Those tourists... [Negative attitudes towards tourists in big tourist destinations]

[Kalhoun]

I worked with a guy who was in Japan and videotaped himself writing on streetlights with a big fat Magic Marker. He and his friends were laughing the whole time, oblivious to the fact that they were the embodiment of the boorish American asshole tourist. I don’t know how the Japanese feel about most of American tourists, but this guy was a total embarrassment.

[HazelNutCoffee]

@jsgoddess

I’m getting a completely different vibe from it than you are, apparently. I don’t think that means one of us is misunderstanding something.

I apologize if I came across as condescending - that wasn’t my intent. I just felt you were accusing everyone in this thread of being contemptuous of tourists in general, and that certainly isn’t how I feel about the subject (although I certainly can’t speak for everyone else).

[Caridwen]

@burundi

Individually, most of the tourists I come into contact with are perfectly nice people, but collectively, they can sometimes be a pain. “Yes, these are leaves. Yes, they’ve changed color for the fall. You don’t have to drive along at 10 miles per hour and look at every single one!” Really, though, as long as they go home instead of building uber-expensive, butt-ass ugly vacation homes along the ridgeline, ruining the view and driving up everybody’s property taxes, I don’t mind them.

The thing that really, really frosts me is when I overhear tourists making fun of locals’ accents. We’re not stupid; we’re not deaf; and we think you’re the ones who sound funny!

Where are people from that they go to North Carolina to see leaves change color?

Funny that you mention accents. I mentioned upthread that as a kid we were on vacation in the south and actually had people make fun of us in a restaurant. We even saw the waitress talking about us. And this didn’t happen in just one place. As I said, we’d been all over the country and Europe and it was the only place that we had an experience like that. As a kid it sort of stuck with you.
I had a similiar but not quite as rude experience when I moved to Florida for a thankfully short year. Living in major cities over the years someone’s accent never made much of an impression on way or another because most people had one. Maybe it’s not so common in the south?

[wonky]

@HazelNutCoffee

I apologize if I came across as condescending - that wasn’t my intent.

No, you’re fine. We just disagree about the overall tone of the thread.

[burundi]

Originally posted by Caridwen
Where are people from that they go to North Carolina to see leaves change color?

A surprising number come from New Jersey, actually. When I worked in the tourist industry, most of our guests were from the Atlanta area, New York, New Jersey or Florida. Most of the Floridians were retirees from up North. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so folks are coming for the mountains as well as the leaves, but fall is our peak tourist season.

I don’t often hear people making fun of locals’ accents; it just makes me angry on the relatively rare occasions that I do. Your experience clearly demonstrates, though, that no one region has the market on jerks.

[Caridwen]

I hadn’t thought of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I haven’t been there in the fall but I bet it’s breathtaking. I don’t know why but when I think of North Carolina I think of the costal area, that’s why it threw me off. It’s a beautiful state especially in the spring.