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 !!!

Coming back to London from Lowestoft once following my sat nav I found myself down a small windy narrow county lane, driving down which I wanted to be careful, you know maybe had walkers and cyclists and oncoming traffic. A huge tractor spent the best part of 5 minutes intimidating me coming within a hair breath of my bumper and revving his engine and when we finally parted ways called me a cunt. It's not always one way.

I think everyday life, and urban and suburban life in particular, is highly structured. People know what time to get up, take the kids to school, where to get a quick coffee, where they can and can't park, how fast to drive, etc etc. Then when they go on holiday that structure is gone and they forget how to behave as a normal member of society.

Am I being too generous?

It's a shame that the majority of tourists didn't carry on down to Swanage; they all seemed to turn off to Bournemouth; parking in Bmth was bloody hideous...cars being towed when a fire engine couldn't get through because of entitled CF's parking their cars wherever they feel like it... every year it's the bloody same. 🙄trouble is, the parking fine is a 'cheap' day out to the beach; the council need to massively increase the parking fine to say £1k...that would stop the majority but no-one has the bloody guts to do it. and don't get me started on the shit (literally), nappies, rubbish etc left on the beautiful beaches afterwards... CFuckery at it's highest. 😡

@GrowlingManchego we are just back from 2 weeks in Greece on various islands and the playing music thing is rife there. We went out of our way to hike to wild beaches without sun beds etc but almost every time there would be groups of young 20 somethings playing loud music from boom boxes / phones 😔 so annoying and selfish.
how about parents take some responsibility for teaching their kids about country code/how not to be dicks/pensions and not leave it all to schools. Just an idea from someone who left teaching after 10 years because it was so depressing 🤷‍♂️

They’d only need to teach the course try code in towns and cities. The kids around here know not to leave gates open, feed the horse in the field any old shite, dump rubbish in the brook, shit on the footpaths, chase the pregnant ewes for a laugh, park in front of farm gates, trample crops, go anywhere near the field with the beef cattle in it

You'd think all that would be common sense, from town or country. They teach the country code to scouts in the town I'm sure. They used to do public information adverts (mentioned on Mumsnet before) but some were awful with class stereotypes.

People here have complained about farmers being hostile to walkers (to locals even) but I don't blame some with the antisocial behaviour they have to put up with. 'Wild' campers on their land, gatherings, vandalism etc. Even things I witness a lot like dog walkers, with dogs not on leads, walking past all the 'please keep your dog on a lead' sign (livestock, shooting warnings) like it doesn't apply to them for some reason!

What speed were you driving?

And the ones who go into small cramped shops wearing huge back packs that hit people every time they turn around.

Slowly as the road was narrow, and windy I couldn't see over the high hedgerows - probably about 15mph. His cab towered over me and could no doubt see the road ahead.

So if you have a backpack you can not go into a shop? Obviously you make sure you do not hit people with it. But if you are walking from campsite to campsite, then you have a big backpack. It used to be more common to do this before everyone just drove everywhere.

Harking back to the part where service staff are treated badly: as a waitress in London many years ago, we had a woman and her husband cone in. The woman decided she had lost her diamond earrings and that one of us had stolen them. I mean how? For some reason she picked me out is the culprit. Full on screaming accusing and swearing. Police were called by the couple and cross examined me closely. I knew I hadn’t touched any earring Or seen any bloody earring. But it was fairly shocking and humiliating. Finally the police left and the couple left with no conclusion being drawn. Bit later the manager got a call from the police. The moron woman had found her earrings at home. Obviously never heard anything back from them with an apology or a bunch of flowers, obviously not! I still feel fucking angry about it today when I think about it. I sincerely hope she felt deeply humiliated by her behaviour for days if not weeks, but somehow I doubt it.

Of course you can go in, you just take the backpack off.

It's like the oblivious tourists who don't take their huge bloody backpacks off on a very crowded tube. Take them off, put them on the floor between your knees.

If your a rude idiot to hospitality staff, you're a rude idiot. End of.

Covid may be a convenient excuse for peoples behaviour getting worse but it's just that, an excuse used by a rude idiot. Many of us came out the other end still as decent human beings.

There's a reddit forum for hotel staff with loads of CF tourist stories:

www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/

There was a recent post about a guest seated outdoors for a meal who complained about the wind. When asked what he expected the hotel to do about it, he said that some hotels are surrounded by enormous walls to protect guests from the wind. 😂

Plenty of these morons have also always holidayed in naice middle class areas of the UK too and been just as dickish in behaviour

What about country bumpkins in the city. Oh we love watching your panic as people push past you as you wander in the city at a sloths pace, clutching your bags like you’re about to be mugged. Especially people getting the tube to Heathrow in rush hour trying to shame people into giving their DC a seat. Works both ways. We could all learn to adapt to our environment a bit better. But, on the whole, Londoners are more tolerant of tourists and outsiders as we are used to living up close with strangers and making allowances.
I grew up in the country in a farming community and don’t enjoy the eye rolling about me not knowing how to drive in Dorset. I’m from the Moors, I know my driving is fine on country roads. There is a lot of parochial arrogance on this thread.
If you’re a city dweller in need of a friendly holiday where you’ll be welcomed Yorkshire, it is a good bet. My foreign born DH says it’s the most welcoming place he’s ever been in his life. I agree after a horrible holiday in the West Country last year where the locals were vile. If you have a shop selling tourist tat it’s a bit odd you’d be referring to the very friendly and polite families in there as ‘bloody grockles’ and slamming stuff down as you take their money.

I can not stand on a tube and put a backpack between my knees. It is physically not possible.
Carrying a backpack around like a parcel is hard and I simply do not go into shops if you have to take your backpack off. It is like trying to carry a suitcase without a handle.
I am short by the way.
Although my backpacking days are over.

Where would you leave the backpack ?

Why would a backpack taken off the back help on the tube? It takes the same space and still needs to be swung back on the back when the person want to leave the tube

Physically not possible? Lots of people manage it.

Wearing big backpacks is not just compatible with cramped spaces. It's polite to take it off if you're going into a train / small shop.

It takes the same space ! It doesn't shrink if you take it off

On a packed tube it’s much more space consuming to be swinging your backpack around getting it on and off than it is to just leave it on

You put it on the floor between your feet.

If it's on your back you're taking up almost the space of two people. If you're standing over it you're taking up less space.

You put it back on after you leave the train.

I’m a Londoner, and we are all very used to people from quieter places either in the UK or overseas, being a bit lost and confused. It’s quite irritating when they stand at the top of the steps coming out of the tube looking at their map. But it’s also understandable because they’re in a strange city. Most people I know understand this and would help out. I wonder if the huge resentment of so-called grockles and so on is because the locals live in very small communities and are not used to having large crowds where you get a mixed bag. In London you develop a much more tolerant attitude and I feel quite pleased that it’s a tourist centre because it brings in a lot of money. I must say I’m not keen on holidaying in the UK after eating all these stories. I am polite and considerate but I certainly would not want to be called a ‘bloody grockle’! I’ve heard Lancashire is very nice and quiet and beautiful.

I have to confess when I am researching holidays or city breaks I take great joy in reading one star hotel reviews. The verbose hyperbolic language, the outrage, the bizarre inability to spell 'digusted'. The sense of entitlement is quite amazing. I remember reading a review of some 3 star basic family run hotel in Rome, the guest was moaning about not having a free airport pick up service, about the hotel bar not being open at 2am, how breakfast was not served after 10.30, the lack of a gym and around the clock concierge. It was a 65 euro a night hotel, if you want all the above put your hand in your pocket and book somewhere that has those facilities.

As a Londoner, not taking your backpack off is one of the most annoying things you can do when the tube is crowded.

www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tube-passengers-air-their-biggest-gripes-including-not-taking-your-backpack-off-and-annoyingly-leaning-against-the-pole-a3806661.html%3famp

I was reminded of this thread today at a National Trust property. A middle aged, male customer was loudly berating a young, female member of staff (she looked about 18) because the house is shut on Wednesdays. Like it's her fault.

I mention the ages and genders because I think it's relevant to his behaviour.