My buddy Mike tried that same trick and ended up with a hockey puck on the outside and raw meat inside just like you, @sam_murphy39.

Right? It hits you out of nowhere, like one day you're fine and the next you can't watch a whole YouTube video without scrolling Twitter.

Three years ago I walked into a place in Denver with "digital nomad friendly" on their chalkboard sign. Turned out their "stable connection" was a single router behind the register that dropped signal every time someone ordered a pour-over. I spent two hours on and off Zoom calls looking like a glitching robot before I gave up. Now I carry a cheap travel router and a tethering plan as backup. Saved me more than once when a cafe's wifi turned out to be just for show. That expired receipt password thing sounds like a nightmare, but I bet you could hotspot off your phone for those second hour cycles if the place isn't too strict.

Did any of those guests even complain the calls were annoying?

Riley has a point about stencils being legit tools, but I think the confidence hit is worth sitting with a minute. That vendor showed you a skill gap, not a value gap - freehanding takes hundreds of hours of muscle memory that stencil users skip. I spent six months doing nothing but straight lines on scrap cardboard before my freehand looked halfway decent, and even now I still break out a stencil when I need speed over soul. Let that feeling push you to practice, not trash your old work.