First councils ban smoking, now cafes move to ban mobile phones

COUNCILS have already banned dogs and cigarettes from cafes, but some cafe owners are going a step further and putting mobile phones on the black list.

In a backlash against what they call "the height of rudeness", business owners are enforcing a no-talking-on-phones policy.

Customers in one Sydney cafe are confronted with a sign showing a mobile in a red circle with a slash through it. It reads: "Please do not order take-away coffee whilst on your mobile phone. Thank you."

Bondi cafe Katipo's owner Ben Soutter said he was fed up with customers who refused to stop their phone calls to place orders.

"The catalyst for me was when a lady got the s***** when I asked if she wanted large and if she wanted sugar in her coffee," he said.

"She sighed and said 'Hang on' to the person on the other end of the phone."I gave her a look that made it clear I was not impressed.

"Zero tolerance - I went downstairs and made a sign up and I stuck it on the fridge."

And fellow Sydney business Pentimento, in Newtown, has a similar sign posted near the till.

"We feel we deserve a bit of respect," staff member Amanda Poke said.

Although mobile phone etiquette is not strictly a health and safety issue, Waverley Council has backed the cafe owner.

A council spokesperson said it was "just common courtesy" to choose not to speak on the phone while 

ordering.

However, Woollahra Mayor Andrew Petrie said: "No one wants to live in a nanny state.

"Most people have the good manners to use their own judgment in terms of mobile use in public, and if they don't have good manners I've seen others give them a speedy education."

Waverley Council has previously considered the banning of cameras, including the mobile-phone variety, from places where children gather, but the move has been rejected.

Mr Soutter claims his approach is spreading across Sydney."Every bank and post office has it, but a lot of the cafes and retail shops too," he said.

However, Cafe Bondi's owner, Len Friedland, said the ban was "ridiculous" and he was happy to wait for customers to stop their phone conversations.

"It's a fact of life," he said.

News.ccom.au