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 !!!

@Octomore 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?

Because it's not nice having people standing over you while you're having a meal. Exactly the kind of CF behaviour that's being discussed on here.

The camp site probably only take cash as the Internet is probably shit there.

Well it’s obviously not all tourists as the OP was a tourist and she wasn’t badly behaved. Where I live, pretty much everyone is a tourist and I can’t say they are more badly behaved than before, especially not in restaurants, they all seem very polite!!

I wonder how much social media has influenced this sort of behaviour. People are growing used to getting on a soap box and yelling their opinions into a void, and just saying whatever they like, and seeing the people that they follow/look up to doing the same and getting likes for it. To some extent is that now seeping into their offline lives too?

I feel the need to speak up for those of us with campervan who've been visiting the area for ages without causing any of these problems! It's the people in the vans that are the problem

We've got a van conversion but honestly my impression is more that it's the rented campervans that don't know how to behave on the NC500.
I also suspect - and this is a reason not an excuse - that some of it is European tourists who aren't prepared for how few services there are compared to the continent. However, that's what google/Park4nite is for, absolutely no excuse ever to dispose of your black waste incorrectly.
As pps have said, it should never have been so heavily marketed, it's not equipped for that volume of people at all.

I really, really feel for the residents there and actually feel a vague sense of guilt now when we go up, although we don't do anything wrong ourselves but I feel like the sheer volumes must be stressful. All the tiny little single-track roads and sheep and suddenly there's this heavy volume of traffic. I saw a few clearly very angry and frustrated home-made signs up.

I had blanked these people from my mind, and now feel murderous all over again.
At the moment it is people driving stupidly fast in sports cars, (we have a 20 mph limit here ). Ditto the ones who go too fast down the lanes scattering wildlife in their wake, but refuse to reverse when they meet another vehicle, as they seemingly can’t manage basic driving. The lay-by is two yards behind , yet they sit there fuming .

People behave like CF to service staff because they get away with it. Often you see someone shouting at staff and the manager doesn’t do a anything. If these people were told to fuck off they would soon learn.

Agree. This is a discussion board; the question was in keeping with the conversation.

@CaptainCallisto I wish I could move away from York but I have elderly relatives who will need care. I won’t stay when they’re gone. I do feel guilty about the some of the things my children see. We do try and avoid the city centre as much possible but it’s not always easy to predict where it will be. I’m glad you got out!!

Service could be shitty for card machines. Plus it adds fees.

this thread makes me so sad.
the U.K. is beautiful, what is wrong with people?!

People are horrible aren't they? Stupid, entitled, rude and unpleasant. If that woman had asked me 'Are you calling me a liar?' I'd have said 'Yes!'.

I used to work for a British tour operator in resort and some of the people I had to deal with were utterly horrendous. We had no come-back either, if we'd treated them with anything other than firm politeness, we'd have been fired, yet they could speak to us any way they liked and there were zero consequences and that's the problem - the power imbalance. They know they can treat you like shit and you can't do anything about it.

I doubt these horrible behaviours are only exhibits by “tourists”. I live in a very non-touristy place and can tell you similar stories.

The place with the breakfast for only guests at a certain time could do with spelling it out on a sign.
I remember the long journey to Cornwall a few years ago. Definitely not worth it.

Always be nice to the people who look after your children and the people who are cooking your food. Always!

The stereotypical 'Brits Abroad' types have not been able to go abroad so maybe Cornwall is the new Benidorm?

We also live in a tourist area, a couple of weeks ago I asked in the shop for a bag, the young girl said ‘Sorry’ I repeated I’d like a bag, she started crying, I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn’t hear me - so I said well you’re allowed not to hear! Which made her sob more! Felt a bit awkward and she muttered that I’d been the first person to be nice to her and she’d become over whelmed!! It was quite strange and I felt really sorry for her having been on edge all day.

These people aren’t battling resilience, they are nothing but!

I think you’re right. Also influenced by the way “ordinary” people behave in soaps and TV dramas - bloody Leanne etc in Corrie forever stomping round yelling at police and NHS staff about how they should do their jobs. It was never like that in Dixon of Dock Green!

Hahahaha. i would love this.
Waitressing was the worst job I have ever done, people could be so rude. In the end my flatmate made me stop as she pointed out that I was angry and upset every time I came home. The only people who were reliably nice were the students, students were lovely, old people were lovely, most of those inbetween were absolute wankers.

Hate to say it but as a non-British person, but this is “entitlement” culture is what other countries observe of (some/many) British people. Covid, and dare I say it, Brexit, may have made it worse.

The sense of “we can do what we like how we like, and you’ll all make sure it’s done just so, we’re British” is a bit of a chime.

The Liz Truss comment about French border forces sorting out Dover “for the British tourists” was a really good example.

Think we're getting an understanding of why Europeans aren't awfully keen on British tourists!

I live in the Lake District. I've come on holiday this week to a part of the UK that is decidedly not a tourist destination precisely because of this type of behaviour.

I appreciate the irony of me being a tourist and moaning about tourists though.

My parents' house has a beautiful cottage garden and is located near the start of a hiking trail. They've had tourists coming into the garden helping themselves to flowers, berries and pears, refilling their waterbottles from the outside tap, sitting on their garden furniture, petting their cats, putting rubbish in their bins and parking in their driveway. It's very obviously private property with a (low-ish) fence (high fences would block the beautiful views) on all sides. They are now upgrading all the fencing and the dog gets free run of the garden all day.
This is in another European country, but the level of cheeky fuckery is similar and has definitely got worse since Covid.

The parking is also completely out of control. Several local farmers have complained that they can't even get to their fields anymore because people just park up on the sides of very narrow roads despite signs telling them not to and the local council handing out hefty fines. The stupidity and entitlement is truly off the scale.

We gave up on West Country holidays 20+ years ago for this very reason. Rude, demanding, badly mannered mostly Londoners inc second home owners invading in swarms.

We go to Scotland now. Never experienced a bad time, seems to be a different, more relaxed/ flexible type of person up there....and so much open space, forests, castles, isolated beaches, breathtaking scenery and not a demanding tourist in sight. We can walk for hours and not meet another soul. Heavenly!

YANBU and I hope you said something in the cases where the staff were being castigated.