The disagreement was not on the question of what should happen, it was on the concept that I have a right to site in a coffee shop and not be bothers. It is a reasonable expectation to not be bothered, but not a right.

(it really jumped the shark later, with animated memes....)

I am not going to read that entire thread, but based on what I have read, I think I'm going to have to side with the millennials. The suggestion that unless someone is providing clues (such as body language) that they welcome being approached in a coffee shop, you should not approach them seems pretty reasonable to me. If you are my generation, you should have had plenty of opportunities to learn to distinguish between someone who is receptive to your attention from someone who isn't. This seems so obvious to me that I'm surprised people have found so many ways to disagree about it.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/420/506126.page#7751529

You would not understand, though, since you are in my generation