- Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary
Oh really, France?
Lookie what I found in Time magazine...
Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French
Friday, Jul. 04, 2008 By BRUCE CRUMLEY / PARIS
A poll reveals that the French are now considered the most obnoxious tourists among Europeans.
Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining
and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English made the
ugly American the world's Visitor from Hell? Well, it's time for Archie Bunker to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre.
According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the
most obnoxious tourists from European nations, behind only Indians and the
last-place Chinese as the worst among countries worldwide.
I dunno... there are a lot or American tourists here in these glorious days of summer and I've gotten quite good at picking them out even before I hear them speak (clearly and from across a crowded room)
The Encarta dictionary defines "Ugly American" as: stereotypical offensive American: a loud, boorish, nationalistic American, especially one traveling abroad, who is regarded as conforming to a stereotype that gives Americans a bad reputation. In contrast, Dictionary.com defines "the Ugly American" as: Pejorative term for Americans traveling or living abroad who remain ignorant of local culture and judge everything by American standards.
Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits of informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ugly_American&oldid=224504443
How many American tourists does it take to change a light bulb?
Fifteen. Five to figure out how much the bulb costs in the local currency, four to comment on "how funny-looking" local lightbulbs are, three to hire a local person to change the bulb, two to take pictures, and one to buy postcards in case the pictures don't come out.
Sorry Im so boring today. That third vodka last night was a bad idea.
4 comments:
LOL, Simon would probably agree with you.
Speaking of nasty French people, let me tell you what happened in my store last week.
The Red Cross had asaked us to ask our customers for health and beauty items for returning soldiers that have suffered traumatic brain injuries. As unbelievable as it is to me, these wounded warriors are required to provide all of their own shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. while in the Military Transition Unit.
The Red Cross is collected these items the entire month of July to help out our returning vets.
So, we would ask our customers if they would like to purchse a one dollar toiletry item and donate it to the Red Cross.
One of my cashiers asked her customer not knowing, or caring, that she was from France. This woman jumped all over her about how aweful we are and how the government should be paying for all of this, yada, yada, yada.
She was very rude and LOUD.
The cashier at the next register said she wanted to tell her if we hadn't spent so much money saving France's ass on more then one occasion, our gov't would have the money to provide everything we need. Of course, being in retail, you just have to smile and think
"What a jackass"!
OK, maybe we should have thought
"What a jacques ass"!
Sorry for the spelling. I just worked 14 hours, had my annual review, had 2 out of 3 cashiers call off, and am just a little cranky!
B
Jacques Ass! Love it!
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