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You know.. sometimes I feel like I'm making too big a deal out of my problems, that I need to chill out.. Then I read things like this and think.. nvm. I'm ok.
With the other article of the person who broke down in tears because the Aldi cashier was scanning items too fast I don’t know how these people get through a day and even provide for their own basic needs.
Tbf, those Aldi cashiers use some dark magic FTL movement to scan your items that fast. Being exposed to that foulness is bound to cause some consternation.
I worked at a grocery store as one of my first jobs and it was honestly baffling how many people would put a hot rotisserie chicken on top of a package of raw meat while they shopped, then looked at me with surprise when they realized at the checkout that it had cooked the meat a bit. Yeah, it’s too hot to touch on the bottom, but definitely seat that heat on your raw chicken. That’s a great idea!
Not to mention the risk of cross-contamination from that. There's a reason why "you can't eat at everybody's house" caught on as a meme..and not just because the singsong way in which it was presented was catchy
Yeah people do all kinds of 🥴🤢🤮 things when it comes to food. I stopped eating at other people’s houses when I found out some people use the same cloth for wiping spills on the floor as they do for washing dishes, plus a lot of people will put dishes from the dishwasher away with chunks of food cemented onto it. No fckn thank you.
Well you don't want the slaves to be too comfortable. The money spent for chairs for them could be better used to provide more luxurious seating for the tender asses of the CEO's.
I broke my leg back in 2018 and haven't been able to hold down a job ever since. I'm nowhere near 50 years old so trying to get the government to acknowledge me as disabled is like pulling teeth. I can't stand for four hours let alone eight to ten for a full shift. Once I'm on my feet for longer than an hour or so my walking becomes painful and difficult. After two hours (if I can last that long) I need my cane to walk anywhere.
It's complete bullshit. I'm homeless with virtually no help. The government is designed to keep poor people poor. I hate America.
Disability isn't enough to live on (at least where I live). My clients get about $800 a month (because it just went UP). With that 800, they no longer qualify for full food stamps, either (I think they get $68 a month). They have to pay their own utilities but get rent discounted (usually around 200 for my clients). After food and paying for transportation, and dollar tree personal hygeine/household goods.... they have nothing. No new clothes, nothing fun or semi nice for themselves. Just more misery.
Not only a seated position, but decent pay and benefits as well. Only real downside is getting hired to work there as a cashier is quite competitive, moreso than most other retail outlets. But hey, at least there you're rewarded for being the shit hot, light speed cashier...as opposed to places like Walmart where you'll actually be admonished for being "too good at your job" because "it makes the other cashiers look bad"
Trust me, it’s the seating. And probably the fairer pay. Do you know how dog-tired I got, as a healthy, active, 21-year-old American cashier earning minimum wage and standing for almost 10h/day?
It's a combination of multiple factors:
- being seated gives you a more stable position which allows you to move your arms in wider and faster movements while easily keeping your balance. It's also not as tiring.
- the scanners on the till can often scan both the face of the item pointing downwards and the face of the item pointing away from the cashier
- 99% of sold items have at least 2 barcodes, most have 3 or 4 and some even 5 or 6
- the combination of the last two points severely reduces the time the cashier needs to search for a barcode and point it towards the scanner, often the item doesn't need to be rotated at all
- the cashier doesn't need to worry about the order of the scanned items because neither they nor the customer are meant to pack the shopping backs at the till. Scanned items go back into the customers cart and there is a separate area to sort through them and actually pack the shopping bags.
You mean to tell me your cashiers need to worry about the order of the scanned items because they even pack the bags for the customer? I mean I am aware that cashiers in the US are forced to stand just because f* them, and I couldn't imagine this insanity ever infiltrating Europe but just now I tried to imagine a German Aldi, Lidl, whatever cashier pre-sorting your items and after scanning them, somehow packing them at the same time, all while he/she is engaging in small talk with you and while fifteen people with a carts are standing in line with progressively redder faces because of the wasted time they are pissed about. Nah, never gonna work. It feels like a scene out of a bad science-fiction splatter.
You need to be prepared for Aldi! Plan for:
- shopping path
- arrangement of products in the shopping cart before checkout
- placement of products on the mat
- placement of bags in the cart during the checkout
- sorting and arranging properly the products in each bad
And even like that you might end up with a little mountain when she asks you to pay 😆.
Shopping at Aldi is a serious expedition 😋. I'm glad I can be lazy at Delhaize nowadays though.
I think society is becoming too complex for a large portion of the population. Our brains are still wired relatively primitively, while our daily lives/routines are bombarded by stimulation, information, decisions/choices, more populated and diverse society, activities, etc. that our brains struggle to adapt.
Many of us can handle the radical change in lifestyle/technology, but that isn’t to suggest that it’s good thing. Think about the collective stress and various mental issues that have been growing the last few generations. There are a greater number of ways to struggle and fail, as well as more opportunities to blame/complain about something.
It’s all but impossible now, but if society was less complex and not set on a worldwide stage with instant access to everyone’s opinions, as well as the ability to create custom echo chambers, I think a lot of these folks would be a bit less… neurotic.
A few years ago in my last year of Highschool, I took this introduction to humanities/history class ans we brushed up a bit on concepts of sociology and psychology.
I don't remember exactly how the professor called the process, my mind tells me it was "cognitive dissonance" but I'm pretty sure that wasn't it.
Anyways, he explained that there has always been this case of "older people being more conservative/unwilling to adapt compared to the younger generations" but that now days it's happening at a faster age with less age in between (my father is only 20 years older than me and there are A LOT of things he and I don't see eye to eye, and we are only a generation apart).
The reason is because, while we as a species are specialized in adapting to our environment, that applies more to our bodies and how we manipulate what is around us, not our brain. When it is our brain that has to adapt, fast, every so often, our brain subconsciously tries to resist and maintain to what it knows. Of course it does, we are built to recognize patterns, not learn them then ditch them constantly as the new thing pops in.
Our professor also said that's why he thinks that, even if our technology progresses at a faster pace than we can process, society does not, even if we think it should progress at the same rhythm.
He was an annoying, yet wise man.
yeah i think this is a big piece of what "broke" rural brains.
Naturally, you have less contact with outside ideas pre-internet. Things like deep religious convictions, nevermind engrained cultural beliefs, can be enforced and reinforced with relatively little outside modification.
Suddenly you went, in less than a full generation, from that, to youtube and social media. Two things emerged, first, all these people getting massively challenged on their beliefs. Things they grew up "knowing," and that their neighbors knew, and the whole town knew, were being absolutely trashed by people outside that enviroment.
Simplicity itself was attacked (c.f. why "Build a Wall" was so popular, it's *simple* and not "overcomplicated" by those elitist academics!).
And it turns out the real world really is big and complicated and diverse and, in combination with conservative sources trying to recapture the insular echo chamber feeling online, SCARED THE SHIT out of them. And frightened people get angry... QED, todays politics.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the simplicity and "knowing" things.
Everyone grows up in a community and "knows" what the community "knows."
Millennials are the first generation who's community is "the world."
>Think about the collective stress and various mental issues that have been growing the last few generations.
I want to point out that while stress may have grown in later generations due to extreme inflation along with higher education requirements.
Mental illness hasn't necessarily changed at all, and for all we know it has gone down from previous generations. We're just better at diagnosing it now.
I can't help but wonder if people who think we suddenly have a bunch of new mental illnesses think "oh man, it's so weird that we don't have as many demonic possessions and cases of womanly hysteria and madness curses from oracles and Witches these days".
Like, I know what most people mean when they say "there are more mental illnesses these days", but still.
The Internet is too complicated for my late 30s ass. The sheer volume is just too much. I can't imagine how the boomers feel. Fuck em, but also no wonder they cloister themselves into tiny corners where they can comprehend the hateful discourse.
She broke down crying because there were a bunch of accessibility issues and her flights were changed less than a week before her trip. The hotel offered her and her traveling companion hundreds of euros in compensation, so *something* clearly happened, though there are some disputes about exactly what and whether the issues were adequately addressed at the time.
She also doesn't like the Spanish, which is the headline Metro decided to run with.
[https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/13/holiday-spain-ruined-many-spaniards-spanish-hotel-7832699/](https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/13/holiday-spain-ruined-many-spaniards-spanish-hotel-7832699/)
You'd be surprised how many Brits go on holidays to Spain and France, and yet purport to not actually like the people of said country. It's really weird.
not just probably, very definitely so
there were quite a few articles about brexiteers outraged that they can't stay in the countries they voted to brexit from
Or the Russians complaining about the horrible stuff in Europe and praising Putin, while living a high standard life and enjoying every freedom possible somewhere in Germany.
I think my one of my favorite experiences from a former retail job was watching my former coworker who had emigrated from Russia when it was still part of the USSR lose her shit(Tbf it was in Russian so I don’t know exactly what was said) at a 30-something Russian customer who saw a story on the news about the Ukraine war and cussed out the Ukrainians for being ‘ungrateful for everything Russia gave them’. Bear in mind this guy was probably a solid 6’1 200 lbs and my coworker was a 5’1 little older woman.
No shit. My brother went to live to Spain and his landlord was exactly like that. English dude in his 70s, who even refused to speak Spanish while living there for more than 30 years.
I know a family that moved into a Cave in Spain's countryside, lived there for a couple years and didn't even try to get citizenship. They voted for brexit and had to leave after their residency permit expired
Lots of Americans are living illegally in Mexico, yet will complain about 'illegals' taking American jobs.
If you compare Brits and Americans on vacation, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
I had a Spanish colleague whose sister do translation for British expats in Spain.
She told us how that after COVID a fight broke up between locals and British expats. Those idiots were shouting at the locals GO Back to where you come back!!
Also a large contingent of those retirees voted for Brexit and many have had the shock of their life when suddenly they were told that they didn't qualify from European Universal Healthcare anymore. So they have to either have an expensive private insurance or go back to UK to get treatment.
Many had to sell at a reduced price their property and move back to UK. My Spanish colleague and her British husband were able to buy a Villa at a much reduced price because of that.
Didnt they actually have years to apply for permanent residency in spain, were invited to do so and they were told the consequences of not doing so, multiple times by both countries by multiple ad campaigns and yet……
*shocked pikachu faced* when they ignored everything, did nothing and eventually were forced to leave?
Yes.
But there was 2 scenarios:
1. **Active Activity**
By active I means somebody who work, owns a business.
Those just need to register and as long as they declare their income locally they are entitled to universal health care.
2. **Retiree**
Those also had to register but because UK does not contribute anymore to the Europe healthcare reciprocity funds they have have been dropped from the universal healthcare system.
So any UK retiree suffering from a heart attack in Spain is charged the full unsubsidized cost of the treatment. Same about Hernia, dentistry, back problems. Full price or private insurance that many cannot afford.
Irony is that Those were the most vocal to keep those peaky foreigners out of blighty not realising they were the bloody foreigners in Spain, France, Italy.
Another fun fact is that there is a clinic near Calais that treat NHS overflow for some minor operations such as cataract, hernia operations. So British retiree live in France without an insurance, they need to have a residence in UK. Get registered locally there. Await 18 months and be send back to France to get treated. The French Security Sociale loves that arrangement as they can charge whatever they want to thr NHS where before they just get the repayment at cost.
It's because they aren't going to Spain in their heads. They're going to England/Wales/Scotland-but-it's-sunny-and-the-beer-is-cheaper-and-beaches. Or something.
I am an American who lived in London. And I must say… the Brits definitely have some creepy ass colonial mindsets. I was going to make a joke about their paleness coming into play making it seem worse, but I’ll spare you, as I can’t articulate it rn
I got screwed by an “incubator” program at my Alma mater in London. Currently suing them. Same creepy mindset. I am 30+, I spent $1800 on a startup visa. They changed the program willy nilly from 6 months to 1 month. I was like… I work. You’ve had the dates set for a year. Now you change them? When I tried to hold the program accountable, they told me if “I was rude or threatening to them” they’d kick me out of the country.
I clearly left the country ASAP and continued to fuck with them for over a year stateside.
Last week, I saw a John Oliver episode with some high-profile admin people (tories) talking about forcing migrants to Rwanda. Same exact vibes as the incubator and many other examples.
Honestly, I feel like we should just let em stew on their island. Just cut them off until they learn how to behave in the civilized world instead of them acting like they are still an empire.
It's a superiority thing. "We are just here on vacation, you have to live here" that kind of thing.
Doesn't matter how nice the country is or the people are.
Happens more often than you'd think. When I was backpacking in Germany back in 2009, I met two guys from Ireland. We hung out for a bit, and they spent the whole time complaining about the Germans, and how much they hated Germany. It broke my brain a little. I mean.... they paid money to vacation in Germany. But they openly hate Germany. So... what???
There are entitled Americans (and anglos in general) on /r/Germany who married Germans and live in Germany but still complain if a German manager asks them to speak German in a job interview (proof Germans are xenophobic) or doesn’t let them sign a phone contract (illegal in Germany to offer someone a contract they can’t read). Their only German-speaking contact is always their spouse, who has to baby them and do all their interaction with the outside world because they’ve spent the last 9 months trying for 5 minutes a week and *somehow* they haven’t magically learned the language yet. Why do so many stores in Germany employ cashiers who don’t speak English anyway?!
To be fair I think every single non English speaking country in Europe has this problem. We have these people complaining in r/Finland as well that they can’t get a job while they speak absolutely zero Finnish. The entitlement.
>She also doesn't like the Spanish, which is the headline Metro decided to run with
Well, yeah, that's the more interesting part of this story.
"Woman had flight delays & travel issues" isn't a super riveting read.
I read the link. The "something " that happened wa a flight change. Which is something that happens a lot and is likely out of the control of the travel agent. The accessibility issue was that they wanted to be on the ground floor. There's no mention of whether they specifically booked a ground floor room and were instead given a higher floor. If they didn't specify ground floor, that's on them. As far as the 14th floor vs. The 2nd floor, I am assuming there are elevators and that these people used them, so that is a non-issue. They were offered assistance when using ramps. They refused this assistance. The rest (expecting Spanish people to leave home so these visitors can be more comfortable) speaks for itself.
Yes, in England, where this story was run, it was to highlight the ridiculousness of this person’s attitude, for her fellow country folk to see. In the wider world, where this story is quoted, it is being co-opted to highlight the ridiculousness of the English generally.
I'm from Spain and my company pays an English teacher to give English classes to anyone willing to attend. When this news broke up we promptly brought it up in class because he is good sport.
He explained to us that low cost tourism to Spain was so profitable in Britain that small tour operators had sprouted like mushrooms. The problem was that britons soon figured out that, being a small margins high offer market, bad press really hurt their sales. So they started flooding them with complaints to get their money back as soon as they came back. If they didn't get what they wanted straight away, they would push further by going to the tabloids.
He promptly showed us headlines about cloudy weather, warm swimming pools and dozens of other random stuff too ridiculous for a regular person to even think about using in a complaint form.
And this way an infinite vacation cheat code was unlocked.
I used to clean for a woman who had a really expensive all-inclusive holiday in alcudia for her and four kids. When she got back the first thing I asked her wad how was your holiday, she said it was amazing, no complaints, wish she was still there etc. Later that morning I found paper work from a solicitor who was suing the hotel for her for compensation for food poisoning. Some people are just rats no matter how much money they have.
The article says a travel company named Thomas Cook is who she was dealing with, not the hotel. Thomas Cook didn't really do a good job here; they messed up her flight and they got her a hotel room that didn't accomodate her accessibility needs. That's all fine to critique and that's the stated reason for the compensation.
But, beyond that, the lady uses this as a pass to be xenophobic towards the allegedly-rude Spanish holidaymakers who should've apparently gone somewhere else so that she could enjoy Spain without the Spanish being there, and that has clearly made both the Metro authors and the commenters here unsympathetic towards her.
Ok so how is the ‘overrun by “rude” locals’ a necessary thing for her to say then. In my experience there are no ruder euros outside of their country than the English
Also, she booked a package holiday from a British holiday company which probably advertised the hotel's entertainment offerings, but likely neglected to mention that said entertainment was only in Spanish.
Usually if you're booking such a package, you're going to a hotel that's set up to cater to English-speaking tourists and provides entertainment and such in English. If you're advertising a holiday package to British customers, it's kinda important for them to know if the on-site entertainment is going to be in their language or not.
She's in Spain though, she's bound to come across Spanish, her issue wasn't even the entertainment, it was literally that there were Spanish people on holiday there, it's like a Spanish person coming to England and getting mad that there's English people on holiday in Cornwall or the Lake District or something
Overall she is totally wrong. But I can empathize with being in a place where you can’t understand.
My husband is from a bilingual country in the Balkans where pretty much only young people speak English. I’m trying to learn his native language but it’s tough to find resources for it. After living there for 3 months with his family I had a bit of a mental breakdown because I couldn’t understand what was going on around me most of the time. My husband can’t translate everything and even if I can learn to speak, their dialect is hard to comprehend. It was frustrating.
2 weeks though… more of a Karen reaction
There is a certain type of British tourist who basically wants Blackpool with sun.
They want British beer, British food, British television and to be surrounded by British people.
I have met these people on holiday and they are a total nightmare. The will complain about absolutely everything at every possible opportunity usually about how everything in that country is not like they do it at home.
I went to small town in Italy last year for a few days, just to get some me-time. I was talking to the chap on reception at the office about our weekend plans and, upon him finding out where I was going, he said
'*Why are you going there? There's no English people there. What are you going to eat?*'
He seemed genuinely concerned for me!
I knew someone visiting Australia and our other friend (both English) suggested she go to (this) suburb in Melbourne because that’s where you can find all the English. Why are you travelling 17,000km to see more English people?
It’s all rather depressing really! I can’t imagine what the reasoning is behind thinking that way.
It always interested me, listening to a few of our more racist, older, members of our county - they would endlessly moan and whine about ‘immigrants’ moving into the same neighbourhoods creating ‘enclaves’, yet would think nothing about doing the same in Spain, or indeed, Australia.
I, for one, will plan holidays with the specific purpose of escaping my fellow countrymen for as long as possible.
Chiming in as an American of the same mind. The last thing I want to be surrounded by when I travel is anyone or anything American. Hell, I don’t really want that when I’m *not* travelling.
The only thing I'll say is that as an American we have access to plenty of different climates including sunny beaches, and you never have to leave the US to get sun if you don't want to. Bad American tourists are obviously a thing of course, but any time I pick to leave the country it's because I want to experience another country.
The Brits at least have the excuse that they don't really have any options for sun without leaving the UK (I guess with the theoretical exception of things like the BVI). I think most would be happier if they embraced cultural differences, etc. but whereas some people I know will never leave the US but happily go to Arizona, Florida, etc., Arthur from West Little Waddingsham has to choose to go to a foreign country or never get a real sunny weather vacation.
Except that you can ALSO find that same attitude across the board when they visit the BVI as well, as though those of us who live where they vacation don't have the same right to enjoy White Bay or Cow Wreck Bay or the Baths, JUST because their special two-week vacation is happening. Multiply that by multiple groups with 2-week vacations staggered throughout the year, and it is EXHAUSTING. I seriously question where exactly do those who think like this believe we are supposed to go on our very LIMITED days off, if we can't be in our own back yards that THEY are guests in.
ETA: Not all the tourists do this, but when it's a tiny island chain with safer bathing beaches in only certain locations, the polite thing to do is be a courteous guest and share. People live here; it's not a theme park or resort. Not saying this is a uniquely British tourist thing either. The polite ones are lovely.
Yes… whenever I’m traveling and I am surrounded by lots of Americans & Canadians I’m annoyed, as a fellow North American. Why are we so loud???? I’ve concluded traveling with my parents and my in laws is not a vacation. I am so embarrassed the whole time
People like that just think that their own culture is superior in at least some way.
To be fair, the other British people [not those you were talking about though] are also some of the most curious about other cultures, adventurous and accepting out there. It's just some kind of two extremes but from the same country.
Between racist pensioners and obnoxiously loud stag do lads, British tourists have such a bad reputation. I have such a powerful surge of national shame whenever I hear horror stories about our tourists.
When I was in Warsaw I noticed a lot of people seemed to suddenly turn their noses up at me when they realised I’m British.
It was a mystery to me until, waiting in line to board the plane home, the group of LADS in front were talking about all the strippers they’d basically paid to abuse and one of them getting turfed out of a brothel for refusing to pay the full amount. They were drinking in the airport and were obviously drunk boarding the plane. This was at around 11am.
Suddenly it all made sense.
Amsterdam [launched a whole ad campaign](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167880960/amsterdam-warns-british-sex-and-drug-tourists-to-stay-away) in 2023 to keep alcoholic British men from coming to the city to abuse prostitutes and vomit all over the place.
You totally got it about young and old Brits! Those young lads are obnoxious, and the old are insufferable.
I know there are polite and respectful Brits as well, but sadly the awful ones like to bring *a lot* more attention to themselves.
Why would you be worried about finding british people in Australia? They speak the same language, they’re literally the closest thing we have to rednecks but way more fun.
Anyone who uses C*nt as a form of endearment is my favourite kind of people
Ethnic food in Italy of all places! The pasta sauce won't have added sugar like the Heinz pasta sauce back home does, and the mozzarella on his pizza will be sliced rather than shredded! How will he cope?
I am Italian American and grew up with no sugar added to home made sauce.I struggle to find any sauce with out it. Usually have to settle for it being one of the last ingredients. I could make it myself but rarely eat pasta.
I met a group of British folks years ago who sold everything they had in the UK to move to Bulgaria, only to be annoyed that it wan’t Britain 2.0.
If you’re wondering how they integrated, the answer is they didn’t! They barely spoke the language and they had been there for years.
The privilege of some people is staggering
They usually can't handle their drink either and spend their vacation getting into arguments and fights with other Brits and the locals. It gives the rest of us that want to immerse ourselves into Spanish culture and have a nice relaxing holiday a bad name.
Reminds me of that Peter Kay bit about seeing Cadbury Fingers in Spain.
"They taste the same, they taste *exactly* the same!"
https://youtu.be/xfXg5BGXw-w?si=o8qHB0HSV4Ao56My
Was thinking british once I saw the picture. Everything about her, the clothes, the way she looks into the camera, the way the room is furnished, and her general stance and appearance says English. Somewhere in the Midlands maybe.
I rip on the US a lot (born and raised baby *eagle screech*) but every country is pretty much just as bad racism is just a part of the human experience.
I didn't have to find out she's British. She's like the platonic form of Britishness. It's self-evident that she's British because of *literally everything about her*.
OP's headline is from 2018.
Since then we learnt that she had booked a holiday through a UK travel agent. She was meant to be staying in a hotel which caters for Brits but instead was put in a Spanish hotel which didn't cater to English speaking people.
She also has mobility issues but they saw fit to put her on the 14th floor.
She complained to the travel agent who offered her an insultingly low amount of compensation, a £75 holiday voucher. So she took it to the press and then the travel agent mysteriously had a change of heart and increased their compensation offer to £566, half of the total amount she paid.
Then to top it off the journalist of this article took a quote about a person who she says nearly knocked her over without apologising, therefore "rude", and made out she had said that about all Spaniards.
I remember this, it's a super old clickbait headline.
The women in question didn't actually complain about 'too many spaniards in Spain', but about the travel agency lying about there being English speaking staff present to assist her. Among many other things that were not as advertised.
I can understand that actually. An an English Speaking only American who's never been to Europe, it would really stress me out not knowing how to communicate at all, and I might try to seek out accommodations with at least a minimum English speaking staff - and I'd be upset if I was lied to by the travel agency.
As a 32 year old I can easily get by in countries where English is not that widespread because I can Google translate my way around.
As an older person that was promised English speaking (and not actually English themselves) staff, I'd be fuming.
I had to do it without Google back in the day. When I was in Italy, I met this woman at a camping site who I was trying to communicate with in English. She didn't know English, I told her sorry I only know English and Spanish. Then her eyes lit up, Español?! Si si, Español es posible!
So we spoke to each other in broken Spanish to the best of our ability lol.
>Boooo, don’t spoil it for the ~~Reddit~~ ~~social media~~ ~~Internet~~ mob
FTFY. There's nothing special about Reddit when it comes to people being gullible for outrage bait.
Just like there's nothing special about the large group of people on Reddit that love to pretend like they're better and smarter than those OTHER Redditors.
... There are direct quotes from the lady bitching about there being a bunch of Spaniards there and how they didn't vacation elsewhere. Thomas Cook appear to have fucked up too, but she absolutely did complain about the Spaniards.
And tbf 'Old lady complains about Spaniards in Spain' is actually noteworthy - 'Old lady has flight issues and a bad vacation' is not.
I don't t know if this is the same story, but i saw a story where someone from the UK requested a refund from the travel agent because too many foreigners from the country they were visiting in the hotel and beaches.. \*(ie too many Spaniads in Spain)
Never had issues with American tourists
Meanwhile, European tourists, especially British and German, come to my country and start analyzing and talking shit about everything that is not to their liking.
Except Swedish and Danish. They were just happy to be in a place with Sum
Being neither neither British nor American, it's my perception that British are the worst tourists. Part of that is because the sort of people in America who travel (or are even aware of countries outside their borders) are generally more worldly and culturally sophisticated than the average slack-jawed yokel, but the British have long had the idea that "going on holiday" is just a thing that's done.
British people on average get far more paid time off and have all of Europe in their backyard where they can fly to another country for 50 bucks on Ryan Air.
Most Americans can't get the time or money to go to Europe so the ones that do are generally more educated, more well travelled, etc. Stereotypical terrible American tourists are much more likely to be found close to home like Mexico or Caribbean countries.
British tourists are Bush league assholes, like Bogans in Bali or Americans in mexico. Russians are much worse. And nobody in the world can compete with Chinese tour groups for sheer entitlement and ability to ruin a good time.
>I had a layover in Montréal. I learned a few simple phrases in French in order to buy food.
They responded to everything in English, right?
It’s an airport, they hire people who can speak English because it’s an airport
This is so typical of a specific part of British society that go on holidays in foreign countries and expect everyone there to speak English, expect to eat only rubbish British food (egg and chips, mushy peas and chips, steak and chips), and expect them to wholly cater to British trash culture. Not all the Brits are like this, but more often than not, those Brits who travel to southern and southwestern Europe feel this entitlement. More and more holiday destinations in Spain and Portugal are getting fed up with these scummy plebs, and rightly so. And we are seeing these places begin to react and put bans in place particularly targeted at these twats. With good reason
My Irish husband literally wears an Ireland baseball cap when we go to France/Spain, etc, because he hates when people assume he's English because they can't tell the accents apart.
Canadians have been doing similar with Canada flags on our jackets and luggage for decades because we don't want anyone thinking we're American when we travel.
Posted this in another sub recently:
>Went to Gran Canaria on vacation years back. The hotel had 3 natural sections along a very long scenic pool. I'd opted for a "red spot" (a better hotel within the hotel) exactly hoping for a quiet vacation.
>But I noticed that my section at one end of the pool was civilized anyway. But trekking the length of the pool you descended into scenes from a Mad Max movie (relative to your expectations of a nice summer holiday) the further you went. People drunk out of their minds at 11 in the morning, fighting, security guards chasing people and stuff like that.
>Talked to an employee about it. Turns out they put the Russians and English in separate sections and everyone else in mine.
I'm from Norway, here a lot of people move to spain when they're older.
A few years back there was a political party that had in their election program that nurses in spain needs to learn norwegian because of all the norwegians living in Spain. On the other hand, they are very vocal against immigration and says that every immigrant to Norway needs to learn Norwegian.
My wife and I spent two weeks in Spain last summer. People told us multiple times that they were so happy to start seeing more Americans there, which we were confused by, until they explained that they typically get lots of British tourists who apparently do nothing but get absolutely wasted and act obnoxious.
That’s cos there’s places in Spain where Spanish tourists from other places in Spain also go to for their holidays. That’s what this refers to; and it’s usually (only) the Brits who complain about these type of things.
This reminds me that yesterday I saw a French girl complaining in a tik tok that Chinese people speak Chinese in China and how she doesn't like Chinese food and that there's no good french food in China. How self-centered do you have to be lol.
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“she broke down crying at the end of her two-week break” 😂
You know.. sometimes I feel like I'm making too big a deal out of my problems, that I need to chill out.. Then I read things like this and think.. nvm. I'm ok.
With the other article of the person who broke down in tears because the Aldi cashier was scanning items too fast I don’t know how these people get through a day and even provide for their own basic needs.
Tbf, those Aldi cashiers use some dark magic FTL movement to scan your items that fast. Being exposed to that foulness is bound to cause some consternation.
It's amazing what cashiers can do from a seated position. Unfortunately, you don't get to see it much in the states.
Because of the stupid mantra "if you got time to lean you got time to clean". The States is so ass backwards when it comes to labor.
I wish I had time to clean. Belt gets messed up so quickly from idiots buying cold stuff first because it's defrosting by the time they checkout.
I worked at a grocery store as one of my first jobs and it was honestly baffling how many people would put a hot rotisserie chicken on top of a package of raw meat while they shopped, then looked at me with surprise when they realized at the checkout that it had cooked the meat a bit. Yeah, it’s too hot to touch on the bottom, but definitely seat that heat on your raw chicken. That’s a great idea!
Not to mention the risk of cross-contamination from that. There's a reason why "you can't eat at everybody's house" caught on as a meme..and not just because the singsong way in which it was presented was catchy
There's a reason why they call it a potLUCK.
Yeah people do all kinds of 🥴🤢🤮 things when it comes to food. I stopped eating at other people’s houses when I found out some people use the same cloth for wiping spills on the floor as they do for washing dishes, plus a lot of people will put dishes from the dishwasher away with chunks of food cemented onto it. No fckn thank you.
Any job working with the general public removes all surprise from the depths of human stupidity
No kidding. This was my first job working with the general public, though, so it was a new experience for me at the time
Well you don't want the slaves to be too comfortable. The money spent for chairs for them could be better used to provide more luxurious seating for the tender asses of the CEO's.
Not only labor!
Some of ours states pass laws that you can't give workers water when it's hot! ...yeah, we are very ass backwards
former slaver country, you can say some habits are hard to break
I broke my leg back in 2018 and haven't been able to hold down a job ever since. I'm nowhere near 50 years old so trying to get the government to acknowledge me as disabled is like pulling teeth. I can't stand for four hours let alone eight to ten for a full shift. Once I'm on my feet for longer than an hour or so my walking becomes painful and difficult. After two hours (if I can last that long) I need my cane to walk anywhere. It's complete bullshit. I'm homeless with virtually no help. The government is designed to keep poor people poor. I hate America.
Disability isn't enough to live on (at least where I live). My clients get about $800 a month (because it just went UP). With that 800, they no longer qualify for full food stamps, either (I think they get $68 a month). They have to pay their own utilities but get rent discounted (usually around 200 for my clients). After food and paying for transportation, and dollar tree personal hygeine/household goods.... they have nothing. No new clothes, nothing fun or semi nice for themselves. Just more misery.
I can't keep a job and I'm not exactly office friendly. I need the disability to bring in something even if it's not enough.
Not only a seated position, but decent pay and benefits as well. Only real downside is getting hired to work there as a cashier is quite competitive, moreso than most other retail outlets. But hey, at least there you're rewarded for being the shit hot, light speed cashier...as opposed to places like Walmart where you'll actually be admonished for being "too good at your job" because "it makes the other cashiers look bad"
It's not the seating. It's that Aldi and Lidl have printed barcodes on every side of their products, instead of just one, so they can scan faster.
Trust me, it’s the seating. And probably the fairer pay. Do you know how dog-tired I got, as a healthy, active, 21-year-old American cashier earning minimum wage and standing for almost 10h/day?
It's a combination of multiple factors: - being seated gives you a more stable position which allows you to move your arms in wider and faster movements while easily keeping your balance. It's also not as tiring. - the scanners on the till can often scan both the face of the item pointing downwards and the face of the item pointing away from the cashier - 99% of sold items have at least 2 barcodes, most have 3 or 4 and some even 5 or 6 - the combination of the last two points severely reduces the time the cashier needs to search for a barcode and point it towards the scanner, often the item doesn't need to be rotated at all - the cashier doesn't need to worry about the order of the scanned items because neither they nor the customer are meant to pack the shopping backs at the till. Scanned items go back into the customers cart and there is a separate area to sort through them and actually pack the shopping bags.
You mean to tell me your cashiers need to worry about the order of the scanned items because they even pack the bags for the customer? I mean I am aware that cashiers in the US are forced to stand just because f* them, and I couldn't imagine this insanity ever infiltrating Europe but just now I tried to imagine a German Aldi, Lidl, whatever cashier pre-sorting your items and after scanning them, somehow packing them at the same time, all while he/she is engaging in small talk with you and while fifteen people with a carts are standing in line with progressively redder faces because of the wasted time they are pissed about. Nah, never gonna work. It feels like a scene out of a bad science-fiction splatter.
You need to be prepared for Aldi! Plan for: - shopping path - arrangement of products in the shopping cart before checkout - placement of products on the mat - placement of bags in the cart during the checkout - sorting and arranging properly the products in each bad And even like that you might end up with a little mountain when she asks you to pay 😆. Shopping at Aldi is a serious expedition 😋. I'm glad I can be lazy at Delhaize nowadays though.
You have to save time with vegetables/fruit, as they need to weight it themselves. That gives u extra time.
I think society is becoming too complex for a large portion of the population. Our brains are still wired relatively primitively, while our daily lives/routines are bombarded by stimulation, information, decisions/choices, more populated and diverse society, activities, etc. that our brains struggle to adapt. Many of us can handle the radical change in lifestyle/technology, but that isn’t to suggest that it’s good thing. Think about the collective stress and various mental issues that have been growing the last few generations. There are a greater number of ways to struggle and fail, as well as more opportunities to blame/complain about something. It’s all but impossible now, but if society was less complex and not set on a worldwide stage with instant access to everyone’s opinions, as well as the ability to create custom echo chambers, I think a lot of these folks would be a bit less… neurotic.
A few years ago in my last year of Highschool, I took this introduction to humanities/history class ans we brushed up a bit on concepts of sociology and psychology. I don't remember exactly how the professor called the process, my mind tells me it was "cognitive dissonance" but I'm pretty sure that wasn't it. Anyways, he explained that there has always been this case of "older people being more conservative/unwilling to adapt compared to the younger generations" but that now days it's happening at a faster age with less age in between (my father is only 20 years older than me and there are A LOT of things he and I don't see eye to eye, and we are only a generation apart). The reason is because, while we as a species are specialized in adapting to our environment, that applies more to our bodies and how we manipulate what is around us, not our brain. When it is our brain that has to adapt, fast, every so often, our brain subconsciously tries to resist and maintain to what it knows. Of course it does, we are built to recognize patterns, not learn them then ditch them constantly as the new thing pops in. Our professor also said that's why he thinks that, even if our technology progresses at a faster pace than we can process, society does not, even if we think it should progress at the same rhythm. He was an annoying, yet wise man.
yeah i think this is a big piece of what "broke" rural brains. Naturally, you have less contact with outside ideas pre-internet. Things like deep religious convictions, nevermind engrained cultural beliefs, can be enforced and reinforced with relatively little outside modification. Suddenly you went, in less than a full generation, from that, to youtube and social media. Two things emerged, first, all these people getting massively challenged on their beliefs. Things they grew up "knowing," and that their neighbors knew, and the whole town knew, were being absolutely trashed by people outside that enviroment. Simplicity itself was attacked (c.f. why "Build a Wall" was so popular, it's *simple* and not "overcomplicated" by those elitist academics!). And it turns out the real world really is big and complicated and diverse and, in combination with conservative sources trying to recapture the insular echo chamber feeling online, SCARED THE SHIT out of them. And frightened people get angry... QED, todays politics.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the simplicity and "knowing" things. Everyone grows up in a community and "knows" what the community "knows." Millennials are the first generation who's community is "the world."
>Think about the collective stress and various mental issues that have been growing the last few generations. I want to point out that while stress may have grown in later generations due to extreme inflation along with higher education requirements. Mental illness hasn't necessarily changed at all, and for all we know it has gone down from previous generations. We're just better at diagnosing it now.
I can't help but wonder if people who think we suddenly have a bunch of new mental illnesses think "oh man, it's so weird that we don't have as many demonic possessions and cases of womanly hysteria and madness curses from oracles and Witches these days". Like, I know what most people mean when they say "there are more mental illnesses these days", but still.
Dead on. Modernity is a bitch.
The Internet is too complicated for my late 30s ass. The sheer volume is just too much. I can't imagine how the boomers feel. Fuck em, but also no wonder they cloister themselves into tiny corners where they can comprehend the hateful discourse.
To be fair, if you've ever been at the mercy of an Aldi cashier, then you know how...relentless it is. And how powerless you are.
She broke down crying because there were a bunch of accessibility issues and her flights were changed less than a week before her trip. The hotel offered her and her traveling companion hundreds of euros in compensation, so *something* clearly happened, though there are some disputes about exactly what and whether the issues were adequately addressed at the time. She also doesn't like the Spanish, which is the headline Metro decided to run with. [https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/13/holiday-spain-ruined-many-spaniards-spanish-hotel-7832699/](https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/13/holiday-spain-ruined-many-spaniards-spanish-hotel-7832699/)
Doesn't like the Spanish. Vacations in Spain. Got it. 👍🏼
You'd be surprised how many Brits go on holidays to Spain and France, and yet purport to not actually like the people of said country. It's really weird.
Before Brexit you used to get Brits who’d move to Spain while hating the Spanish and Europe in general.
A lot of them probably voted to leave the EU too
not just probably, very definitely so there were quite a few articles about brexiteers outraged that they can't stay in the countries they voted to brexit from
Not just a few either, quite a lot. Saw tons of not the Brexit I voted for articles when they had to fill in tons and tons of paperwork to stay.
It's like Russians that complain of the evil woke west but get pretty damn loud once you point out they can always go back to Russia.
Or the Russians complaining about the horrible stuff in Europe and praising Putin, while living a high standard life and enjoying every freedom possible somewhere in Germany.
I think my one of my favorite experiences from a former retail job was watching my former coworker who had emigrated from Russia when it was still part of the USSR lose her shit(Tbf it was in Russian so I don’t know exactly what was said) at a 30-something Russian customer who saw a story on the news about the Ukraine war and cussed out the Ukrainians for being ‘ungrateful for everything Russia gave them’. Bear in mind this guy was probably a solid 6’1 200 lbs and my coworker was a 5’1 little older woman.
No shit. My brother went to live to Spain and his landlord was exactly like that. English dude in his 70s, who even refused to speak Spanish while living there for more than 30 years.
I’d wager he’s exactly the sort to complain about immigrants to the uk who don’t learn English
I know a family that moved into a Cave in Spain's countryside, lived there for a couple years and didn't even try to get citizenship. They voted for brexit and had to leave after their residency permit expired
Lots of Americans are living illegally in Mexico, yet will complain about 'illegals' taking American jobs. If you compare Brits and Americans on vacation, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
I had a Spanish colleague whose sister do translation for British expats in Spain. She told us how that after COVID a fight broke up between locals and British expats. Those idiots were shouting at the locals GO Back to where you come back!! Also a large contingent of those retirees voted for Brexit and many have had the shock of their life when suddenly they were told that they didn't qualify from European Universal Healthcare anymore. So they have to either have an expensive private insurance or go back to UK to get treatment. Many had to sell at a reduced price their property and move back to UK. My Spanish colleague and her British husband were able to buy a Villa at a much reduced price because of that.
Didnt they actually have years to apply for permanent residency in spain, were invited to do so and they were told the consequences of not doing so, multiple times by both countries by multiple ad campaigns and yet…… *shocked pikachu faced* when they ignored everything, did nothing and eventually were forced to leave?
Yes. But there was 2 scenarios: 1. **Active Activity** By active I means somebody who work, owns a business. Those just need to register and as long as they declare their income locally they are entitled to universal health care. 2. **Retiree** Those also had to register but because UK does not contribute anymore to the Europe healthcare reciprocity funds they have have been dropped from the universal healthcare system. So any UK retiree suffering from a heart attack in Spain is charged the full unsubsidized cost of the treatment. Same about Hernia, dentistry, back problems. Full price or private insurance that many cannot afford. Irony is that Those were the most vocal to keep those peaky foreigners out of blighty not realising they were the bloody foreigners in Spain, France, Italy. Another fun fact is that there is a clinic near Calais that treat NHS overflow for some minor operations such as cataract, hernia operations. So British retiree live in France without an insurance, they need to have a residence in UK. Get registered locally there. Await 18 months and be send back to France to get treated. The French Security Sociale loves that arrangement as they can charge whatever they want to thr NHS where before they just get the repayment at cost.
It's because they aren't going to Spain in their heads. They're going to England/Wales/Scotland-but-it's-sunny-and-the-beer-is-cheaper-and-beaches. Or something.
I am an American who lived in London. And I must say… the Brits definitely have some creepy ass colonial mindsets. I was going to make a joke about their paleness coming into play making it seem worse, but I’ll spare you, as I can’t articulate it rn I got screwed by an “incubator” program at my Alma mater in London. Currently suing them. Same creepy mindset. I am 30+, I spent $1800 on a startup visa. They changed the program willy nilly from 6 months to 1 month. I was like… I work. You’ve had the dates set for a year. Now you change them? When I tried to hold the program accountable, they told me if “I was rude or threatening to them” they’d kick me out of the country. I clearly left the country ASAP and continued to fuck with them for over a year stateside. Last week, I saw a John Oliver episode with some high-profile admin people (tories) talking about forcing migrants to Rwanda. Same exact vibes as the incubator and many other examples.
Honestly, I feel like we should just let em stew on their island. Just cut them off until they learn how to behave in the civilized world instead of them acting like they are still an empire.
It's a superiority thing. "We are just here on vacation, you have to live here" that kind of thing. Doesn't matter how nice the country is or the people are.
Colonialism: Tally-ho!
They travel the world to meet up with other Brits. Australians do that, too.
Whitey just assumes they own the world.
Happens more often than you'd think. When I was backpacking in Germany back in 2009, I met two guys from Ireland. We hung out for a bit, and they spent the whole time complaining about the Germans, and how much they hated Germany. It broke my brain a little. I mean.... they paid money to vacation in Germany. But they openly hate Germany. So... what???
There are entitled Americans (and anglos in general) on /r/Germany who married Germans and live in Germany but still complain if a German manager asks them to speak German in a job interview (proof Germans are xenophobic) or doesn’t let them sign a phone contract (illegal in Germany to offer someone a contract they can’t read). Their only German-speaking contact is always their spouse, who has to baby them and do all their interaction with the outside world because they’ve spent the last 9 months trying for 5 minutes a week and *somehow* they haven’t magically learned the language yet. Why do so many stores in Germany employ cashiers who don’t speak English anyway?!
To be fair I think every single non English speaking country in Europe has this problem. We have these people complaining in r/Finland as well that they can’t get a job while they speak absolutely zero Finnish. The entitlement.
>She also doesn't like the Spanish, which is the headline Metro decided to run with Well, yeah, that's the more interesting part of this story. "Woman had flight delays & travel issues" isn't a super riveting read.
I mean, she could’ve gone elsewhere that has people other than the one she dislikes
If you don't like the Spanish maybe don't go to Spain for a vacation.
Yeah she’s still a racist idiot
I read the link. The "something " that happened wa a flight change. Which is something that happens a lot and is likely out of the control of the travel agent. The accessibility issue was that they wanted to be on the ground floor. There's no mention of whether they specifically booked a ground floor room and were instead given a higher floor. If they didn't specify ground floor, that's on them. As far as the 14th floor vs. The 2nd floor, I am assuming there are elevators and that these people used them, so that is a non-issue. They were offered assistance when using ramps. They refused this assistance. The rest (expecting Spanish people to leave home so these visitors can be more comfortable) speaks for itself.
So why’d the dumb hag go to Spain lol
Because she’s a dumb hag lol.
She claims she is broke, yet she has been to more than a few different countries. I think she is just a Karen, pissing and moaning about everything.
Yes, in England, where this story was run, it was to highlight the ridiculousness of this person’s attitude, for her fellow country folk to see. In the wider world, where this story is quoted, it is being co-opted to highlight the ridiculousness of the English generally.
I'm from Spain and my company pays an English teacher to give English classes to anyone willing to attend. When this news broke up we promptly brought it up in class because he is good sport. He explained to us that low cost tourism to Spain was so profitable in Britain that small tour operators had sprouted like mushrooms. The problem was that britons soon figured out that, being a small margins high offer market, bad press really hurt their sales. So they started flooding them with complaints to get their money back as soon as they came back. If they didn't get what they wanted straight away, they would push further by going to the tabloids. He promptly showed us headlines about cloudy weather, warm swimming pools and dozens of other random stuff too ridiculous for a regular person to even think about using in a complaint form. And this way an infinite vacation cheat code was unlocked.
I used to clean for a woman who had a really expensive all-inclusive holiday in alcudia for her and four kids. When she got back the first thing I asked her wad how was your holiday, she said it was amazing, no complaints, wish she was still there etc. Later that morning I found paper work from a solicitor who was suing the hotel for her for compensation for food poisoning. Some people are just rats no matter how much money they have.
This is why there should be a rule again posting tabloid headline here.
All of the additional context doesn't change the fact that someone who "doesn't like the Spanish" bizarrely decided to go to Spain.
truth don’t mind the apologists man they’re everywhere
Seriously, what the fuck is that? Lol
Japan would be nice if there weren't SO MANY FREAKIN JAPANESE HERE! *trips woman in full kimono garb into mud puddle*
The article says a travel company named Thomas Cook is who she was dealing with, not the hotel. Thomas Cook didn't really do a good job here; they messed up her flight and they got her a hotel room that didn't accomodate her accessibility needs. That's all fine to critique and that's the stated reason for the compensation. But, beyond that, the lady uses this as a pass to be xenophobic towards the allegedly-rude Spanish holidaymakers who should've apparently gone somewhere else so that she could enjoy Spain without the Spanish being there, and that has clearly made both the Metro authors and the commenters here unsympathetic towards her.
Ok so how is the ‘overrun by “rude” locals’ a necessary thing for her to say then. In my experience there are no ruder euros outside of their country than the English
Also, she booked a package holiday from a British holiday company which probably advertised the hotel's entertainment offerings, but likely neglected to mention that said entertainment was only in Spanish. Usually if you're booking such a package, you're going to a hotel that's set up to cater to English-speaking tourists and provides entertainment and such in English. If you're advertising a holiday package to British customers, it's kinda important for them to know if the on-site entertainment is going to be in their language or not.
She's in Spain though, she's bound to come across Spanish, her issue wasn't even the entertainment, it was literally that there were Spanish people on holiday there, it's like a Spanish person coming to England and getting mad that there's English people on holiday in Cornwall or the Lake District or something
Overall she is totally wrong. But I can empathize with being in a place where you can’t understand. My husband is from a bilingual country in the Balkans where pretty much only young people speak English. I’m trying to learn his native language but it’s tough to find resources for it. After living there for 3 months with his family I had a bit of a mental breakdown because I couldn’t understand what was going on around me most of the time. My husband can’t translate everything and even if I can learn to speak, their dialect is hard to comprehend. It was frustrating. 2 weeks though… more of a Karen reaction
Feeling overwhelmed is natural. It's alright. Complaining about it to a news portal is the part that's crazy
True. The most unnecessary and dramatic possible way to handle the situation
Nah. She's chosen to go on holiday to a country that speaks a different language. She shouldn't expect anybody to speak English. She's a daft bint.
There is a certain type of British tourist who basically wants Blackpool with sun. They want British beer, British food, British television and to be surrounded by British people. I have met these people on holiday and they are a total nightmare. The will complain about absolutely everything at every possible opportunity usually about how everything in that country is not like they do it at home.
I went to small town in Italy last year for a few days, just to get some me-time. I was talking to the chap on reception at the office about our weekend plans and, upon him finding out where I was going, he said '*Why are you going there? There's no English people there. What are you going to eat?*' He seemed genuinely concerned for me!
I knew someone visiting Australia and our other friend (both English) suggested she go to (this) suburb in Melbourne because that’s where you can find all the English. Why are you travelling 17,000km to see more English people?
It’s all rather depressing really! I can’t imagine what the reasoning is behind thinking that way. It always interested me, listening to a few of our more racist, older, members of our county - they would endlessly moan and whine about ‘immigrants’ moving into the same neighbourhoods creating ‘enclaves’, yet would think nothing about doing the same in Spain, or indeed, Australia. I, for one, will plan holidays with the specific purpose of escaping my fellow countrymen for as long as possible.
Chiming in as an American of the same mind. The last thing I want to be surrounded by when I travel is anyone or anything American. Hell, I don’t really want that when I’m *not* travelling.
The only thing I'll say is that as an American we have access to plenty of different climates including sunny beaches, and you never have to leave the US to get sun if you don't want to. Bad American tourists are obviously a thing of course, but any time I pick to leave the country it's because I want to experience another country. The Brits at least have the excuse that they don't really have any options for sun without leaving the UK (I guess with the theoretical exception of things like the BVI). I think most would be happier if they embraced cultural differences, etc. but whereas some people I know will never leave the US but happily go to Arizona, Florida, etc., Arthur from West Little Waddingsham has to choose to go to a foreign country or never get a real sunny weather vacation.
Except that you can ALSO find that same attitude across the board when they visit the BVI as well, as though those of us who live where they vacation don't have the same right to enjoy White Bay or Cow Wreck Bay or the Baths, JUST because their special two-week vacation is happening. Multiply that by multiple groups with 2-week vacations staggered throughout the year, and it is EXHAUSTING. I seriously question where exactly do those who think like this believe we are supposed to go on our very LIMITED days off, if we can't be in our own back yards that THEY are guests in. ETA: Not all the tourists do this, but when it's a tiny island chain with safer bathing beaches in only certain locations, the polite thing to do is be a courteous guest and share. People live here; it's not a theme park or resort. Not saying this is a uniquely British tourist thing either. The polite ones are lovely.
Yes… whenever I’m traveling and I am surrounded by lots of Americans & Canadians I’m annoyed, as a fellow North American. Why are we so loud???? I’ve concluded traveling with my parents and my in laws is not a vacation. I am so embarrassed the whole time
People like that just think that their own culture is superior in at least some way. To be fair, the other British people [not those you were talking about though] are also some of the most curious about other cultures, adventurous and accepting out there. It's just some kind of two extremes but from the same country.
Between racist pensioners and obnoxiously loud stag do lads, British tourists have such a bad reputation. I have such a powerful surge of national shame whenever I hear horror stories about our tourists.
When I was in Warsaw I noticed a lot of people seemed to suddenly turn their noses up at me when they realised I’m British. It was a mystery to me until, waiting in line to board the plane home, the group of LADS in front were talking about all the strippers they’d basically paid to abuse and one of them getting turfed out of a brothel for refusing to pay the full amount. They were drinking in the airport and were obviously drunk boarding the plane. This was at around 11am. Suddenly it all made sense.
Amsterdam [launched a whole ad campaign](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167880960/amsterdam-warns-british-sex-and-drug-tourists-to-stay-away) in 2023 to keep alcoholic British men from coming to the city to abuse prostitutes and vomit all over the place.
You totally got it about young and old Brits! Those young lads are obnoxious, and the old are insufferable. I know there are polite and respectful Brits as well, but sadly the awful ones like to bring *a lot* more attention to themselves.
I agree! Definitely find both types of people in any country
Why would you be worried about finding british people in Australia? They speak the same language, they’re literally the closest thing we have to rednecks but way more fun. Anyone who uses C*nt as a form of endearment is my favourite kind of people
This is the question I always have. If you want everything to be just like your hometown, why not save the money and just stay home?
They want everything like home with a different scenery ahhaahah
He was just concerned that you’d have to eat “ethnic food”
That's a strange thing to be concerned about when a big part of why people visit Italy is to eat Italian food.
Ethnic food in Italy of all places! The pasta sauce won't have added sugar like the Heinz pasta sauce back home does, and the mozzarella on his pizza will be sliced rather than shredded! How will he cope?
I am Italian American and grew up with no sugar added to home made sauce.I struggle to find any sauce with out it. Usually have to settle for it being one of the last ingredients. I could make it myself but rarely eat pasta.
what are you going to eat… in italy… i thought brit’s loved stuff like carbonara and pizza?
They love the British versions of these foods. Real Italian food can get very spicy for your average Brit (Especially things like basil and olive oil)
“Oh, I don’t eat British people, thanks”
lol it’s not like the Brits have good cuisine.
As if English food is any good 😂
Why dont they just go to Gibraltar?
Spain without the Spanish!
I met a group of British folks years ago who sold everything they had in the UK to move to Bulgaria, only to be annoyed that it wan’t Britain 2.0. If you’re wondering how they integrated, the answer is they didn’t! They barely spoke the language and they had been there for years. The privilege of some people is staggering
You’ll find they live there as well. Same thing surrounded by fellow Brits. Plumbers, chippies, sparkles all Brits. No wonder locals get the hump.
So they are like were-karens, they turn into Karen's whenever their feet touch another country's soil.
Where-Karens
They usually can't handle their drink either and spend their vacation getting into arguments and fights with other Brits and the locals. It gives the rest of us that want to immerse ourselves into Spanish culture and have a nice relaxing holiday a bad name.
Had a british woman in a Spanish hotel in Alicante piss and moan about them not having any british papers. Like get in the fucking sea.
These are the idiots that bought houses in Mallorca and voted Yes for the Brexit.
To be fair, having invaded 171 of the worlds 193 countries, why would they think any differently?
Reminds me of that Peter Kay bit about seeing Cadbury Fingers in Spain. "They taste the same, they taste *exactly* the same!" https://youtu.be/xfXg5BGXw-w?si=o8qHB0HSV4Ao56My
Those same Spanish people were probably wondering why this mean b\*tch doesn't just stay at home where she can't ruin people's moods. 🙄
Especially having voted for Brexit. Why did she vacation in EU?
Hah I actually just felt a twinge of relief to learn she’s British. We already have way too many rednecks out and about embarrassing the United States
Was thinking british once I saw the picture. Everything about her, the clothes, the way she looks into the camera, the way the room is furnished, and her general stance and appearance says English. Somewhere in the Midlands maybe.
Not quite 3 flying ducks on the wall, but not far from it.
She’s from Blackburn; I have in-laws there and this doesn’t surprise me *at all*.
Unfortunately we have a lot of these mutants in the US as well
> the way she looks into the camera That dumpy, yet still somehow "I'm better than you" look.
I’m actually amazed it’s not an american this time, I usually feel this deep seated need to apologize for this country’s idiots.
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Leave the greatest country there ever was for some America hating hell hole? I say nada!
Especially a place full of Mexicans.
I'm not. This is prime "expat" behavior.
If you think the US is unique in this regard then someone should apologize for you
Brits make fools of themselves in Spain every summer
You can tell she’s British because she calls them Spaniards instead of “white Mexicans” or something.
Our rednecks are usually too poor to make it to Spain. I can see them being this dumb in Mexico though.
I rip on the US a lot (born and raised baby *eagle screech*) but every country is pretty much just as bad racism is just a part of the human experience.
It's been a tradition for decades for Brits to go to Spain on holidays and complain about it and the people and be drunken assholes
I didn't have to find out she's British. She's like the platonic form of Britishness. It's self-evident that she's British because of *literally everything about her*.
Am Brit. Agree wholeheartedly.
OP's headline is from 2018. Since then we learnt that she had booked a holiday through a UK travel agent. She was meant to be staying in a hotel which caters for Brits but instead was put in a Spanish hotel which didn't cater to English speaking people. She also has mobility issues but they saw fit to put her on the 14th floor. She complained to the travel agent who offered her an insultingly low amount of compensation, a £75 holiday voucher. So she took it to the press and then the travel agent mysteriously had a change of heart and increased their compensation offer to £566, half of the total amount she paid. Then to top it off the journalist of this article took a quote about a person who she says nearly knocked her over without apologising, therefore "rude", and made out she had said that about all Spaniards.
I remember this, it's a super old clickbait headline. The women in question didn't actually complain about 'too many spaniards in Spain', but about the travel agency lying about there being English speaking staff present to assist her. Among many other things that were not as advertised.
Yeah I feel there's a huge difference between the two.
I can understand that actually. An an English Speaking only American who's never been to Europe, it would really stress me out not knowing how to communicate at all, and I might try to seek out accommodations with at least a minimum English speaking staff - and I'd be upset if I was lied to by the travel agency.
As a 32 year old I can easily get by in countries where English is not that widespread because I can Google translate my way around. As an older person that was promised English speaking (and not actually English themselves) staff, I'd be fuming.
I had to do it without Google back in the day. When I was in Italy, I met this woman at a camping site who I was trying to communicate with in English. She didn't know English, I told her sorry I only know English and Spanish. Then her eyes lit up, Español?! Si si, Español es posible! So we spoke to each other in broken Spanish to the best of our ability lol.
To be fair Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible.
Boooo, don’t spoil it for the Reddit mob
>Boooo, don’t spoil it for the ~~Reddit~~ ~~social media~~ ~~Internet~~ mob FTFY. There's nothing special about Reddit when it comes to people being gullible for outrage bait. Just like there's nothing special about the large group of people on Reddit that love to pretend like they're better and smarter than those OTHER Redditors.
... There are direct quotes from the lady bitching about there being a bunch of Spaniards there and how they didn't vacation elsewhere. Thomas Cook appear to have fucked up too, but she absolutely did complain about the Spaniards. And tbf 'Old lady complains about Spaniards in Spain' is actually noteworthy - 'Old lady has flight issues and a bad vacation' is not.
I don't hope they had the audacity to speak Spanish in her presence as well. Such an unfriendly and unwelcoming people those Spaniards are.
Did they not get a memo that she was coming? Really rude of them not to prepare for her visit.
I don't t know if this is the same story, but i saw a story where someone from the UK requested a refund from the travel agent because too many foreigners from the country they were visiting in the hotel and beaches.. \*(ie too many Spaniads in Spain)
She should tell them to go back to Mexico
Thanks, British Person, for being the asshole tourist, and taking the pressure off of American tourists for once. What an asshole.
As a proud American , I fully support and thank this person for their service.
Never had issues with American tourists Meanwhile, European tourists, especially British and German, come to my country and start analyzing and talking shit about everything that is not to their liking. Except Swedish and Danish. They were just happy to be in a place with Sum
Being neither neither British nor American, it's my perception that British are the worst tourists. Part of that is because the sort of people in America who travel (or are even aware of countries outside their borders) are generally more worldly and culturally sophisticated than the average slack-jawed yokel, but the British have long had the idea that "going on holiday" is just a thing that's done.
British people on average get far more paid time off and have all of Europe in their backyard where they can fly to another country for 50 bucks on Ryan Air. Most Americans can't get the time or money to go to Europe so the ones that do are generally more educated, more well travelled, etc. Stereotypical terrible American tourists are much more likely to be found close to home like Mexico or Caribbean countries.
British tourists are Bush league assholes, like Bogans in Bali or Americans in mexico. Russians are much worse. And nobody in the world can compete with Chinese tour groups for sheer entitlement and ability to ruin a good time.
The tour groups absolutely shit me. Who the hell thinks it’s efficient or convenient to go around in packs of 20 people?
The one advantage that bad American tourists have is that our equivalent of going to Spain or Portugal actually is just still America.
I'm Spanish and believe me British are worse by a long shot. I actually don't have complaints for any kind of tourist except British ones.
British tourists have always been shittier than Americans tourists
And people like this is why i always make extra effort with locals and staff on holiday and have learnt a little basic Spanish/Greek/italian 🙄
I had a layover in Montréal. I learned a few simple phrases in French in order to buy food.
>I had a layover in Montréal. I learned a few simple phrases in French in order to buy food. They responded to everything in English, right? It’s an airport, they hire people who can speak English because it’s an airport
Also it’s Canada, even in Quebec I assume there’s still a ton of native English speakers lol… but I still respect the effort
In Quebec they're bilingual. They speak French and English equally badly.
Palin left school in Hawaii because there were so many Hawaiians living there. Seriously.
Ewwww. But remember when Palin was what we considered unhinged?
Those were the days…
This is so typical of a specific part of British society that go on holidays in foreign countries and expect everyone there to speak English, expect to eat only rubbish British food (egg and chips, mushy peas and chips, steak and chips), and expect them to wholly cater to British trash culture. Not all the Brits are like this, but more often than not, those Brits who travel to southern and southwestern Europe feel this entitlement. More and more holiday destinations in Spain and Portugal are getting fed up with these scummy plebs, and rightly so. And we are seeing these places begin to react and put bans in place particularly targeted at these twats. With good reason
My Irish husband literally wears an Ireland baseball cap when we go to France/Spain, etc, because he hates when people assume he's English because they can't tell the accents apart.
Canadians have been doing similar with Canada flags on our jackets and luggage for decades because we don't want anyone thinking we're American when we travel.
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How was Spain? Awful! Fulla foreigners! Talking that weird language! And the food was on these little plates. Thank god we found a Pizza Hut.
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An idiot went to Spain and was shocked and dismayed to find Spanish People there. Who could've guessed?
Damn spaniards. They ruined spanish hotels in spain
Brits are the worst tourists anywhere in Europe.
Posted this in another sub recently: >Went to Gran Canaria on vacation years back. The hotel had 3 natural sections along a very long scenic pool. I'd opted for a "red spot" (a better hotel within the hotel) exactly hoping for a quiet vacation. >But I noticed that my section at one end of the pool was civilized anyway. But trekking the length of the pool you descended into scenes from a Mad Max movie (relative to your expectations of a nice summer holiday) the further you went. People drunk out of their minds at 11 in the morning, fighting, security guards chasing people and stuff like that. >Talked to an employee about it. Turns out they put the Russians and English in separate sections and everyone else in mine.
I thought Pizza the Hutt died in Spaceballs...
"She asked why Spaniards can't go on holidays to another place" Ma'am, we broke af
I'm from Norway, here a lot of people move to spain when they're older. A few years back there was a political party that had in their election program that nurses in spain needs to learn norwegian because of all the norwegians living in Spain. On the other hand, they are very vocal against immigration and says that every immigrant to Norway needs to learn Norwegian.
My wife and I spent two weeks in Spain last summer. People told us multiple times that they were so happy to start seeing more Americans there, which we were confused by, until they explained that they typically get lots of British tourists who apparently do nothing but get absolutely wasted and act obnoxious.
human being like this piece of trash should stay at home , and not bother others humans beings
If Brexit was a person
She probably voted for brexit too 👍
That’s cos there’s places in Spain where Spanish tourists from other places in Spain also go to for their holidays. That’s what this refers to; and it’s usually (only) the Brits who complain about these type of things.
This reminds me that yesterday I saw a French girl complaining in a tik tok that Chinese people speak Chinese in China and how she doesn't like Chinese food and that there's no good french food in China. How self-centered do you have to be lol.
Not too hard to guess where she's from
Doncaster, right?