In reply to Artifacts:
Neil,
Your typewriter story provides yet another example of how our preconceptions affect what appears to be reality to us.
I suspect that what rankled your about “all the yuppies lounging with their latest ipads over at star bucks” was that they were, essentially, engaged in Performance Art, based on the premise “Look at me: I am the epitome of the twenty-first century hipster.” Your response was itself Performance Art: fighting fire with fire, if you will. So, your response wasn’t a new idea: it was a variation on a theme with a wry twist.
As such, you deserve points for irony: the badges of “hip” are fungible. The manager obviously got it.