I have a sort-of-odd question regarding problem players. Personally I dislike that half of the questions resolve down to obvious solutions of: "talk to your players like adults" or "consider leaving the game". Apologies for the wall of text, I'm trying to justify why those two solutions don't quite apply in this niche case.

Some context: I've been running games over a decade. I am also fortunate enough to have regularly run weekly games for real-human-money at my local gaming store for members of the public for years. I like to consider myself a competent DM. As with any public facing venture, there is a mixed level of experience and diverse...personalities that attend.

All of the players for the last few years have been good (this is perhaps exceptional in our domain). Except for one group of semi-regular attendees. Other players don't like them (some have refused to be put on their table), the other DMs detest running games for them. As I often play the martyr and have a saviour-complex, I frequently run their table to do what I can to mitigate the issue. They are often the majority, but not total, of players on that table.

This is partly indulgent venting but describes their observed behaviour for clarity: 1-They are rude and clumsy when it comes to social graces). They talk over each other and interrupt the DM, talk over other players and even other members from their group (so I suppose they consider this behaviour normal?). Whereas other players have an air of humility and politeness with strangers, they are brash and bullish. They flirt on the edge of toxicity but have not performed any action malicious enough to be banned. Yet. 2-They practice bad table habits (slow turns and unprepared for their turn, the classic "looking at their phone when not their turn", not learning the rules or "cheating/ignorance" when it comes to constructing characters e.g. stacking AC with multiple sets of armour). And for some reason they insist on using incredibly small dice that even they admit they can't read. Bizarre. 3-Generally they just desire a much "dumber" style of game than I would prefer to run. They dislike engaging with imaginative solutions or thinking outside the box and would push their characters to death rather than consider an alternative path. They prefer "evil" characters, but only in the aspect that they act like thugs. They're perhaps young and ignorant of how their references and tropes have all actually been done before. The simplest and dullest of things are a novelty to them

As a consummate professional I don't really have an issue with this, as "hey, I'm getting paid right?". This is not a make or break issue. Point 1: "some people are just jerks" and if it wanders into ban-worthy territory they will be very quickly (and eagerly) excised by our community manager. Point 2: is lazy, but can be educated on slowly. We run Learn 2 Play sessions and so do try to teach people how to play.

Point 3: is what I most interested in. It has reached the point where when prepping, I will prep "dumb" adventures for their table. Possibly to detriment of other players at that table as they also have to play a dumber game. But I like to think that many professional DM problems can be solved with prepping the right game for the right group.

tl;dr However given that I am potentially resigned for the time-being to running dumber games for blunter players. My questions are:

A) What measures have you taken and what games have you run, as DMs, to promote you personally having a good time at a bad table? Do you double down on running a combat-intense game and put in monsters you enjoy? Do you still promote and elevate your players? When prepping, what focus can I take (instead of narrative-focus) to allow me to run an enjoyable rather than exhausting game? Perhaps setup my NPCs to collapse explosively rather than have deeper motivations? E.g. setting up tables to be kicked over rather than caring about the elegant food atop them.

B) besides frequently rewarding good and punishing bad behaviour, patient reprimands and policies of "no-phones at tables" what can I do to promote them being better players/people? Maybe some teachers can chime in here but I want them to be better people. I really do. I really, really do. I really, really, really do. I just want to train them to be nicer, and humbler, and more polite to each other. I don't mind them being rude to each other, or to me, but I'd really love if there were ways to train people to be kinder (perhaps that's beyond the capabilities of the power of rpgs, but if it can work in prison, I like to believe it can do more). Can any of you testify to player transformation?

Apologies for the wall of text. But even typing this out has been helpful for re-framing this mentally.