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Photograph by SHARPSHOOTA.com on Flickr
There's a pretty amusing NY Times article on tourists' impressions of New York City and New Yorkers. Given that the Big Apple draws about 9 million foreign visitors (on top of about 39 million American tourists), there are a lot of impressions. A few:
- “In the ladies’ toilets you can see people’s feet. It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that. Where I’m from we have full doors on the bathrooms.” - From a German tourist
- “There are a lot of men here that are really muscular. [Back in Spain] people go to the gym to stay healthy, but not to get huge.” - A Spanish tourist
- “Everywhere there is an American flag or some other country’s flag...In my country, we only have flags on important buildings, like government buildings." - A Czech tourist
- Re: restroom stalls, “There is a space between the door and the wall, and someone can see you from the outside. In Germany you would never have that.” - A different German tourist
The city is trying to attract 50 million tourists by the year 2015 and considers foreign tourists to be an economic safety net.
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I love eavesdropping on tourists--when they are speaking in English, it's fun to hear what they say about the city. I'm also such a nosy parker that I will give my suggestions for what they should visit.
Apparently in Germany no one uses public toilet stalls for illicit activities.
That tourist from Seattle sounds like a pain in the neck.
While I've never been to Germany, I've heard on good authority that the toilets are very strangely designed. They have a shelf above the waterline on which, ahem, solid materials fall. This allows for close inspection of said materials, and is of course quite useful for drug or diamond smugglers, but is said to contribute to a horrendous smell in public restrooms.
I like how these clueless morons bumble around the sidewalks in Midtown during work hours and get surprised when people who live and work here "jostle" them. Dude, quit standing in the middle of the damn sidewalk swiveling your head and I'll quit shoulder checking you on my way around you, the human obstacle course.
this is the first time i've heard of toilet bowl shelves and i hate them, lets make sure we see them as a threat and hold them with contempt because eeeeeeeeewwww hooooo. silly and disgusting.
It is not rude behavior, it is just the lowest common denominator on civility what supports the logic of new yorkers. NYorkers rude!? thats a compliment!
It is not rude behavior, it is just the lowest common denominator on civility what supports the logic of new yorkers. NYorkers rude!? thats a compliment!
tourists never ask me for directions.
perhaps it's because they're afraid of the dark.
I left a package at ellis island once, I'm glad the tourist after me got a whiff of it. that's what I get for using one of the original immigrant restroom and not a modern one in the food mall.
You sound like a real jerk, Phineas. You can't walk around people without cross-checking them? How do you navigate the subway, airports, stores, old people, and pretty much life in general? And actually New Yorkers cause far more problems by walking down the sidewalks staring into their Blackberries, stopping at the top of subway entrances to finish phone conversations, refusing to step into the middle of subway cars, etc.
I like how these clueless morons bumble around the sidewalks in Midtown during work hours and get surprised when people who live and work here "jostle" them. Dude, quit standing in the middle of the damn sidewalk swiveling your head and I'll quit shoulder checking you on my way around you, the human obstacle course.
Spot on!
Jen: Must be easy to do on the subway since they CAN'T MODULATE THE VOLUME OF THEIR VOICE.
I read that story this morning and the woman from Seattle really pissed me off. It struck me that she was just seeing what she wanted to see. Almost every tourist I've ever spoken to remarked on how polite the natives were, to their surprise of course.
Slow tourists give me "tourist tsuris," but I don't bowl them over I just go around.
NY'ers are not rude, they are impatient. This doesn't translate well to those that visit from slower cities.
Don't hate on these people; without them, all of them, NY would be fucked more than it already is. Give directions, like Jen make suggestions, and get a drink with them. Who knows some of you douchebags might learn a thing or even,'GASP' get laid.
While it certainly can't be said of all people in countries other than the US, on more than one occasion during my travels I've encountered locals who went out of their way to be helpful to me. As a result, I've made a greater effort to go out of my way to help people visiting the city. If I see people looking at a map or staring at street signs with a bewildered look on their faces I'll ask if they need directions.
Tourists standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk staring about aimlessly can be annoying, but I think that anyone who has traveled outside of the five boroughs and gotten out of their car has probably experienced the same sense of disorientation. I would suggest having a little more sympathy, and save the shoulder checking for the morons who stand directly in front of the subway doors when a train pulls into a station.
I have no problem walking around people because I'm actually watching where I'm going. The sense of entitlement that some folks have in this city is amazing - walk down whatever side of the sidewalk they like in a bizarre game of chicken expecting everyone else to step out of their way. It would a shame if Phineas was one of those people stopping at the top of a subway entrance and a person just like him checked him headfirst down the steps.
As for the other points: We New Yorkers (and Americans in general) put up with a lot more crap than we should. It's almost like we're all suffering some strange kind of Stockholm Syndrome.
Tourists may be good for the city's economy, but they do nothing for me & my fellow comuters trying to get in & out the midtown area for work. They walk around in a daze, they cross at red lights and cause traffic jams, they congregate especially at street corners in droves, they all seem to be heavy smokers and they don't speak a stitch of English. This is true for the tourists who hang out near Times Square and Port Authority areas. You need a police escort just to get past the Milford Plaza Hotel. Don't get me started with the crowds that stop to take pictures dead in the middle of the street when the Naked Cowboy makes an appearance. And Wednesdays (Broadway matinee day) are the absolute worst. They all dress up, especially the women in high-heels (you know they've never worn before) and walk soooooo slowly while forming a human chain horizontally acoss the sidewalk--I just wanna kick each of them in the ass and yell "Move it a*shole"! I move faster than most of them and I'm NINE MONTHS PREGNANT! Oh, and don't get me started on the crowds who hang out by the backstage doors of the Broadway shows or by the temporary TKTS booth and clog the entire sidewalk in the process...
Can you tell I absolutely HATE tourists?
The other week, I noticed a tourist waiting for the G (what tourist takes the G, right?) with his suitcase. I was nice and told him he needed to walk towards the middle of the station as the G is shorter. I thought that was pretty nice of me.
I would like my cookie now. Thanks.
oh yeah leave it to the Germans to talk about feet and bathrooms... arent they so neat clean and righteous....
.... have you seen their fetish porn videos?
germans should s* t* f* u*
otoh
NYC needs more public WCs.
It was with no small amount of amusement that in 2006 I was in TriBeCa and helped give someone directions, it was amusing because I was on a College (not University) trip from the UK and was helping direct him using my tourist guide of the city.
But I haven't got a negative thing to say about New York other than that the Pennsylvania Hotel on 6th Avenue is a dive, aside from that both times I've visited the city I was left with a great experience, and that the people I interacted with were very friendly.
I once stopped to give directions to a hot Australian tourist. P.S it was the best shag I ever had.
Tourists ALWAYS ask me for directions. They may be afraid of dark Jacque up there but they love me. Twice in the last three years I've had people ask me where Manhattan is while I was in Manhattan.
maybe I'm dark dark or purple.
whatever, eff em and their waddle pale spawn.
Micky D's is that way.
heh, its like when i went to Washington DC and i was in the park by the White House, next to a sign that pointed to the White House, but i proceed to ask the guard "where's the White House ?"
Shoulder checking is for people who try to enter the subway before you can step out of the car. It comes very naturally.
I think they avoid Black-Jacque Mehoff because they instantly sense his bad attitude. People ask me for directions all the time and I generally oblige, except when I'm in a huge rush. They're always grateful. Mehoff just likes to feel that he's a badass to be feared rather than someone who's liked and respected.
Tourists really should keep their voices down while on the subway. If I was a serial criminal those are the people I would target. Plus it's just annoying, cause there's always one know-it-all tourist in every group.
The best is when on the D/B and it starts to go over the bridge- you can tell who is a tourist by the look on their face when they find out they're going to Brooklyn.
“There is a space between the door and the wall, and someone can see you from the outside.”
Ditto, from Ireland! I never figured why but assumed it was either cheap/poor materials, or some sort of drug (mis)use deterrent.
"But who'd look?" doesn't make it any better ;)
Don't live in NYC if you hate tourists, you big-city whiny crybabys. Midtown NYC is a very exciting place and people who are not from here are amazed and a little confused. Are you aware that Times Square is WHERE THE TOURISTS GO? It's not like they are in the vestibule of your apartment building going, "SHUCKS where's the outhouse??"
Be a human being and not a jerkwad. Do you think that tourists in Tokyo get shoved aside by the locals? Hell no. No wonder Americans get a bad rap.
Yes, we drink A LOT of coffee (hot, cold, day old). Our portions are big, our muscle queens are big, we get french fries with everything, we walk *and* consume food at the same time (gasp), out of plastic containers no less! (Scandalous.) We can't sit down for anything unless it'll help us get ahead in life or love. The profusion of flags and bunting are more decorative than nationalistic. Yes, restaurants prepare food quickly 'cause dammit I'm hungry, I want it all, I want it now, and I want you to get for me (please).
Anna Anderson, a dentist from Malmo, Sweden, thought New Yorkers must find their floors shameful, otherwise why would they be hiding them, as in the room she and her husband shared in the Hotel Pennsylvania. “There are carpets glued to the floor covering the whole room,” said Ms. Anderson, 36.
That is sooo adorably bumpkinish.
“the drag guy in the miniskirt and some guy with brains on his head”
Quite disturbing, no?
When in England I'm now afraid a request for only egg whites in my omlet will be met by: "Oy! Who d'ya think ya are, ya git?! Fuckin' Cinderella!?"
My relationship with tourists? I cope with them, help them, avoid their rutting fields. And most of all I'm sooo glad they prefer Manhattan. Fame is a bitch.
Tourists never bother me one bit. If someone doesn't visit NYC often or has never came here before, of course they're going to be lost, confused, taking pictures everywhere etc.
It probably will be the same way for most people when they go visit another city, which they are not accustomed to.
Except for the nine-months pregnant part, I agree with AnonEMouse.
@robingee
Yes, many of us are aware of where the tourist are, but due to occupational requirements, we also cannot avoid these locations. Consequently, we grow to hate tourists for the aforementioned reasons.
"Do you think that tourists in Tokyo get shoved aside by the locals? Hell no."
I have in fact been shoved aside by locals in Tokyo during rush hour in the subway station. And I deserved it for getting in the way of people trying to make a living and because I didn't do my homework as to where I needed to go.
Just because you're a tourist, doesn't mean you have carte blanche to be an idiot. Just because you are contributing to the local economy, doesn't mean you have no responsibility to try and familiarize yourself with your environment.
Indeed, moving to the side so people can get by isn't rocket science, and it isn't some unique local custom. It's common sense, which most tourists seem to forget at home.
In NYC, while I don't shove idiot tourists, many of them deserve a decent shoulder check for egregious sidewalk blocking.
The German tourists are channeling George Costanza's spirit.
i shoulder checked the shit out of this girl last week. her and her friends took up the whole sidewalk standing around all facing one direction, even oblivious to a very rude "EXCUSE ME" about 1 foot from her ear. i was trapped by scaffolding as well so it was like the two worst things in the city combining forces to drive me over the edge
"Just because you're a tourist, doesn't mean you have carte blanche to be an idiot."
Well of course not. And just because someone is a tourist, and in our way, doesn't give us the green light to shove them.
And it's damn hard to know where you are going all the time in this huge bustling and very confusing city. Even when you are from here! Imagine getting out of an airport shuttle in midtown.
Plenty of tourists are annoying, plenty are totally cool and know how to blend into a city. Of course it's only the clueless, bumbling ones you notice. Just like plenty, if not more, of native New Yorkers are loud, bumbling, fat morons. I've had lost tourists block the subway door and more sweaty natives block it who should know better.
dear tourists,
this is not just a playground for your silly vacation. people actually work and live here. you would do well to get out of the way.
kthxbai.
People you cant have your cake and eat it too...If you choose to live in a world hub such as NYC accept the fact that there will be many many tourists from all over the world. There are many other cities you could choose to live in which are much quieter (and much cheaper) but yet most residents enjoy the electric atmosphere which tourists contribute to.
And reffering to tourrism as a safety net...gimme a break; 3 local airports, thousands of hotels and restaurants, shopping gallor, taxis, street vendors, museums etc...many of which would be out of business without tourism...
which way is the World Trade Center?
still many tourists are afraid of the dark and light dark.
@ #4 & #5:
FWIW, toilets like that in Germany and many other parts of Europe are supposedly designed this way to conserve water. The design seems totally counterproductive to me, though, since you have to flush approximately eleventy million times to actually get stuff to go down.
Indeed, moving to the side so people can get by isn't rocket science, and it isn't some unique local custom. It's common sense, which most tourists seem to forget at home.
On the other hand, it's not rocket science to let people off the subway before trying to push your way on. Yet how many of the "intellectually superior" NYC natives still do that?
The dumber the tourist, the ruder they think I am. Funny how that works.
How about teaching humans not to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, or at the top of the stairs/escalator as if they were the only person in the world?
And how about not trying to stop someone who's running (literally) to work to try and ask where the M&M store is?
Tourists who come to NY need to remember that this is a city where people WORK. It's not a leisurely city. They should enjoy themselves, yes, but they need to learn to get out of the way of people who have no time.
Well, despite the increase in the number of tourists coming to Brooklyn in recent years, it still pales in comparison to the number of tourists visiting Manhattan. I'm grateful for that when I come home to the relatively quiet streets in Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill.
Now, we just need the Dollar/Euro exchange rate to reach a point where it doesn't make sense for a lot of Europeans to come here. In other words, I'll get a more reasonable deal on my next European vacation.
I love the ones who try to out-Noo Yawk the Noo Yawkers. Very entertaining, especially if they're french.
I'm not a New Yorker, but visit often from Canada. As a single female, I feel completely safe walking in Manhattan alone at night, which is not the case in my hometown. You guys are damn polite, too, and I absolutely agree about the behavior of tourists on the street. Walking at a snail's pace, 5 people across, is not acceptable no matter where you're from.
When in the city, I get stopped about once per day and asked for directions (in non touristy areas). Something about me must look local yet non-threatening. =)
they need to learn to get out of the way of people who have no time.
Sounds like you have an incredibly inflated sense of your own importance.
How about teaching humans not to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, or at the top of the stairs/escalator as if they were the only person in the world?
Yeah, those people are called New Yorkers. Five bucks says you've been guilty of this.
The dumber the tourist, the ruder they think I am. Funny how that works.
I think I have found the definition of irony.
Anna Anderson, a dentist from Malmo, Sweden, thought New Yorkers must find their floors shameful, otherwise why would they be hiding them, as in the room she and her husband shared in the Hotel Pennsylvania. “There are carpets glued to the floor covering the whole room,” said Ms. Anderson, 36.
It's not so much being ashamed of the floor as so much as there probably aren't any floorboards in their hotel room, and the carpet's the only thing stopping people from falling through into the room below.
American tourists in other countries are just the same, if not more cuntish, than the tourists we have here.
#46 - You feel less safe in your Canada hometown? I thought it was super-safe there, is there a lot of crime in your city??
And of COURSE people want to visit the WTC site. Duh.
I luv to hear when tourist try to pronounce some of the unique NYC names like Houston Street. I once told a tourist that mispronouncing it can get u kill. You should have seen him...he had "Oh Snap!" look on his face. Then I told him I was kidding ;)