Tourists

Okay. Being that it's summer in NYC, I felt the need to address something.

All over the country (and world, probably), New Yorkers are known for being rude. I am here to dispel this myth. Now, I've only been living here for 3 1/2 weeks, so I'm not about to call myself a New Yorker (and I'm still too loyal to my Jersey roots), but I know enough people from the city and have spent enough time here over the years to know that New Yorkers are not, in fact, rude. You know who is (are?) rude?

Tourists.

Yes, that's right. Tourists. Tourists are the most selfish, self-involved, self-centered, oblivious people on earth. Yes, you are. And I'm going to explain why. We're all guilty of it; when I'm on vacation I'm all about me and figuring out where I want to go on my day off, etc. It's okay. But I'm sick of New Yorkers getting a bad rep.

See, the thing that's different about NYC compared to pretty much any tourist destination on earth is that tourists here start their vacation at freaking 6 AM. Unless your vacation consists of hiking through the desert or some other exhausting activity that takes all day, you're probably still sleeping. I mean, it's vacation. Disney World doesn't even open until 9AM, so it's not like you're milling around the gates of the Magic Kingdom just hanging out. In NYC, tourists are out and about while I'm on my way to work. Granted, stores aren't open yet for the most part and neither are attractions like museums and theatres, but there's just so much to see that you really do need to get up that early. And I don't have a problem with the tourists moseying around the city, I really don't. Tourism is good for the city, great for the economy. But what these tourists need to understand is that their vacation directly affects a New Yorker's normal everyday life.

Let's look at it this way. For those of you in Atlanta--I'm going to say that 99% of you don't even use MARTA to get to work. And that's cool, neither did I. It was useless. 99% of you also don't do any walking to your office aside from the walk from your car to the front door. But imagine if every day while walking the 30 yards or so from your car, you had to dodge people who just abruptly stopped to look at a map or to point at something. You'd get a little cranky, wouldn't you?

So when you're a tourist in NYC, and you stop to stare at the Empire State Building or gaze at the lights of Times Square and I run smack into you and mutter a few choice words under my breath, I'm not being rude. You are. Think about where you are and what you're doing. And think maybe, just maybe, you should have some consideration for the residents of this lovely city who are just trying to do their normal day-to-day activities. This isn't like Disney World where the people who are there everyday are employees and are supposed to serve you. I'm home. Hell, I'm trying to get home.

For example, my subway stop by work is right by a hotel entrance. I don't even know what hotel. I really don't care. But every morning, without fail, there are tourists standing in front of the hotel, making their plans for the day and BLOCKING the steps. Have some common sense. There's about 100 people coming up the stairs of the subway trying to get to work, don't you think you should move out the way? Or make your plans and drink your coffee in the hotel lobby?

Another thing about the subway---if you are travelling with friends and you all get off at one stop, get out of the way. A) You are not the only people trying to get off at that stop, and B) there are about 150 people trying to get on that train. So please, just move aside and meet your companions in the middle. I saw a woman this morning nearly get caught in a stampede because she made this mistake.

However, if you politely stop me (or any New Yorker most likely) on the street and ask me where this bus goes to or where is the closest subway, or which way is Lexington Ave---I will be happy to help you out if I can. Which is why it irks me to no avail when I hear New Yorkers being called rude. Because usually, it's the other way around.

I guess the best piece of advice to tourists is to compare walking through the city to driving on a busy highway. If you needed to look at a map or gawk at the scenery on the side of the road while driving, what would you do? I'm guessing you said pull over. (If you said stop suddenly in the middle of the road, then may God have mercy on your soul.) So do the same thing in the city. Move out of the way. It's that simple. And if you have kids, I totally get it. It's a lot harder than it looks. Just please don't ram into the back of my foot with your stroller. That really smarts. :(



Current Book: "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon