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#77

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 6:04pm

Woah!! I post this, go to work and come home to see all these responses. I want to make it clear that my problem was with the media who were mostly focusing on the tourists when I feel there are people who are affected by it more deeply than the average tourist. I agree that tourists are the bread and butter of Broadway, of course. I never was putting down the tourist. I wanted to see some stories about how people who are NOT striking are still screwed. For example, the restaurant workers, the dressers, the ushers, the musicians, the pedi cab drivers. One union decided (understandably) to strike and then several other unions are obligated to follow suit; AEA, IATSE, etc. These are the people who's lives could be drastically changed rather than severely inconvenienced.
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#79

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 6:14pm

YAY! JERBY! HAHAHAHAHA!
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal "I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#80

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 6:20pm

Jerby that was awesome!

I totally expected you to say - as Elphaba - "I was going to see...*sniff*... Legally Blonde today."
"Zac is sweet as can be. He's very much just a sweet kid from California who happens to have a face that looks like it was drawn by Michelangelo, (if Michelangelo did anime)."
-Adam Shankman.

"I haven't left this building since Windows 3.1!"

"Celebrating a birthday this week: Rene Descartes is 412! Do you know who he is? Then why are you watching this show? You could probably get into college and even get one of those job things. As for the rest of us; Amanda Bynes is 22! Yay!"
-E!'s "The Soup"
#82

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 6:25pm

LOL!


"I'm gonna sing Acapulco..."

Too funny. Great job!
"Zac is sweet as can be. He's very much just a sweet kid from California who happens to have a face that looks like it was drawn by Michelangelo, (if Michelangelo did anime)."
-Adam Shankman.

"I haven't left this building since Windows 3.1!"

"Celebrating a birthday this week: Rene Descartes is 412! Do you know who he is? Then why are you watching this show? You could probably get into college and even get one of those job things. As for the rest of us; Amanda Bynes is 22! Yay!"
-E!'s "The Soup"
#84

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 7:07pm

Broadway.com still hasn't acknoledged the strike...at all...

Well, yeah, so they can continue to sell tickets to unsuspecting tourists. The tickets prices are refunded, but not their obscene mark-up, so they can still turn a profit.


I think a lot of people's perceptions of the average tourist here are slightly distorted. Yes, if you're posting on Broadway World, it makes perfect sense to fly in from Iowa for the SOLE purpose of seeing a Broadway show (or many Broadway shows, as the case may be). The majority of tourists, however, come to New York buy fake bags on Canal Street, go to the Top of the Rock, do those stupid bus tours and clog up the sidewalks all over midtown taking pictures. Seeing a Broadway show is just another New York novelty. They get tickets for whatever is popular and enjoy the experience regardless.

Yes, it's an inconvenience that they don't get to experience "Broadway", but an inconvenience is all it is for most of them- not the heartbreaking tragedy you all as hardcore theatre fans are perceiving it as. I bet half the people they're talking to on the news couldn't even tell you the names of the lead actors in the show they're whining about not seeing if they were asked. They're just annoyed they can't see Big Name Show. The majority of tourists are not in the mindset where they're DYING to see ONE show and ONE actor and this is their only chance EVER and it's RUINED. A few might be in that situation, but by and far the majority are not, because hardcore theatre fans are not the ones that keep Broadway in business- bruise to your egos as that may be. If that were true, Mamma Mia would have closed years ago and it wouldn't have taken Sweeney Todd 20 years to break even.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
#85

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 9:18pm

orange, you are right !
My main problem is with some people who generalise and stereotype the word tourist as an obnoxious, loud, silly, badly dressed and stupidly behaved individual. Tourists are from all the spectrum of human behavior.
Aren't there idiots in NYC ?
Aren't there loud and obnoxious people in NYC ? etc
Sure there are ! But there are also people who are wonderful, caring, smart, well-beahaved, educated, etc !
It's the same with tourists !
Some people use the word tourist as an insult ! Probably because they've never travelled anywhere and have never been tourists themselves ! All the people who travel to NYC, chose their destination out of interest and love for the city, they are spending lots of money, which improves the life of the city and so they deserve respect and thanks from New Yorkers, not insults and look-downs !
You will not find ONE Greek who makes fun and puts down tourists, here ! We acknowledge their contribution and welcome them !
From some people on this and other boards, I now fear of looking "touristy" when I'll come again in NYC ! Something that I never felt when I was there and everyone was great and really helpful !

And I know that what I say here has no significance, but It's something that I wanted to say for long ! I Adore NYC with all my heart, but the fact that some people think I am inferior just because I am from somewhere else, makes me really sad !

Peace
#87

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 10:21pm

Greekmusicalfan, I love to travel, and have been all over the world. So it's not for that reason that I find tourists distasteful.

New Yorkers don't hate visitors, and they don't look down on them--but they do hate it when people come to the city and have a negative impact on it. Unfortunately a lot of people come here and don't realize this is someone's home, not Disney World where everything's catered to their amusement. For instance, when they go on tours in historic neighborhoods and litter around people's homes, or they make you miss a train to work because they're clustered on the platform and won't move, or you can't get down the street because there's a group of 50 of them blocking the sidewalks, they really try one's patience.

I find that when tourists are respectful of the locals and don't act like idiots, they are always welcomed. Unfortunately the idiots give everyone a bad rap. And in this case, I think people are irritated because the press is acting as though the tourists' disappointment at missing a show has more impact than the issues at stake in the strike and the fact that a lot of people are instantly out of work today.

Updated On: 11/10/07 at 10:21 PM

#89

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 10:48pm

Why would you live in NY if you dislike tourists? It's like working at a daycare if you aren't very fond of kids. When I went to NY I saw nothing but nice tourists who weren't being dumb at all. I went on a bus tour and no one litered at all. My only NY complaint was of an usher being rude at Mary Poppins. I think people are acting as though tourists are somehow dumber then any other people. NY people are dumb. CA people are dumb. People are just often dumb in general. It has nothing to do with if they are from the area or from somewhere else.
#90

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 10:49pm

Why would you live in NY if you dislike tourists? It's like working at a daycare if you aren't very fond of kids. When I went to NY I saw nothing but nice tourists who weren't being dumb at all. I went on a bus tour and no one litered at all. My only NY complaint was of an usher being rude at Mary Poppins. I think people are acting as though tourists are somehow dumber then any other people. NY people are dumb. CA people are dumb. People are just often dumb in general. It has nothing to do with if they are from the area or from somewhere else.
#91

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 11:22pm

Thank you shermanslave. :)

And, um, FlyingMonkey, many of us were born and raised in NYC. It's our home. Living here doesn't require us to like disruptive tourists. Again, it's not Disney World, it's our city, we pay a boatload of taxes and a lot of rent, and it's here for *us* most of all--not them. Just as your hometown is for you. I;m sure you wouldn't want someone coming into your front yard and trashing it for fun, and then saying "if you don't like it, move to another house."

Updated On: 11/10/07 at 11:22 PM

#92

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 11:23pm

While the majority of tourists don't come JUST to see a Broadway show, a lot of people do come with the intention of seeing at least one. Especially around Christmas when shows like the Grinch are around. Imagine being a theatre person that lives far away from the city and you only take a trip to the city once a year with your family. And you get there and discover that you can't see anything.

It may not be affecting thousands, but it still does affect a lot of people. While I wasn't going, my college bought a HUGE block of tickets to go see Legally Blonde: The MusicaL today and now about 300 college students can't see the show and will probably not get another chance since these tickets were bought very far in advance because it was such a large number. It's things like that that are sad.

There are a lot of factors about this strike that are disheartening, but people are still allowed to feel sympathetic for all the people that are deprived of the chance to see theatre.
"Less Of A Marilyn, More Of A Jackie" www.richardhblake.com
#93

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/10/07 at 11:47pm

Uhm...random people litter around my house all the time. They aren't even tourists. I was born and raised in the bay area. I've dealt with tourism my whole life. My job sees a lot of tourists as customers. They help pay my bills by being customers. Would I say they are more annoying and rude then people from the area? No, I'd actually say less. They are usually nicer and happy to be in the area. They make sure as many messes as everyone else and liter just as much as everyone else. I don't see how one can blame "tourists" for trash on the ground when it's probably a little of both doing the littering.
#94

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 12:31am

orangeskittles-you hit the nail right on the head!

The majority of tourists are not hardcore MT fans whatsoever. Case in point, when I ushered at MP and half the people who came to see the show were tourists and didn't even speak English or even know what was going on onstage. They just came to experience a magical Disney show, look at special effects and clog up the heart of Times Square. They're not as obsessed as theater people and don't even take the time to actually read the Playbill or educate themselves about the theater/show/actors in the first place.
"We need people not to come to Broadway shows wearing shorts and flip-flops. We are working hard up here folks. Find a pair of socks."-Joanna Gleason "I hear L. Ron Hubbard is gonna blow the ladies...and all that jazz! C'mon babe! We're gonna unicorn hug, I bought some NyQuil down....at Wal-Mart?!"-Bebe Neuwirth singing ATJ to Musical Mad Libs at DQYNJ :)

Updated On: 11/11/07 at 12:31 AM

#95

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 12:39am

So...their money is not as good as other people's money? Tourist or not, without business a show would close. Speaking of Mary Poppins ushering, did you work with the male usher who treats people horrible? I complained to a nice female usher and she says she hears complaints a lot.
#96

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 12:42am

I'm not saying their money isn't as good. The point I was trying to make is a lot of tourists do come to NYC to experience the city first and then they just see a Bway show as a side attraction (Refer to orangeskittles post above) It doesn't really matter what show it is either. Not all, but a majority of these people probably wouldn't be as upset as someone like...well me. If I set my sights on seeing a particular show with a particular favorite actor and I was traveling to NY to see it and found out it was closed i'd be extremely upset. But I do live in NY, so that doesn't really apply to me. Lots of people who are tourists don't delve into the details of a show/the actors/synopsis/etc.

Yes I did, PM me and tell me who it is and i'll let you know. I think I know who your talking about.

"We need people not to come to Broadway shows wearing shorts and flip-flops. We are working hard up here folks. Find a pair of socks."-Joanna Gleason "I hear L. Ron Hubbard is gonna blow the ladies...and all that jazz! C'mon babe! We're gonna unicorn hug, I bought some NyQuil down....at Wal-Mart?!"-Bebe Neuwirth singing ATJ to Musical Mad Libs at DQYNJ :)

Updated On: 11/11/07 at 12:42 AM

#97

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 3:26am

Marona, the things you mention are very annoying when they happen and I agree with you, but again you are GENERALISING ! Every annoyance you mention, could very easily be caused by locals as well, as monkey very well said ! I've traveled all over Europe and all I've seen is well behaved and good-mannered tourists with a lot of respect for the place they are visiting, since they CHOSE that place out of hundreds in the world ! Maybe you are referring to American tourists, I don't know.

And I do stand firmly on what I said. EVERY tourist's money benefits New York on the long run and that can not be negative whatsoever ! I was reading somewhere, that tourist money helps New York in ways I could not imagine and it's the first or second source of income for the city! What do you do when for example a new hospital or a new school are opened, made possible from tourist income ? You scream "Tear it down, those tourists made me 5 minutes late for work, last month !" ?

"Unfortunately the idiots give everyone a bad rap."
Really, that generalising statement is wrong on sooooo many levels, that I can't even begin with ! So, everyone is the same, uh ? Okay !

I'll say it again. Let's imagine that all tourists stopped coming to NYC ! THAN you'd see a negative effect and trust me it would be waaaaaay more devastating and annoying than some littering (which, even that, creates hundreds of cleaning jobs !!!) and missing a train !
If I remember correctly, and please correct me if I'm wrong, right after the tragedy of 9/11, when tourism stopped, the city was on the verge of bankruptsy and a huge effort was made to bring people back !

I understand your point, but try to understand mine, too !

Updated On: 11/11/07 at 03:26 AM

#98

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 3:52am

You're really not reading what I'm saying Greekmusicalfan. I very clearly said that I, and other New Yorkers, don't dislike the tourists in general. We dislike the ones that do not respect our city and disrupt our lives. The comment you thought was "soooo wrong" was saying that the bad tourists unfortunately give tourists in general a negative connotation. You didn't read and understand, you just got mad.

You seem to think that we should just roll over, roll out the red carpet and praise anything the tourists do. Well, as I said, this isn't Disney World.

Unfortunately, no, tourists don't behave the same way as locals.
Any New Yorker knows you don't block the sidewalks, you don't block the train platforms, etcetera. Any New Yorker knows that when someone gives you directions, you thank them. Tourists do those things, and they do them because they're not considering that anyone around them has anything else to do. And it's not a once in a while occurrence. These things are in your lap every single day.

New hospitals and schools are not built with tourist dollars. They are built with tax money, which I and other locals pay. And when the tourists are busy making me late for work all the time, I can't pay those taxes.

We want visitors. But we want respectful ones that have common sense and realize that this isn't a theme park, it's a working city where people live.

And as for traveling--I don't know where you are going, but it can't be Earth. Rude tourists are everywhere, and no, they're not always American. They come in all nationalities. I can tell you about the Norwegian man who almost assaulted me on an airplane in Scandinavia, or the Israelis who were thrown out of the hotel for drinking and screaming in the hallways, or the Brits who were arrested for trying to take a piece of Pompeii with them...

This discussion is completely pointless, and I'm not continuing it. If you want to be offended, go right ahead and be offended. I invite you to come to New York, live and work here for a few years and then get back to me on what you think about this.

Updated On: 11/11/07 at 03:52 AM

#99

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 6:13am

I was not offended and I did not get mad ! We are having a civilised discussion, exchanging views and it's natural to disagree.
What I meant, is that someone who behaves badly (and I agree that there are a lot of people like that), behaves that way because he is a bad PERSON, not because he is a tourist ! An American, or Greek, or Norwegian or Brit who is rude, obnoxious and annoying, will be like that in his country and his home as well ! You are right in many things you say, it's the generalisation and sterotype that I don't agree with ! When a place attracts people, it will attract the bad ones as well, what can we do ? It's impossible to get only the visitors we like ! I always believe in Live and let live ! Annoying people are EVERYWHERE !
I get to word fights defending American people all the time. There are MANY people that think ALL Americans are like GW Bush ! It's like what you are saying ! Should he give Americans in general a negative connotation, too ? I respectfully disagree !
You are lucky to live in the greatest city of earth ! You are right, maybe if i lived there, I would think exactly like you do ! But for the time being, I can only be a tourist there, with a huge respect and love for the city and the locals. That's why it saddens me to be labelled an annoying disturbance to the city(not by you, you know what I mean), just because some people who visit are idiots !
Thank you for being civilised in saying your opinion and I hope I haven't offended you in any way ! re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!
#100

re: Who is REALLY affected by the strike? Oh, those POOR tourists!

Posted: 11/11/07 at 6:17am

Marona, I too am OUT of this discussion. What was originally a thread about the desire for the local news media to focus on people other than tourists has turned into a "I hate tourists" thread. Flying Monkey Person, please understand that I (and others) am more concerned for the people who have lost their jobs. Jobs that may not come back if the strike lasts too long. I live with an IATSE member and it is a real concern that he may not have a job to go back to. Not to mention the whole "no paycheck" thing for a while. And no, the unions do not just pay you for what you are missing out on. All I was bemoaning was my dissatisfaction with the news here and seeing tourist after tourist being disappointed about their canceled show while not showing one single person who was scared that they would lose their job permanently and then maybe the insurance for their family for 2008.

And scene.
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