Marc Vetri slams Elixr Coffee: ‘Never have I been to a more depressing coffee shop’

Marc Vetri, Philly's very own angry grandpa, stopped by Elixr Coffee Thursday and found the shop "depressing" due to patrons "not engaging, not communicating," but rather "just looking at screens."

Vetri's point, of course, is that technology appears to have rendered human beings — a once-social species — into conversation-incapable dolts who can't "just look up and say hi," as Chef puts it. Societal degradation, thy name is "smartphone."

"It's not an Elixr Coffe thing," Vetri says today of his posting. "Just a fascinating moment that I thought interesting to note with all of the articles [and] research and such about this new world of digital and its affect on young adults. I like coffee."

Naturally, though, as a coffee shop that plays host to the apparently unsocialized masses, Elixr didn't agree on principle. So they fired back with a message to Vetri on Thursday in defense of their customers:

Something is seriously wrong with you @marcvetri . Just because you might not understand something (or potentially an entire generation) does not give you the right to condemn it…There is no doubt in my mind that if you would have conversed with them, instead of passing condemnation on, you would understand that those folks are busy becoming doctors, tech giants, surgeons, humanitarians, and generally stuff far more important your apparent pastime of holding grudges and being a generally pessimistic jealous person.

And today, this sandwich board appeared outside Elixr with a friendly greeting from — who else? — Marc Vetri:

Vetri being Vetri, though, he didn't seem fazed. In fact, he appears to have seen Elixr's apparent dig as a potential favor:

Really, though, his message here is not a wholly unreasonable one. But, then, neither is wanting to work or read in peace at your preferred neighborhood coffee shop.

But just try and tell Marc Vetri that.