To be mad at tourists?

[Laserbeam24]

AIBU to be mad at tourists? I live in a place that's popular with cruise ships. Which is fine, great for the local economy. My house it's is right at the end of the Main Street, cue lots of tourists holding maps and doing lots of pointing.

Today, the number of tourists have totalled to HALF of our population. That's a different gripe altogether, though.

I have two cats who enjoy sitting in the window and watching the world go by. I also have a six month old. The issue that I have, is that tourists are stopping to tap on my window (!!!!) to get a response from the cats. I could understand if this was a child once in a blue moon, but it's multiple times every day, and typically grown adults every time there's a liner in.

I've also had a good number of people look into my windows. Not just a sneaky glance as they walk past, but two hands on the window around their face so they can get a proper look in.

I've tried blinds. Someone knocking gave the cats such a fright they jumped and broke the blinds. I don't want to have to keep my curtains shut every day. I'm not going to scold my cats for being at the window, it's their house too! What do I even do?

I'm worried that my daughter is going to grow up thinking this is normal. It's also just incredibly infuriating. Where are people's manners! AIBU?

One way film, motion activated sprinkler

From what you’ve said l’m going to guess Shetland, or Orkney. If it’s Shetland, blame the Lerwick Port Authority. At some point they’ll have to accept that Shetland has hit cruise ship saturation, and I say that as a tour guide 🙈

You can get privacy film put on your windows so people only see a mirror reflection from the outside but you can see out perfectly. I don't think it's expensive at all. You could buy the film and apply it yourself. This situation sounds very annoying. Would they do this to their neighbours? It's like when people go on holidays they lose all sense of other people's privacy.

You're never going to make the other 8 billion people in the world stop being idiots though.

If you have a front garden, plant a hedge, or some climbers on trellis.

Put a notice in the window.

Bloke I knew worked in the Cayman Islands for a spell. He said the whole place shut down every Thursday and all the non-retail residents took to the hills. Thursday was the day the US cruise ships visited. They left the place to the shopkeepers and tourists.

Maybe you could try the same appraoch?

I know how you feel - I live in Cornwall, its a place of 2 halves - my MIL lived next to the beach and would come home to people picnicking in her garden, sat on her benches etc! I don't think people really grasp that real people live in places and have a normal life - I think the 2 way film to the window is a great idea

Motion activated sprinklers!

May I suggest a simple sticker that works in any language?

You could put up a picture sign (mostly) if the one way film isn't successful.

Oh dear. I’m one traveler who happily looks into houses where the curtains are open and lights are on. I have known from no age at all to close curtains if you put on the lights as people outside can see you very clearly if you don’t! So a light on, curtains open is to me, an invite to look. I do it all the time.

Beyond rude who the hell does that

What on earth makes you think you're not entitled to a council house because you work?!?!?! 90% of people living in social housing have careers! 🤦🏼‍♀️ I myself live in a housing association property and this has infuriated me that people still believe this nonsense! 😡

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER that’s most kids for you isn’t it, not just foreign ones! And probably a lot of people also….

Personally I think that few people benefit from tourists, they block up the pavements and parking, leave litter and generally cause a nuisance, the average local resident gains nothing at all.
Shops and restaurants are often set up to serve them rather than the local population - I lived in Bath for 15 years and have yet to see any benefit.

We often stay in a house right on the main street by the seaside. Even if the lights are off we often get people bending down to peer in, we've had to put in a sheer blind so that we can eat in peace and never put on the lights in the late afternoon unless the curtains are drawn.
Peering into somebody's home isn't something that I would do myself, it's intrusive and simply rude.

I live in the countryside, nothing particularly touristy but very flat. Here, its weekend cyclists. Vast hordes of them who hold competitions on the public roads, put up signs they never remove, bark at you if you try and overtake, shout at you for sitting behind them too long and have very loud shouted conversations about crap such as gearing ratios as they go past my house. Oh, and they flood the local farm ship cafe and stink of sweat, oil and puddles.

Get a grip!!

Your furious, FURIOUS because the op thought she wouldn't be entitled to a council house🤦‍♀️ I'd see your point if she said your first born was ugly or u have a fat 🍑 but god forbid she assumes she won't get a house. I guess your a member of the easily offended club.

Put up one way sticky window stuff. And get a sign saying you're on cctv, do not touch or enter my property. Maybe put up something so they can't get close to the window like a little fence or plant pots or something

Right, because the people who are employed in those shops clearly aren't getting any benefit from it. I live in a seaside town myself, and the tourists are annoying, but we wouldn't have the selection of shops, cafés, and restaurants we have without them.

What on earth makes you think you're not entitled to a council house because you work?!?!?! 90% of people living in social housing have careers! 🤦🏼‍♀️ I myself live in a housing association property and this has infuriated me that people still believe this nonsense! 😡

@AlfietheSchnauzer Maybe she has local knowledge and experiences that we don't have? A life on a Scottish island is quite different from a large town or city and gets more different the smaller the island gets. Just because something is a certain way in one place doesn't mean your circumstances are universal.

In many cases it means that the business are aimed at tourists - obviously if your town's only business is tourism you have no option. I'm guessing that gift shops, cafes and the like aren't much use to you if they are only open in the summer which is the case in many places, even pretty large seaside towns. I appreciate that summer shop work is useful for those who want to do it.

Surely your joking?

@AlfietheSchnauzer because I've already looked into it. The council/housing association work on a points based system. The more points you have, the more entitled you are to a house. I score 7 out of 200 and something.

If I was claiming benefits I would have more points, but I can't claim them because I 'earn too much'. That's what I meant when I said I couldn't get a council property because I work.

There was a one bedroom property (the only one available to rent for now) and it had 57 expressions of interest. My measly 7 points aren't going to get me very far.

I hope this has calmed your rage.

I don't have my lights on until around 8 at night, the tourists are long gone then. If lights are on and you can see everything then sometimes you can't help but have a quick glance, I get that.

What I don't get, is people who have their hands and face on my window to get a look in.

Big difference between glancing in and stopping to scrutinise your decor.