say something about ... yourself!
- Thread starter dreaming neon darkspot
- Start date
Tide In Mind Out
ct_thrash
- Mar 5, 2002
- 24,291
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warning: tl;dr
Speaking of rude...today I was sitting on my train waiting for it to depart downtown Dallas, as usual. The very back car is where they load up the handicapped passengers; there are four sets of seats that flip up to accommodate their chairs and whatnot. Every car has the four sets of seats that flip up, but the very back car is primarily used for the handicapped because it lines up with the ramps at the stations. Anyway, apparently the handicapped space in the back car filled up completely, so this guy in a power chair comes zooming down the aisle of the car I was in, DEMANDING that the people in two sets of flip-up seats move because he needs all that space to himself (two sets would accommodate two chairs, but he demanded all that space to himself). Naturally, two of those people didn't want to move because he and his chair did not need the space for two power chairs, so the handicapped guy just keeps sitting there yelling at these people to move.
Eventually a train conductor came and was confused because enough space had already been made for the guy, so then the handicapped guy started yelling at the conductor. It was ridiculous! He eventually got his way. Once he was situated in his space, he popped open a huge, HUGE golfer's umbrella so he wouldn't have to look at anyone. Plus he had wrapped a shirt around his face, dunno what that's about. Trains are germy so I could understand if he had a weak immune system or something, but I think he's just a cranky old guy that hates people.
Being handicapped does not entitle you to be rude and demanding! Perhaps if he had asked for extra room then he would have gotten it with no problem. Jeez.
Speaking of rude...today I was sitting on my train waiting for it to depart downtown Dallas, as usual. The very back car is where they load up the handicapped passengers; there are four sets of seats that flip up to accommodate their chairs and whatnot. Every car has the four sets of seats that flip up, but the very back car is primarily used for the handicapped because it lines up with the ramps at the stations. Anyway, apparently the handicapped space in the back car filled up completely, so this guy in a power chair comes zooming down the aisle of the car I was in, DEMANDING that the people in two sets of flip-up seats move because he needs all that space to himself (two sets would accommodate two chairs, but he demanded all that space to himself). Naturally, two of those people didn't want to move because he and his chair did not need the space for two power chairs, so the handicapped guy just keeps sitting there yelling at these people to move.
Eventually a train conductor came and was confused because enough space had already been made for the guy, so then the handicapped guy started yelling at the conductor. It was ridiculous! He eventually got his way. Once he was situated in his space, he popped open a huge, HUGE golfer's umbrella so he wouldn't have to look at anyone. Plus he had wrapped a shirt around his face, dunno what that's about. Trains are germy so I could understand if he had a weak immune system or something, but I think he's just a cranky old guy that hates people.
Being handicapped does not entitle you to be rude and demanding! Perhaps if he had asked for extra room then he would have gotten it with no problem. Jeez.
ShadowsWithin
Member
how bout we all disagree that we are all rude assholes to some extent, especially when we are pissed off 
^ that handicap guy sounded like a fucking dunce, we had some lady that wanted a wheel chair and could walk without too much problem, and the guy wheeling her worked for the airport and we had just got onto the ramp to board to plane and it was a few feet to the entrance and the guy was like "can you walk from here?". She just ignored him until they got on the plane then got out and started walking to her seat, didn't even thank the guy.
the guy looked like he was about to punch babies so I assume she was rude to him the entire time he was wheeling her too
that's not you're place to say
^ that handicap guy sounded like a fucking dunce, we had some lady that wanted a wheel chair and could walk without too much problem, and the guy wheeling her worked for the airport and we had just got onto the ramp to board to plane and it was a few feet to the entrance and the guy was like "can you walk from here?". She just ignored him until they got on the plane then got out and started walking to her seat, didn't even thank the guy.
the guy looked like he was about to punch babies so I assume she was rude to him the entire time he was wheeling her too
Lordlucid
Warning: Contains Alcohol
Its Funny, my friends told me stories about when they went backpacking across Europe and met really nice people. Once they told them that they were American they became rude and short with them. So my buddies came up with the Idea of telling the locals that they were from California. Like night and day the peoples attitudes became. "oh, I love California, that place is cool, do you go surfing, etc..."
It must be some preconceived notion that Americans are total douche bags with no clue on how to be civilized and courteous.
Dead Winter, They said they met some of the nicest people in Italy when they went. The language barrier wasn't much of one since they had books and whatnot telling them some of the useful words and phrases they'll need.
It must be some preconceived notion that Americans are total douche bags with no clue on how to be civilized and courteous.
Dead Winter, They said they met some of the nicest people in Italy when they went. The language barrier wasn't much of one since they had books and whatnot telling them some of the useful words and phrases they'll need.
Brooks
Eyes Wide Open
My San Francisco badge is a high fidelity force-field against American stereotypes.
San Francisco stereotypes, however...
San Francisco stereotypes, however...
ShadowsWithin
Member
actually pretty everyone one we dealed with over there spoke enough English to at least do business with us, the really hot chick at the front desk at the hotel in rome spoke it perfectly with only a trace of an accent.
if anyone does a vatican tour they should go through *insert name at a later date when i fucking find it* and ask for Ian, really cool guy, and he was scottish too so language wasn't a big deal.
if anyone does a vatican tour they should go through *insert name at a later date when i fucking find it* and ask for Ian, really cool guy, and he was scottish too so language wasn't a big deal.
Dead Winter
STAHP
No, unless Mediterranean skin tones are pasty white as well. The entire northern part of Italy was settled by Germanic and Slavic barbarians. People here look just like white people from any other nation. There are people with red hair, blonde hair, blue and green eyes as much as there are the typical southern Italian brown eyes/black hair look.
They're not joking when they say that Italy is actually two countries, the north and the south.
And Carabinieri ARE fucking morons, and if you'll notice, the really dumb ones always have that stupid southern way of speaking like they've got balls in their mouths. There's a joke that goes: why do carabinieri always travel in pairs? So one can read and the other can write.
ShadowsWithin
Member
1. are carabinieri like GSG-9 or SWAT? cause we saw like three different police forces, then all the carabinieri we saw were in like armored trucks.
2. are there any police in Venice? we saw some guys in mllitary uniform and like two empty carabinieri boats docked up.
thats it...
2. are there any police in Venice? we saw some guys in mllitary uniform and like two empty carabinieri boats docked up.
thats it...
Dead Winter
STAHP
hehe we had a hotel manager that was french, we had one couple come up he started speaking french to them to switched to another couple that were italian and he started speaking Italian to them (and he sounded like he could pass for a native as far as i could tell). then we came up and he switched to english and he was actual quite articulate and we could understand him quite easily. We just started clapping and he was confused so we told him we were impressed
also anyone else notice in their italian excursions that the French assholes to them? we were in the Sistine chapel and this one guy snapped a photo on his iPhone. So the guards came over and started talking to him in french and the guy argued with them till they eventually threw him out. Then in Doje's palace some french lady was pissed off cause she couldn't exit out the front door (which was packed with people) and the guard told her to go across the courtyard to the exit but she kept yelling at them in French and kept trying to push past them. it was fucking retarded.
That's because the French really are assholes. It's not just some dumb American stereotype Americans like to throw around because they think it's funny, even though they've never met any French person in their lives. The French are pricks to everyone, even to each other. It's their way. Of course there are cool people as well, but as far as traveling goes, they pretty much shit on everyone. Also, Italians typically don't like the French.
The Italians who speak English or other languages usually do so for their job, usually a tourist-heavy one. However, when actually working or conducting business, the south has a pretty bad reputation for speaking English. Hell, they don't even speak Italian half the time! Most of the time it's dialect.
Dead Winter
STAHP
Carabinieri are like a military/state police hybrid. They do police work similar to state troopers and they also do military work. They're currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. It's paramilitary with special forces and everything. They're still retarded, though, and the Italian military hates them.
There are police in Venice but usually it's Municipale, which is like a town cop. You didn't see them because there are no roads in Venice and they really don't have much of a job there, not that they would do anything useful even if they were needed,
.You have Carabinieri, Polizia Stradale, Polizia Municipale, and Guardia di Finanza. The carebears, highway cops, and town cops are obvious, but the guardia di finanza are like the money cops. They check for smuggling, tax evasion and fraud, etc. and can pull you over as well. It's like a police/IRS hybrid.
ShadowsWithin
Member
yeah but you would think with all those tourist in Venice there would be a decent amount of crime especially pickpocketing. I was just surprised I didn't see any running around.
Dead Winter
STAHP
Yeah I agree with this. Almost polite to a fault. You rarely hear about tourists from other places criticizing the US for the rudeness of its citizens. People are quite open in the states.
Dead Winter
STAHP
The best way to catch pickpockets is to catch them yourself because the cops aren't gonna lift a finger. The pickpockets are so good that the cops wouldn't even be able to help even if they were there.
derek
Grey Eminence
I hate all Americans. Except the ones that I don't.
Collectively you're all painfully dumb though.
Take that.
Collectively you're all painfully dumb though.
Take that.
Det Som Engang Var
Viking Bastard
Dead Winter
STAHP
Most people are extremely nice here. Again, your friends who went backpacking probably visited more places than tourist traps. Any touristy place anywhere in the world is bound to have rude people. I mean, New Yorkers aren't exactly known for their openness.
However, I really, really, REALLY loathe the automatic forced politeness and hidden scorn that many Europeans exhibit when they find out you're American. It's not so common anymore because for some reason we've all changed completely and are likeable again now that Obama is in office, which goes to show you just how shallow people really are.
The one thing I do like about people here is that they are completely honest with themselves. There's very little nationalism going on; they'll be the first to claim that they think their own country is shit and would like to see it razed to the ground. It seems like we Americans almost feel defensive when being rightfully criticized as a country, even if it's constructive criticism.
