Classness Americans!

I know that I run the great risk of sounding unpatriotic when I say this, but sometimes my fellow Americans embarrass me when I see them around town! Here are some quick observations:
They are loud and obnoxious
They dress like slobs and lack pride in the way they look
They have some of the worst table manners I have ever seen
They don’t know how to behave in restaurants
They act like they own the place

Gosh, when I go back and read some of these observations, you would think that I am French! Yes, I am going on record as saying that the French are right about us. Americans are less cultured and need some lessons on manners.

I know these are generalizations for the most part and that not all Americans are this way, but I’ll be darned if I don’t see it on nearly a daily basis. As an Example, I will never forget the lunch that I was having in Split Croatia one day and the American politician that was sitting with his seven friends at the table next to me. One of the advantages that I have is that I look the part of a Mediterranean, so it’s incredibly easy to eavesdrop on conversations that are taking place in English.

The group of eight was a mix of people from various parts of the world (Likely visiting on a cruise ship). One man and his wife were from India, another was clearly a Britt, but it was the American couple that stood out like a soar thumb.

It began when he returned from the bathroom and loudly complained about the quality of the facilities. I am no one to criticize, as I have pointed out in previous writings that toilet facilities in Europe don’t meet our lofty American standards, but at least I have tempered my opinions in public and left them to the privacy of the 52 people who receive this blog! “The European people should be ashamed of themselves for the lack of pride they show in their public facilities” stated the 65 ish year old man, who was clearly from somewhere in the Southern part of the US. “Having to pick up a toilet seat from of the bathroom floor is simply inappropriate”. Great, thanks for letting everyone know that you had to go number “2”, while we are all trying to figure out what to order for lunch I thought!

Fast forward 45 minutes when the same man received his soup. “Waiter, Waiter…this soup hardly has any meat in it! Why is their so little meat? (Like the waiter is in charge of deciding the ingredients for the food!) Take this back and ask the cook for more meat!” There was no please, no thank you, nothing. This is exactly what I mean. The unfortunate fact is that I see things like this all the time, especially at restaurants. If you just sit and watch you will see a whole slew of things from American tourists that you wont find in their European brethren, like “Double Dipping” their bread in the olive oil, using there finger to assist in scraping the last bites of food off the plate and then putting their finger in their mouth, etc…