Shade said:
So if someone has an issue with me readings cards at their establishment then it would be their job to come up to me and tell me. All of the private places of business I have read at in the last 14 years were happy to have me as a customer.
I've been in and out of cafes, usually with decks, for over two decades, and it has only happened to me once, just a couple of months ago. Mind you, I *never* read for someone else (generating income) on someone else's space without their prior knowledge and consent. I'm talking about just going in with a Tarot deck the way you might with the said sudoku or knitting.
I sit there *with* a paid-for coffee or a full meal (it is atrociously rude to use their space without giving them something in return!) and maybe quietly pull a few cards for myself. On thi occasion I had a brand-new deck with me, which I was getting to know for the purposes of writing a
review, and while it is specifically not an erotic deck (it is an art deck, modelled on the style of a well-known artist), it was full of nudes: men, women, old, young, children, fat, one the edge of death by starvation, and none of them except perhaps the Moon looking at all even healthy, let alone sexual (I don't know about you but I don't lust after sick people). It was a quiet time of day, and the only other customers in the cafe were way down the other side of the room, talking among themselves. I very much doubt they were even aware I was there.
The waitress was, though. To serve them and reach the kitchen, she needed to walk past my table. After a few trips, she came over and politely asked me to put away my deck because the "pornographic images" were "disturbing the other customers". I glanced at them - they were oblivious. I gathered up the cards off the table with good grace and complied. After all,
1) I had not paid to use the space,
2) she was very polite
3) it was a reasonable request even if it was based on a half-lie - the person disturbed was probably her.
Afterwards, I finished my coffee and lingered. I certainly wasn't going to be rude and be seen to rush off after being asked to put them away. I also have not boycotted the place - I am happy to go back. You see, I don't feel an insane compulsion to wave Tarot cards in other people's faces every single time I leave the house.