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 !!!

I hope you made to get up and leave then said “oh, shall we have one more drink?” and then sat back down!

I work in an outdoor museum. We offer trips underground and the only rules for that are no under 4s, no babies in carriers and you must supply your own wellies, you won't be allowed underground without wellies. This is all very clear on our website, advertising material, Facebook etc. If I had a pound for every time someone has said "we didn't know" I wouldn't need to work.
We get "but I have walking boots" "but we're on holiday!" "But we've driven for an hour to get here!" I always say my job would be easier without the general public

I don't see what's wrong with positioning yourself to grab a table when someone leaves?

If I'm looking for a table and I can see someone gathering their things, damn right I make sure I'm able to get that table when they leave!

It's not as if they booted you out, is it? You were leaving anyway?

What I think has happened over the last two years is that some of the people who would have gone to Spain, maybe Greece or Turkey...

Going to Spain, Greece or Turkey is not an indicator of some kind of "low behaviour". Thousands of people go to Spain, Greece and Turkey every year and do not act as described here. It's pure snobbery to correlate bad behaviour with the sort of people who go to certain destinations.

I do agree that manners generally have deteriorated over the last few years, but I don't think it has anything to do with holidays. Maybe after two years of lockdowns some people have "forgotten" how to behave, or have become more demanding. But as a disabled person I see this all the time, and in all aspects of life - not just in touristy areas. Over the last two years I have apparently become invisible, so it is ok for kids to kick my walking sticks from under me whilst their parents look on, slam doors in my face because they don't have time to hold them open for me, walk right across in front of me multiple times because I am in their way....

I don't know why it is the way it is now, but "class", where people come from or where they are going seems to have no bearing on it. It is just that more and more people have become incredibly rude.

Another who doesn't understand how going in a camper van can be cheaper. We rent a static, out of peak season. We have a tiny car with a tiny engine and we stay fairly local when we get there, but even so, I spent far more on petrol this year than anything else, including my accommodation.

I don't work in hospitality but have worked in retail my whole career and customers seem to be getting more entitled.
The amount of customers that ask if anyone can open another register or can you hurry up because they're parked on a double yellow line/got a taxi waiting outside/late for school pick-up.
This week we have had a new IT system installed . All new till systems so its like everyone is the newbie. We have signs up to explain this, Thank customers for their patience because we are all learning. But still get customers giving out, huffing and puffing , leaving bad reviews.

I think "forgotten how to be polite during lockdown" is a big part of it.

Monts, if not years now of much less interaction both socially and while WFH has made people complacent, they've not needed to filter themselves every day and it's allowed the truest form of their personality, warts 'n all to come to the fore.

It's cheaper because I have to pay for fuel to get there regardless. But in a camper, once I arrive I can pay campsite prices rather than a hotel or B&B. It's not really much different to normal camping, and we are giving business to the campsite etc.

Our camper is an ancient self-made job, not one of the modern luxury ones that's go for £50k++. It's basic, but it does mean that trips away are pretty cheap.

The issues happen when twats in campervans park where they like, shit where they like, block roads, and generally don't even try to holiday responsibly. I can totally understand people getting pissed off with those fuckers.

At the airport, young girl (about 3) runs up the speedy boarding queue, lady at the gate looks after her until her dad catches up with her. Lady at speedy boarding asks for speedy boarding pass. He doesn’t have one. She tells him he has to use the other gate. He goes nuts telling her she’s a horrible, nasty woman. Nope, just a nice lady going her job.

You are 100% right. Most of my family live in Cornwall, lots in the hospitality industry, The CF-ery is off the scale. As in scary. One teen I know started his first night at a restaurant and got a brick through the window because a family had been turned away without a reservation. A lovely guy I know who runs a restaurant in my family's home town came up to me almost shaking with fear to tell me my lunch would take about 20 minutes because he was on his own in the kitchen. I said fine. No need to worry, but he said people had been so aggressive this year. then I noticed he sold up before this summer season. After decades, he couldn't take another year of it.

I know carers who need to zip around the country lanes to get to their elderly clients who get blocked behind tourists parked up to enjoy the view.

Don't know how to deal with it, but lots of sympathy for people who live in Devon & Cornwall.

My DH came back from the village pub last night and said a bloke had come in who was staying at a fairly local campsite. He was mightily offended that we don’t have a shop in the village, ridiculous that there isn’t one, couldn’t believe it, etc, etc (he’s not even staying in our village, but cycled over). Then asked if he could have cash back because he has no cash as his campsite only takes cash and he’d run out.

The locals suggested he might like to open a shop here if he thought it was so important. It would be nice to have a shop, but they don’t make money and as a consequence they’ve all closed. None of the villages around here have one because there are three supermarkets in the local town - 7 minutes away by car.

(Landlord didn’t give him cashback either.)

It's the litter that bugs me the most, people throwing things on the floor rather than using one of the numerous bins around the Marina. Oh and pick up after your dog! The issues here are mostly regarding second home owners - best entitled snob were the ladies loudly complaining in Waitrose (we have a large branch) that they didn't stick some specialist ingredients that they do in London. Oh and complaining that the pub doesn't serve many vegan dishes (2 out of 15 main meals are vegan with a couple more vegetarian)

I actually think Squashy had a point. Too many people can't be bothered to search themselves for answers.

I didn't know what NC500 was either. The Google search was quicker then posting on here!

I saw a family pull up to a pub in a very remote part of the Lake District. The wife ordered the food. The dad then, having seen the bill storms up to the owner and started to go mad about the cost. It wasn’t hugely expensive but probably reflected the fact they were in the middle of nowhere. The family then go back to their car and speed off. The pub was struggling to recruit staff. No wonder.

I live in the edge of Snowdonia, rural location. 10 years ago I was considering living in the village itself (best friend lives there), but DH was adamant we would not be buying down there. Best friend is desperate to get out now.

It is shit (literally) in the summer. Heaving with tourists, motorhome/campervan illegally overnight parking and illegally camping, shitting in the woods so then dog finds it and eats it (the grim animal), rubbish everywhere, illegal BBQ and fires burning whatever they can get their hands on, people setting up for the day at local country park with loud music playing.

We have an amazing sunset view from our road but fortunately it is wide enough for passing, but often they crawl along slowly rather than actually stopping which makes it harder. Pisses me off when I'm on my way home from a 12 hour shift.

On the school run (narrow road) one day there was a motorhome in a pull in place with deckchairs and BBQ out. FFS.

I don't think it's just tourists either, we live in a poor (but touristy-ish) seaside town in the West Country and I swear to God COVID-19 has done something to people's brains. For the last few months in particular we've been watching the daily crappy, selfish Bad Parking Olympics (including stopping in the middle of the road, driving much too close to horses, trying to overtake when it's perfectly bl**dy obvious the rules of Physics in this universe won't let you), lack of courtesy and often sheer nastiness, and general idiotic demeanour.

I was a campsite courier for a few months as a student, and then a (very bad) waitress, followed by part-time call centre work for my final year of my degree, and I absolutely agree that everyone should be made to do a few months in a customer service job. When I need to complain these days I do my best to stay calm and polite, and always emphasise that it's the company policy/senior nitwits safe behind their desks that I'm annoyed at.

On the topic of the West Country, it's still stunningly lovely (out of season) - but the influx of tourists like the ones you describe has effectively hollowed out its soul. The only time Londoners even remember it's there is when they're on their way to their holiday homes with their Harrods hampers or whatever in the boot. Still, AirBnBs, eh, and who cares that younger generations will have to move away...sure, they'll be replacing them all with robots before too much longer...

We ended up on the NC500 this year - because you do if you go to the north of Scotland it's unavoidable mores the pity

We hadn't been that way for a good few years - we now have a van when we used to have a tent so that's at least 7 years ago

It was so embarrassing - the worst was the sign saying "please don't empty your toilet here, it's the water supply for the villages below " . But people occupying a clear hot spot car park with their tables and chairs , not using the passing places to let traffic behind pass , parking overnight where no overnight parking indicated ,

Whoever dreamt it up should have looked at the available facilities - we have 2 toilet cassettes, in case of emergencies , and needed to use both - there isn't much community to contribute to

the size of the roads ( the lochinver campsite isn't really suitably located for buses ) .

And the locals getting clearly pissed off making people feel very unwelcome- we were legally , tidy parked in an otherwise empty parking area and getting tooted for existing - we were walking from there

@squashyhat - your comment made me laugh at least! So many people ask the most inane questions on here, when, as you quite rightly point out, one Google later…

There’s a world of difference between asking someone who’s paying the bill if they’re leaving to standing over someone eating their sticky toffee pudding.

if I’d been eating my dessert and they did that I’d have ordered coffee.

Ah, we never book 'catered' accommodation, so perhaps that's where the difference lies.

They were finishing their desserts. They may have wanted to have a coffee or another drink after their meal without having another family breathing down their necks!

@webuiltthiscityonrockandwheat tbh you’re missing a business opportunity here. Swing by millets and buy 20 pairs of wellies, then hire them out at £5/pop.

#bekind is routinely used by bullies to shut reasonable people down.

I'd have ordered another round of drinks and sipped them

He probably put her up to it, hoping to barge the queue. "Run ahead to the nice lady, darling".