On Not Begging In Cafes

Big Issue Guy just came into the Caffe Nero where I and a number of other people come first thing (I mean 07:40) in the morning to have a quiet cup of coffee, sit at our laptops and get into whatever mood we need to be in. He walked from table to table with his spiel and we all said NO in one way or another. I just shook my head and didn't even look at him. None of us felt bad about it and all of us felt irritated that he was in the cafe importuning us. Does that make us selfish salarymen with no sense of charity and not a shred of human kindness? 

I don't think so. Just because he's short of money and down on his luck doesn't mean that he gets to be inconsiderate to us. Why was he being inconsiderate? Read my opening sentence. He knows why people come into cafes and he knows we don't want to be disturbed - more or less by anyone or anything. We don't want adverts, let alone passing life insurance salesmen (they don't sell on the street any more now I guess) or charity collectors. We don't really want other people bringing their arguments and bad vibes in. Everyone knows this. People who then ignore it are being inconsiderate. 

However, what applies to Big Issue Guy applies to anyone trying to sell me something. This is what's wrong with hospitals and doctors' surgeries showing fake TV channels stuffed with advertising. I didn't ask for it and I'm already paying for the place with my taxes - making me watch ads is making me pay twice. London Transport long ago struck the right balance, using the ads in effect to decorate the stations and sticking to posters, which after a while I find I can tune out. Almost no-one else gets the balance right: I accept that commercial radio needs to broadcast ads to make money, but then I don't listen to it, and ditto for commercial TV. That's why I buy box sets. I have no idea at all how 8Tracks pays for itself, and assume that at some stage it will be polluted by ads. When Facebook inundated me with dating ads I nearly cancelled my account, until I said I wasn't interested in finding anyone of any sex ever.

What I'd like is for The Big Issue to tell its vendors not to enter cafes, restaurants and other places. Robust proprietors chase them out anyway - but I can't expect the pleasent and busy barristas in Caffe Nero to do that.