Why are Americans so rude? I'm waiting to board a flight from

[sinkingfeeling]

Sinapore to SFO. There's an area that clearly states "Seats reserved for the elderly and families with children". Currently occupied by myself (elderly and ill) and 8 American business men who just have to get on the plane first.
Thanks for allowing me to rant.

[ret5hd]

1. "Don't you know who I am???"

signed,
Your Seat Neighbor

[RT Atlanta]

2. safe travels...

sometimes you wanna say to everyone else "i'm not with them.'

donnie-t and his enablers have helped a lot of rudeness (and racism, and xenophobia, etc.) bubble to the surface again.

Get up and move around - it's good for your legs and blood circulation - on that long flight!

[spooky3]

3. I wish you could have coughed repeatedly in their direction.

Years ago, my first impression, when returning from 6 weeks in France, was how big and loud a group of American men were. Really obnoxious.

[MLF1981]

12. I has a similar experience in Germany once...

I was having a coffee (damn, I miss coffee) once at 9 AM in a beautiful small town in central Germany, and I heard all of this commotion coming from a group down the street. Sure enough, they were my American classmates being as boisterous and obnoxious as possible without even realizing how unacceptable their behavior was. I've always believed that travel expands one's perspectives and just generally makes a person consider how their behavior might make others resent them. Never did I get a more potent lesson on that principle than I did on that day.

[jfz9580m]

20. Just out of curiosity

Why do you miss coffee?
I thought most recent studies show that coffee is fairly benign and may even be beneficial?
I drink a lot of it ;-/.

[MLF1981]

21. Can't drink it because I have gout.

Caffeine is very similar in molecular structure to allopurinol. I've tried to do decaf, but it's just not the same.

[GenThePerservering]

27. I had gout

the steroids I was prescribed didn't do much. I cured it with black cherry concentrate and losing 15 lb. Never gave up coffee but it also wasn't suggested - that bit is interesting. And no, decaf is just not the same.

At any rate, I've not been troubled with it since, and it used to drive me onto crutches.

[soandso]

43. Glad I'm reading this

How much black cherry concentrate and just once a day? I have RA which is similar to gout and would like to give a try.

[MLF1981]

45. This might be of some use to you:

https://www.verywellhealth.com/cherry-juice-for-arthritis-5088626

[soandso]

47. Thank you so much!

And another good part is that cherry juice is delicious.

[MLF1981]

44. Never tried the cherry concentrate, but tart cherry juice used to do me some good.

Plus, it's delicious. Expensive as hell though... In any case, I'm glad you were able to tame your gout. People who aren't familiar with it treat it like a joke disease, but goddamn, does that shit hurt.

I've started getting it in my knees now, and I can't think of a joint that would be worse to be inflamed and causing severe pain. Knee gout, no matter what you do, stand, sit, lay, flex your leg, keep your leg straight, it doesn't matter, it fucking hurts no matter what. And I used to think the big toe was bad... A decade and a half of suffering with this shit has taught me differently.

[jfz9580m]

29. Ah okay

Thanks!

[Enter stage left]

4. You might approach them with...

Oh dear, I'm so sorry you can't read, let me read it to you!

[Joinfortmill]

39. Love this.

[Aviation Pro]

5. Changi is the best airport on the face of the planet

Hope you got a chance to go to the butterfly pavilion and the waterfall.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I've just spent 9 plus hours in the airport. Think it's very poorly marked, no

information desk, and no maps as to where things are.

[Delphinus]

8. Oh my

May you return home safely.

[Aviation Pro]

9. Which concourse?

…..

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Terminal 2, concourses F and E

[Aviation Pro]

16. Are you still there?

You're on the opposite side of the Butterfly Garden and the Waterfall Vortex is to your east. If you have time take the train to experience both.

[Phoenix61]

14. Next time I go through there I hope I have time to

really check out the waterfall. I got a quick glance last time and it looked amazing.

[WarGamer]

24. absolutely.

[Jacson6]

7. A couple of years ago I was at an Airport and there was a security delay across the nation.

Everyone was courteous, calm, cool & collected. I guess it just depends on the crowd you are flying with?

[polichick]

10. A lot of Americans are entitled assholes.

[whathehell]

19. ..and a lot of Americans are NOT

"Entitled assholes" are everywhere.

[phylny]

46. We had a guide in Italy who was multilingual

from Portugal. I asked him about “ugly American” travelers and he said that quite to the contrary, he found Americans to be friendly, polite, and funny.

YMMV 😊

[whathehell]

48. Exactly...My huband, whose job mandates world

travel, gets the same feedback from locals in the countries he's visited, and he's been on every continent on the globe, minus Africa and Antarctica.

The "Ugly American" trope is much out of date.

[Chakaconcarne]

11. not just americans...

[Igel]

15. Or "businessmen." n/t

[whathehell]

17. Please..There are rude people EVERYWHERE

Americans aren't exceptional in that regard.

[malaise]

18. Not just Americans

Nad mannered assholes exist everywhere. Rules are for us peons.

[edisdead]

22. It isn't just Americans.

Sorry but European men are just as bad if not worse.

[Renew Deal]

23. How do you know they are American?

What did they do that indicated they "have to get on the plane first?"

[Hekate]

25. Accent? Body language? Choice of newspapers?

[Renew Deal]

26. I'm sure the OP will inform us

[Hekate]

28. Gestalt?

[Klarkashton]

30. Business men are for shit.

[GenThePerservering]

31. I had a German woman elbow me out of the way

at a ticket counter when I was purchasing some passes to a monorail in New Zealand. She was bigger than I was and I was so startled I let her push me - she wanted to be waited on NOW. The man behind the counter glared at her and said "I'm helping THIS customer. Wait your turn!"

So yeah, people are rude everywhere, but some are ruder than others, and they do fall into a bit of a national character. USians are toward the top of the list, usually middle aged white males (sorreeee...).

But this is also true - Jonathan Swift once said (paraphrase) one obnoxious person takes up the space and energy of five normal people, and he was right. So those rude people are probably a loud minority. But a big enough one that people are surprised when I say I'm from the US and not from Canada. I try to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the US, though, and represent us in the best light (it is getting harder and harder).

[markodochartaigh]

35. Jonathan Swift! Another quote apropos to our times:

Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.

[greatauntoftriplets]

32. A strong sense of entitlement.

[Warpy]

33. Siome Americans are overbearing assholes

especially if they work in suits and make seven figures a year.

They don't have to follow the rules, they have too much money to bother with them.

[whathehell]

36. Yes, as are some Brits, French, Germans, Australians

South Africans, etc., all of whom, by the way have individuals in that socio-economic class, though I wouldn't broadbrush that demo with that trait nor limit it to them.

[AverageOldGuy]

34. Ugly Americans

I served in the Army, 1967 - 1995, spent most of my overseas time in Asia -- Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong.

American tourists and business people were notorious for their obnoxious, entitled behavior. Those of us who lived there tried to keep our distance from them.

I was in Vietnam for a year also -- did not encounter any American tourists there!

[thucythucy]

37. Years ago a friend told me a story about visiting the Vatican

and going into the Sistine Chapel.

Do you remember clacker balls?

An American couple had a kid slamming a set of clacker balls while people were trying to admire the incredible art. Eventually a staff person told him to stop. But why on earth would you think it appropriate to have your kid making that kind of noise to begin with, at a place like that?

Years later my SO and I, also on a trip to Rome, stopped for dinner at this delightful hole in the wall restaurant. Seated maybe thirty people tops, but the food was excellent and reasonably priced. Also the wine. Thoroughly lovely.

Enter an American family. They order. Wine is brought to the table. The guy loudly upbraids the waiter for bringing them wine in a glass not elegant enough for his satisfaction. Insisted they find him something else. Waiter explained this was all they had. Again, small place, probably family owned, and to us delightful. The guy loudly exclaims, "What a shithole!" and he and his clan storm out--after ordering a meal which was probably about to be served.

My SO and I apologized profusely for their boorish behavior, and we made it a point to stop by again for another couple of meals.

Anyway, at the time I thought: typical American. More concerned with the packaging--the glass--than the wine itself, which was exquisite.

I have other stories, but I'll stop here.

The French are supposed to have this reputation for being obnoxious, but that certainly has never been my experience, either with French visitors here or the times I've traveled there. Maybe other nations export more bothersome travelers, but in my experience Americans take the prize.

[Joinfortmill]

38. Yup, that's a lot of us, but I hope more of us are better than that.

[Blue Full Moon]

40. Know what you mean

Taking pictures in a temple after being told that it is not allowed. Loud, obnoxious and demanding. Was asked if my husband and me were Russian. Didn't know what to make of that. Was told that we didn't behave like Americans. Since then I do see that behavior mainly in the privileged and MAGA. At where I worked, I could always get the guys to work and get things done. They don't seem to understand that if you treat people nice and the way you would want to be treated things go so much better. By the way I blame tRump and his horrible book for it being so prevalent.

[kansasobama]

41. American swagger and rudeness is a norm but may have limits

Well, if you want to get away with this, your country needs to respected abroad. That is why they are gettingcaway with this. If we vote for Trump, nations may start saying fuck you and shut up.

[whathehell]

49. Swagger and rudeness is not at all the "norm"

for Americans. That's an old trope that's not been true in years, if, in fact it ever was. Please read the many posts here disputing that assertion, including that of DFW who has resided in Europe for years.

[DFW]

42. We definitely don't have a monopoly on rudeness

Germans even have their own word for how they behave while waiting in line: vordrängeln. Basically, “forcing your way forward,” whether by sharp elbows, girth or sheer numbers. Once in Heathrow, my family and I were pushed out of the way in a line by another family who simply wanted to get in before us. My wife commented to me—in German, since we have always spoken German together—, “how rude, they must be Germans!” The family turned around and gave us dirty looks. They understood what my wife had said because they were indeed Germans!

My younger daughter used to run into nouveau riche Russians before the current sanctions. She was in Sharm, down on the Red Sea, when a bunch of Russians came into the hotel restaurant for dinner. They ordered about three main courses each, got roaring drunk and very loud, and left 90% of the food in the table when they were done.

Americans are nowhere in a class by themselves when it comes to boorish behavior when traveling. We have plenty of competition.