Come on, not every last one of them! My Brazilian friend is literally the nicest person I know; she’s overly nice to everyone she’s ever met to a fault, sales staff included. Maybe she’s like that rare soft spoken, height-weight proportinate American you hear about but never see. 
Hardly.
Your post basically read as, “I put up with the tourists because they bring in money and I knew what I was getting into when I moved to Washington, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
My post is “I love you, tourists, but don’t do the following things, 'kay?”
Weirdly, the three Brazilian people I actually know are also nice to a fault, even in shops.
How is “I love you, tourists, but don’t do some of these things” different from this post,
which is basically “I like you, but you’re an imposition. To lessen that impact, don’t do some of these things.”
Well, I didn’t call them an imposition. I will be perfectly happy to have them around (in greater numbers, in fact), regardless of whether they follow my helpful suggestions.
I live on the Florida Gulf Coast and for as long as tourists have been coming here, we’ve been complaining about their driving, it’s tradition. Sure we love what they bring to our economy, we just don’t like their driving. You can have our complaining when you can pry the cold, dead Canadians from my hands!
Er … wait, that’s not right. Oh well, you know what I mean.
I hate it when I forget an event is going on, and need to come into work on a Saturday to pick up some papers. That 7 mile drive from Alexandria has taken in excess of 2 hours when the Mall is occupied.
Generally, the tourists don’t bother me hugely. Some things can get frustrating - especially the snapping of photos of the escalators in the Metro, always taken right at the top. But I’m just as irritated by anyone who stops right at the top of an escalator, so it isn’t that they are tourists. The one specifically tourist related thing is the buses. I’d like to see them actually enforce traffic rules, so they cannot block the entirety of a lane just outside the ESPN Zone while picking up while I am trying to drive home.
I went on a date there once, after we drove around to visit some of the Hudson Valley mansions. Yes, IIRC that sums it up, it felt very much a weekend getaway town for those with not-so-lowbrow tastes (I’m not in that category but my date was). It was a nice evening, and I had completely forgotten about the stop in Woodstock until you mentioned that.
Anyhow. I agree with the OP. Chicago sales tax is 10.25%. Come, shop, stay the night. Wear your shorts.
I think tourists are great. They’re a huge benefit to the San Francisco economy. And they provide amusement. I speculate that visitors think that because San Francisco is in California, it must be Baywatch weather all the time. We make a sport of “spot the tourist”. They’re the ones shivering in shorts and Escape From Alcatraz sweatshirts they bought at very inflated prices at Pier 39 so they wouldn’t freeze.
It doesn’t matter whether you care or not. It is my duty to inform and educate you. It’s for your own good.
I like the fact that sales tax isn’t in the price. VAT always struck me as a stealth tax to the extent you don’t know how much the government is taking.
Well, that was awesome.
Not as awesome as our parks and historical bridges, mind you.
I think they’re cute. It’s fun watching them get excited about stuff I see every day.
You realize the title of that second thread is “How do tourists annoy you?”
Er… really? I distinctly remember knowing that VAT (in the UK, at least) was 17.5% when I was eight. It’s not very stealthy.
I don’t mind sales tax much nowadays, since I used my check card to pay for everything. But back in the day when there was a not-insubstantial number of places that only took cash, it annoyed the fuck out of me because it meant I had to deal with change.
I can live with tourists doing touristy stuff. Getting lost, not knowing what to do, going to cheesy atractions. Dressing goofy. Asking “stupid” questions. Hey, its just the nature of the beast. You folks have a good time. We get some money. You win, we win. Its all good.
My peeve with tourists is this:
Don’t behave more rudely/crudely/irresponsibly here than you would if you were at home. Yeah, what happens IN the hotel room stays in the hotel room (good for you and have at it). Everywhere else? Not so much.
Or, don’t act like an ass in public JUST because your not at home. The locals and the other well behaved tourists don’t appreciate it.
Look, I’m sorry we were humping on the hood of your car, and I promised to pay to get it waxed.
Brazilian, I assume?
They’re just avoiding the West Collector, like any sane individual! 
Probably they’re en route to Riverside. After all, how many future historical markers are there?
The first time I used the Metro in D.C. I was as lost as any tourist could be. I also wasted a lot of money because I thought I was buying a 3 day pass and what I bought was 3- day passes (and nope, they wouldn’t refund it- I ended up giving t2 of them away). It’s confusing when you’re not used to that, though I have to say some locals were actually very friendly in helping you out even without asking.
What’s funny is that by the third day or so that I was there I was damned near like everybody on those other threads. “Move to the right newbie! And for God’s sake keep on moving!”
I work at a resort – it’s known as a ski resort, though summer is busy too. My only issue is when people leave their brains at home on vacation. My car is no less dangerous when I am driving than the cars wherever they come from, so I’d appreciate their not wandering randomly in front of it. Stuff like that. And the letter in the paper last year from some Californians who got a ticket for going 37 just outside the airport…in a 25…and bitched and moaned that the cops ruined their vacation! Shit, people, it’s a small town! Where do you think they make money? Think!
Otherwise…yes, please, come here, spend your money, yes, it’s beautiful here, I love it. And without the tourists, we wouldn’t be here. The town nearly died before the resort was built. And it’s such a lovely place, it’d be a waste.
My sister lives on the Gulf Coast. She has enjoyed this “Year without tourists” due to the oil spill and the economic downturn, but then save for a rental condo her income doesn’t depend on tourism [the condo’s not her major source of income], but even she concedes that the effects on the economy are devastating and she’s hoping it resumes soon (one thing being that her condo probably will cost her money this year whereas it usually makes money and there’s no market to sell it). The real pity is that while the news networks would have you believe it looks like the sand is covered in petroleum where she lives that’s far from the case- there’s oil, yes, but the main danger is to the ecosystem and the oil isn’t that severe and doesn’t affect the beaches themselves at all.