Don't talk to the tourists? Fuck you, Rome.

[Boyo_Jim]

@matt_mcl

Hm. Maybe this is why people sometimes seem so frightened when I ask them if they need any help, when they’re huddled around a map or staring at directional signs and speaking English. I love to help out tourists, and of course I wouldn’t dream of asking for anything in return.

I feel the same. They’re almost always interesting people, and they have that “deer in the headlights” look that makes them so cute.

And I can retell my “funniest tourist encounter that I couldn’t laugh aloud at” story. I saw these two women on a street corner looking back and forth between street signs and a map, and I stopped to offer assistance. They wanted to go to the same Metro station where I was headed, so we walked together and chatted. I asked where they were visiting from. They answered simultaneously, but just like a movie comedy they gave two different answers."

"W’re from… “France!” “Belgium!” "

I stopped and looked at the two of them. One of them looked down shame-facedly and sad, “Belgium, yes, I meant Belgium.”

Really, I should have paid them for entertainment like that.

[World_Eater]

This is where growing up in a crappier part of Brooklyn has paid back in spades. The nanosecond someone starts to get “helpful”, the gig is up.

[Rodd_Hill]

I last saw the Trevi in 1990; it was dry, and had a small army of somewhat listless workers all over it on scaffolding, save one intrepid fellow, who was down in the empty pool, picking up spare change, treating the tourists to the Italian version of the “plumber’s smile.”

“Throw a coin in Trevi fountain, and the workmen will be sure of a good lunch…”