual to be aggressive to another customer to try and intimidate them into moving. The fact that some of you think that was acceptable behaviour blows my mind.