Wednesday 12 September 2007

Fashion police in Taormina

Is it wrong to despise tourists if that is my job? I should clarify, I do not dislike all tourist, just that Taormina is so busy at the moment that it is hard to find nice tourists. One amazing thing that I saw a few days ago was the 'fashion police' on the main pedestrian street.

My common complaint is why must some tourists walk around Taormina wear just their bikinis? No t-shirts, too tight speedos and I'm talking about the ancient hilltop medieval town, not down by the sea!  Firstly, it is disrespectful and secondly, the medieval town is 700m above sea level, meaning that from the beach to the hill top town you have 700m worth of time to get dressed before walking into shops and even restaurants dressed (or should I say not dressed) like this.

The other day I felt like cheering aloud as I saw a polizia on the Corso Umberto, our main street, stopping these fashion offenders and asking them to cover up. Not content with a 'yes' the police man stood there and watched while the many embarrassed people put on t-shirts, shorts, shoes - you name it.

I have so many entertaining stories about the customers I work with...I had a complaint the other day that Stromboli (one of the Aeolian Islands, which is also an active volcano) did not erupt. We sell excursions to this island and tell people most of the time they should see some form of eruption or explosion from the volcano. Obviously not being mother nature I cannot guarantee the eruptions. These guests made an official complaint, asking for a full refund as they saw no activity from the volcano that night.

The other night a customer complained that the antipasto is always cold, there were no potatoes on the menu and that at many of the restaurant staff cannot speak English. Sorry - but what country are you visiting again? 


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Twin,
Keep writing as we like to read your blog! Pictures and stories are all good and funny.
Love Twin

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

Dear gemella,
Thank you for reading my blog - and who ever else is reading it too. Thankfully there are so many insane tourists here then I shall always have some thing to write about.

Kataroma said...

Leanne - my boyfriend owns a B&B in Rome so his bread and butter is also tourism. I'm generally not judgmental but just occassionally I can't help judging - especially when tourists do things they would never in a million years do at home - like walk around in just a banana hammock (sorry!) or get drunk and start doing stupid things.

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

Hi Kataroma,
I am glad someone else finds it odd why people come on a holiday and act like mad people! They often leave common sense at home.

Anonymous said...

This kind of stuff would at times drive me insane. It's almost like someone welcoming you into there home and all one can do is stand there and criticise everything. If they decide to travel to Italy why do they want it to be like it is back in there own hometowns??
As for the fashion polizia, l hope they keep doing their jobs!

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

I know cleopantha..strange really but people do seem to go a little silly when on holidays. Also with common things like money. No one carries thousands of dollars with you at home, so why in a foreign land do you have so much money? this was a big problem when I worked in Rome as people were getting their wallets stolen and they just always had so much money in it!