CF Tourists - is it worse ??

[WeWillLookBack]

We have just got back from a few days in Cornwall - we live in Devon, so spend a lot of time in both counties and are very used to tourists and holiday makers. We stayed in a 'pub with rooms on the beach, which was lovely. However - I am utterly gobsmacked by the level of CF we have witnessed in the 3 days. It feels like peoples entitlement is off the scale. I don't know how those in hospitality are dealing with it.

Wednesday - Woman went mental at the poor young lad serving in the beer garden - insisted she had booked a table outside. Very politely told her that they do not take reservations for the garden, just the restaurant. Screaming ' Are you calling me a liar'. He went in, and didn't come back out.

Friday AM - they serve breakfast for guests 8am-9.30am, then open for breakfast at 9.30am (lots of signs saying open at 9.30am). At 8.30am a group were outside - rattling the door. Member of staff opens the door, and lets them know they open at 9.30am. Lots of moaning - insisting they can have breakfast now etc. She says no - very polite. So he tells her it is disgusting that they allow guests to sit in the window eating when others can't ! ( and to make up for their error, they should serve them breakfast too)

Friday evening - Family of 6 rocked up - no space in the beer garden. Started shouting - so the owner came out. Man very angry - they had driven for 6 hours - and the kids needed feeding. The owner was great - polite but firm. The man actually suggested the owner walk around the beer garden and checked when people were leaving so they could secure a table. He said no. A lot of swearing. Asked to leave.

Drive home Saturday morning. Along a winding road along the coast - car in front just stops. Man gets out and stands looking at the sea. Single lane - so I cant go around him. After a few moments I beep - he stomps over to my car and says 'Can I help you' ... I say you have blocked the road - could you move please. To which he responds 'I am looking at the view - maybe you could just be kind' FFS !!!

Most places say advised, if that is the only reason.

Other nationalities are not exactly faultless. The Dutch and their numerous squawking kids are bloody annoying me on this holiday and having hosted Italian teens for years most are fine but some are dreadful little madams. So no need for the self flagellations Brits are all terrible schtick.

It's the Spanish leaflets I pick.

I don't think this is a tourist thing in general I suspect these people are CF in all aspects of their lives.

The company I work for when taking on new staff invite them to lunch as as informal get to know you, they do it because they like to see how potential employees behave around people serving them lunch, we've had some shockers at lunch that have never made it to interview.

They stationed themselves both ends with there backs to us ready to slid in the moment we moved.

Bloody hell! am usually a very fast eater, but I would have settled in confortably for quite a while!

FFS, it’s not a normal face to face conversation. 🤦🏻‍♀️
You have to open the computer/phone/tablet device (and probably sodding Google) to access the forum in the first place!
Not exactly much effort required to open a new window and type “what is NC 500” into the search bar, surely?

Or are forum posters expected to babysit entitled lazy users?

Yes OP, the sense of entitlement is staggering…!! 🤣

This thread is so mumsnet. Starts off people talking about rude tourists and ends with someone berating their OP for travelling to the neighbouring county where she will be an ‘outsider’. Do you people that hate tourists coming to where they live ever travel or do they stay in Cornwall/Northumberland/Devon etc hating people visiting but never leaving to visit anywhere else?
Loads of tourists here this week, lovely to see the kids enjoying the sights and the dawdling families and the loud American families on the tube.

It feels like people are so used to being rude on twitter, facebook etc that they forget that this behaviour did not used to be acceptable in person.

@jacks11 - that story about the people parking where they want to reminded me very much of the thread that was on MN a while ago where someone parked across the gateway of a farm (think it was a huge 4 x 4 Land Rover type car) because the owner of said car wanted to go for a walk in the area around the Mnetter's land, and it took ages for it to be moved and I think at one point the owners of the land ended up locking the car into their parking area out the front and wouldn't unlock the gate for days.
That wasn't you by any chance was it???

I agree with this. It astounds me sometimes just how rude people are on Mumsnet and how normalised that is.

I live in Cumbria. I’m well aware that some of the facilities here are only here because it’s a tourist area and that it is bloody beautiful so I try not to get too cross at tourists, but OMG, some of them drive me potty.

1. if you’re not confident driving along windy roads in your massive car, hire a smaller car or choose a different route. If you want to try it, fine, but bear in mind that there are locals here trying to get to work/school/the shops, so if you’re holding people up, just pull into a passing place and let us past. Equally, when you get to a straight bit, don’t speed up and pull out so that we can’t get past - we know your car is better than ours, but we also know you’re going to get scared in 100m and slow down again. It would actually be easier for you to follow me around the roads. Give your pride a well earned rest.

2. no lady, I’m not going to stop my child from climbing on those rocks in case your child copies him. My child has played on them many times before and knows how to keep himself safe. Frankly, your child looks like he needs a bit of independence, or you could parent your child instead of mine.

Absolutely. I wonder how many people would use the same phrase to a man

I have a theory that the reason so many people have so little respect for others is because they have so little respect for themselves. They don't know what it is.

Twas a Ford Ranger

Completely agree.

Since COVID it's like people have forgotten how to be polite. All the shops , doctors the pub have signs that say any abuse will not be tolerated. Very sad.

Surely it's like rats in a cage. Too many rats in this crowded world and we start fighting each other.

I worked in retail and hospitality 25 years ago. People were awful then. Can't blame covid entirely although it seems to have got worse form the anecdotes on this thread.

Not just retail and hospitality though. I recently left a job which was interesting and flexible due to a few individuals who absolutely went crazy when they did not get the answer they wanted. This was by email and phone but still. The language was appalling.

Unfortunately the spineless managers did not back the people doing the actual work up. After one particular incident I decided enough was enough and got a new job!

Also Israelis apparently

This is why it’s getting harder and harder to recruit for hospitality! I deal with this shit weekly and it’s so demoralising!
Its the same people who moan that places are closed some days a week we can’t recruit!
Thinking of what industry I could move to or what other jobs I could do instead of this.

I live in Devon too and have nodded along to the entire thread. Best place on earth to live and I very proud (and a bit smug) that so many people want to holiday here - they are very welcome to come. But you are right, OP, it's the extreme entitlement - we are on holiday so we can do what we want, and the people that live and work here are inconsequential. It's so busy that I can't take my kids into town during the summer - that's fine, my choice to avoid but just the thoughtlessness is insane! Stuff like parking on and blocking pavements, rudeness, lack of manners on the roads - just don't get it in the off season. The wandering round in the road is the worst - how very dare we need to drive on the roads around the very picturesque harbour to get anywhere! And South West Water have told us to shower less so the tourists can have the water 😂

Don’t doubt there are plenty of rude and unpleasant people around but I’m currently a Brit abroad having flown here on a budget airline from an incredibly busy airport. I haven’t seen any CF behaviour. On the contrary at the airport all the travellers I saw were polite and did what they were told to do, and staff were pleasant and efficient. On the plane a mum checked her daughter wasn’t kicking the back of my seat, another parent told their child to put headphones on. It was all very civilised.
In the resort my fellow tourists seem to be being polite friendly and respectful to the staff and making an effort with the language.

I agree that a) we are too crowded and it pays to go on holiday to, I dunno, the local town centre in August (tumbleweed blowing down there) and b) Brits are by no means the worst tourists. See post above for who are the most hated tourists in the world….

Theres positioning yourself to get a table...

And then theres standing so close your arse is in the face of the person sat at the table, spoiling their enjoyment of their meal/drink/conversation and intimidating them or making them feel uncomfortable so they'll hurry up and fuck off.

I suspect Footgoose experienced something more like the latter.

@OutDamnedSpot that reminds me of the tourists constantly, and I mean several times a day, watching local teenagers jumping off the rocks into the sea and either telling them off or calling the police/ coastguard 🙄. The local kids absolutely know where is safe to jump, many of the parents jump with them, the coastguard also know the spots where it’s absolutely fine and that kids have been doing it here for generations. There are even signs saying that there are no submerged rocks and that jumpers do so at their own risk in an attempt to stop people constantly phoning the coastguard but they never listen. There’s so little for kids to do around here and yet the tourists still think they know better than everyone else.