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 !!!

Then perhaps you should rethink your policy and have the option of renting wellies on site. Not unlike renting bowling shoes at an alley.

It's quite unreasonable to expect people to travel with their own wellies.

I think due to Covid and lockdowns some people think they're entitled to go away on holiday, are doing hotels/bars/restaurants a favour by spending money and therefore feel they can be arsey/rude.

I'm the total opposite (as most normal people are), if I can see people are new, young if I go into a restaurant then I'm more polite, chatty and friendly with them. This then means that if there are issues (not many!), they often sort things out ASAP and are lovely about it.

That's a whole other level of CFery notions there.
😳😳😳

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.

God, that's so depressing. I don't think I know anyone who'd be so obnoxious on holiday, but you don't remember the nice, polite people, you remember the one horrible fucker who yells at you in English

There’s good and bad everywhere. We went to the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam and the receptionist said she loved the British visitors, they’re the ones who always say hello, please and thank you.

Though she obviously hadn’t met the CFs on here!

Problem is these days is that if a manager does tell them to fuck off, it's up on tripadvisor within seconds...."RUDE MANAGER! DISGUSTING SERVICE! AVOID!!!!!"

My university-aged ds is redoing his lifeguard course this week. It expired during covid. He wasn't massively keen on working as a lifeguard again as it's not that exciting, but I think he decided that it really isn't that bad compared with having to deal with entitled CF's in retail or hospitality. I can't disagree.

I did work in retail when I was in sixth form and university, but people weren't as bad back then. Also I never worked in a supermarket where people would be nasty for the sake of it.

I agree if everyone had to do a short stint working in a public facing role they'd be a bit nicer to retail and hospitality staff. That said, when you've worked in a public facing role yourself and been taught decent customer service skills, it is very annoying when you go into a shop and they're all standing around chatting instead of dealing with a queue cough Superdrug.

Omg! But "I am looking at the view" takes the biscuit!

Then perhaps you should rethink your policy and have the option of renting wellies on site. Not unlike renting bowling shoes at an alley. It's quite unreasonable to expect people to travel with their own wellies

Can't disagree with this either. What's wrong with walking boots - people are more likely to have those? Wellies are really uncomfortable to wear (and take half an hour to get off!)

“it’s not the law in England”. You’re not in England, mate!

True, and saying it to an English person makes it totally acceptable. Try saying it to visitors from other countries and there'd be uproar with the r-card coming strongly into play. The usual hypocrisy.

Completely unaware of nc500 until now.

I might have thought of taking a tour of the coast for breath taking landscapes, exploring historic sites & archaeology, but after taking a look at www.northcoast500.com/, I might abandon that notion.

I can see the purpose of promoting the areas to boost visitor numbers to support local communities & businesses, but somehow it’s more of a theme park offering instant experiences.

From what has been said here, I have the impression that it costs local communities more than it promises to deliver.

But you're not having a meal, you're getting ready to leave.

I know what you mean a bit, it's like when you go back to your car in a full car park and someone is waiting for the space and you feel like you have to rush to leave when actually you wanted to have a swig of water out of your water bottle and send a text/whatsapp to someone. But if you are leaving anyway it's no big deal that someone is hovering.

It sounds like nobody is enjoying Cornwall and possibly Devon these days. Maybe any tourist location.

Not the locals who can't afford to live there

Not the businesses, who are surly, snarky, hostile and ungrateful according to social media commentators and tourists.

Not the tourists, who are rude, frustrated, ignorant and entitled according to observations from all parties.

Honestly, what's the point? what have we become as a country?

Someone commented that 10 short years ago the country was revelling in hosting the Olympics, putting on an astonishing opening ceremony and hosting the games and Paralympics in great locations with a lovely atmosphere.

Now look at us. We are a complete mess.

Actually I don’t think the tourist rudeness is solely the preserve of “Brexit Benidorm” types. I have seen marvellously entitled behaviour from the “Remainer CenterParcs/MarkWarner” crew, strutting round (as much as you can) in flip-flops, with a band of floppy-haired kids being super off-hand and dismissive to hospitality staff, as well as everyone else.

Actually the CFs permeate every demographic. Dn worked in a quaint seaside tea garden. They constantly had to tell people that they could not unpack their own food and drink. And the number who asked for a pot of hot water and two cups - for free! (Having brought their own tea bags.)

We’re in Spain at the minute, we were at a beach yesterday where you rent a fixed umbrella, beds etc. You can either rent by the hour or a flat fee for the day, it also has a waiter service etc.

Anyway the couple on the umbrella next to us were British, all they did was fucking moan. The staff member walked them to their beds and told them their number to use when ordering drinks etc, they kicked off because they would have to get off their arses to order, rather than the waiter hover around them all day.

Our daughter cried a little as we wouldn’t let her eat sand, as in a couple of cries, she wasn’t wailing for ages, they were effing and jeffing about “fucking foreigners” ruining their peace and that they should “fuck off back to where they come from”, me and my son had been talking in Urdu, so they clearly thought we didn’t speak English. After their little outburst I made sure every single word I said was in English.

We went to a restaurant last night, full of tourists, very good menu if you have children, not cheap, but reasonable prices and really nice food. Complaints were heard in the Spanish restaurant, too many Spanish things on the menu, menu is in Spanish (yes, with everything in English on the right hand side…), waiters are Spanish, waiters have a Spanish accent, wine is too expensive (€6 a glass).

The seating area in the outdoor bit was long tables, so you had another party next to you. We have a moaner next to us, she complained to the waiter it was too hot, but refused to sit inside (with aircon) and expected him to make the outdoors cooler, asked him if he was stupid when he asked how she would like her steak cooking, literally clicked her fingers when she wanted a waiter to come over, loudly complained to her husband I assume that everywhere was full of rude foreigners (said, you were the rude foreigner!), when her steak arrived she made the waiter pour her sauce on for her (this was a restaurant were a main was €15, so it wasn’t pricey). When the bill arrived she started verbally abusing the waiter because you had to physically walk about 15m to the card machine. How do these people act if they actually receive poor service?!

I get irritated by exactly the same thing - in our local park (lots of bins) and another big park (lots of BBQs), I know that lots of people do clear up and take rubbish home but a lot can't do. Judging by how many people use the car park in the big park I wonder how many of them take their rubbish home? I do think some of them think "the council will collect it if left in big bags" - not realising that collections are x times a week. We also had rodents (rats) in one big park.

It just staggers me how many people don't do what me, family and friends do (and have always done) which is take plastic water bottles, takeaway coffee cups and other litter home with us, even if we walk!

The amount of people having BBQs in hot weather too in open spaces, despite the advice not to do this in case of fires.

@Octomore Surrounding a table, looming over people while they are still eating? Making it clear you can’t wait for them to leave? Is that considerate behaviour and good manners?

On the waiting for a table thing, if I'm at a busy pub or restaurant and I can see people are standing at a distance, I'll not linger and would suggest they take the table as we gather belongings.

However if someone stood over me whilst I was still eating my dessert or drinking my coffee, I'd make damn sure to take my time.

The rudest interaction I've ever had about tables was in France where not once but twice, French people told us we'd be more comfortable in <cramped in the corner table> so that their party could spread out over more than one table - we weren't hogging a large table either just one appropriate to our party size. If they'd even asked nicely I would have considered it, but it was their demanding attitude that really got my goat. Thankfully can't imagine Brits doing that.

Anyone who thinks this is reserved to British tourists, I've seen/heard it happen with:

Spanish, Italian, French, American - tourists and in English tourist areas.

Various examples including faux indignancy, not knowing rules (despite them being written nearby). Germans somewhat politer!

Unreasonable to expect people to travel with wellies? Fuck me, talk about precious. How hard is it to sling them in a carrier bag?

They think you're cast members. like Disneyland.

@Penrythejanitor , I can’t disagree, , but I do think that sheer weight of numbers puts everyone in a bad - or even aggressive - mood. Some places are just too crowded and if you had imagined that you were going to motor down to Cornwall, park up by a scenic beach and then lunch in a characterful pub watching the local fishermen, then the reality of 500,000 other people having the same idea must be crushing. No excuse for rude and unpleasant behaviour, though.

I think there’s something called Paris Syndrome, coined by the Japanese, for finding an imagined destination is actually crap or at least has serious warts.

I do think Covid / Lockdowns have changed society, and not for the better. I live in a tourist town, and the same level of entitlement is on show here. Cars just stopping to pick up their chips, and just general abruptness if anyone dare have to wait or not get their way.
Tourists used to bring a lovey positive energy to the town, sadly now it has changed. That said, the locals are a grumpy bunch too!
I think the pressure of life is getting to a lot of people, and sadly I see it getting worse.

They were having a meal: they were still eating their dessert, not getting ready to leave.

This! Especially with places like Amazon and chat bots where they automatically get another call. I always thank them for their help and hope they don’t get any arseholes and they seem genuinely surprised. I also try and drag out the conversation for them at the end or reply slowly so they get more time before the next automated call kicks immediately in when I sign off.