All these worse case assume you can actually walk into an Apple Store in the first place. They are jam packed and a complete mess.
( I haven't seen the new layout and workflow of Post Angela Ahrendts Apple Store yet, so many be they are better now. )
It's a negative to the design, but the worst possible case is you go read or watch something where you won't need your mouse for 10 minutes.
My wife works in a small, elementary school and I help with the computers from time to time. One day, their network was misbehaving and I needed to change some settings on their iMac "server". I quickly discovered that the mouse had lost it's charge over the 2 months that they didn't use it and I had to plug it in and wait for it to get a small charge. Well, first I had to find a USB <--> Lightning cable.
Anyway, the worst possible case is not that you go read something for a while; sometimes your network is down and you have to wait 10 minutes before you can fix it. Just because some designer thought it would be ugly to put a "tail" on a mouse.
More seriously if it went from misbehaving to calling you in to getting to the computer and adjusting it, it doesn't sound like the four minutes of charge time was anything but negligible. Finding a cable sounds like a bigger issue, and that could happen to any wireless mouse. (and wireless is definitely not a dumb design decision, there are clear usability advantages to wireless mice)
(1) "No way with the cables included in the box" is not the same as "no way." There's a USB-C to Lightning cable in the bag right next to me. That lets me plug a top of the line Apple laptop into a top of the line Apple phone. With no dongle, even.
(2) In practice, there are zero times over the last two years that I've had to plug a phone into a laptop. I can't honestly remember why I bought this cable; I think I wanted to see whether USB tethering to the phone was better than using the mobile hotspot feature (spoiler: kind of a wash). I am sure there are people reading this, possibly including you, raising their fists to the sky and screaming BUT IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER, and, sure, okay, I guess. But is it?
One can make that argument that Apple should include both cables in the boxes, or a USB-A to USB-C dongle, or something. But in practice, just how many people need the USB-C cable for their phone, even if they have a USB-C laptop? The vast majority of people are probably only using Lightning cables to charge their phone from a charger, in which case it doesn't matter, or to plug into their car, which means they need USB-A anyway. (People may also be using Lightning-to-not-USB dongles, like headphone ports and HDMI output, but that's irrelevant to this.)
Here's my reason:
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Headset-H390-Noise-Cancellin...
I can't find any replacements. Anyone on my team that tries whatever bluetooth whatever, they always sound distant or scratchy just plain lagged. On the other hand they keep asking me to tell them what I use because I always sound crystal clear with no background noise. I send them that link and immediately dismiss it because it's cheap, uses a stupid USB connector and their laptop doesn't support the plug without dongles. (I use a 2014 MBP)
Yet they keep complimenting me, like literally every call on how good I sound to them. I don't care if they found a $200 lightning plug version with large ear cups - they don't sound like I do.
I'm sorry if you thought I was making some blanket statement that all workflows are absolutely wonderful under all circumstances on laptops that have moved to USB-C, but I also don't think that would be a remotely fair reading of what I wrote.
USB-A is probably cheaper and more universal as a wall-charging, or car charging standard right now.
You don't need a dongle.
Not everyone has a recent MacBook. Makes sense to stick with USB-A for now, I guess, for maximum compatibility.
> Where is the Apple USB-C iPhone or iPad charger?
Here https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-...
That is, in fact, stupid.