[subtra3t]

I think this depends a lot on where you currently live. Maybe if you live in a very closely knit and/or isolated area, other people might welcome you with open arms. But if you try the same thing in a cafe at a busy street you might be greeted with curt responses that try to politely reject your attempts at making conversation.

> I've met many people in coffeeshops, made friends, even been hit on fwiw

I don't think anecdotal evidence would be very convincing in this case, since your success (there has to be a better word for this) would largely depend on your percieved attractiveness and/or approachability. The setting might not play as big of a role as you think it does.

> I'm surprised you find it to be an insurmountable challenge.

I'm not GP but I didn't get that impression from their comment. I agree with them in that the meeting-people-at-coffeeshops is an overused cliche that was popularized by pop culture/media with lower chances of success.

[ametrau]

It does sound like a meme.

I can tell you as an extremely socially anxious person I’ve actually done it myself. There’s power in clichés.

[chatmasta]

At this point it's such a meme that I'd assume anyone suddenly talking to me in a coffeeshop is doing it because they're a socially anxious person who follows instructions they read on the internet. Not that there's a problem with that, but it's not exactly a strong foundation for a friendship.