Thursday, May 3, 2007

A Statue Cussed me out!

Okay, I mentioned before in a previous blog about a trip I made to New Orleans. I really love that place. The music, the food, the energy just everything. I haven't been since the hurricane so I am not sure how New Orleans is now. I'm sure much different then on my visit.

Apparently, like many cities, New Orleans has a large poor population. People trying to make ends meet the best they can. Since it's a huge tourist site it stands to reason that you will see a vast number of street vendors and performers. You know how it works, they perfom, you applaud and give them a cash tip as an appreciation. No problem. My party and I were walking along the waterfront minding our own business. There was this guy painted in all silver. His appearance and poses were strikingly close to those of a statue. Hell, if you weren't paying attention you'd swear dude WAS a statue.

Anyway, as we were walking we noticed this guy and stopped for a second to see him make his poses. It was quite entertaining. We stood there for a few moments and proceeded on our way.

Why did we hear, "Oh, so you not gonna leave a tip?" Huh!!!?? I turned around to see who said that. "So you not gonna tip me?" I looked at the guy and he's now looking at us. I'm in total shock because I've never been extorted for a tip before so I was taken aback.

Our stunned silence wasn't enough for him. He proceeded to say, "See that's what's wrong with these people these days. You come down here but you don't wanna give up no money."

Get the hell outta here. He is actually catching a major tude over our not tipping. We were just walking by. I opened my mouth to ask the guy what the fuck was his problem when my friend looked at me, saw my mouth open and immediately grabbed my arrm and dragged me off.

That pathetic street performer pissed me off. How are you gonna extort a tip from passers by on the street!!?

Geesh! Dude almost got his ass whooped! LOL

7 People saying stuff:

laughing said...

That's funny. When I went to New Orleans the first time, one of those silver guys was one of five people we tipped. He wasn't moving, and then when we gave him a dollar he went through a bunch of poses and then went back to being a statue.

I guess I liked him more than some people because I've been in the silver makeup myself and it's a hassle sometimes.

Generally speaking, I respect the artists like that more than the people who come up and start talking to you, and then it turns out that they're trying to sell you something. But we did give one of those guys a dollar, cause we liked his charity at the time. I think that the rest of the people we liked were musicians.

But I've never heard of a performer swearing or anything like that. Complaining about not making enough money in general, but not so much complaining about a particular person. I'd think that it would run off a lot of other people who maybe were going to tip. The exception to that being some of the people who used to hang out at Scarborough Faire. Besides the performers and such who asked for tips, the first year I was there some actual beggars would ask for money and hassle you a bit if they didn't get any. I think someone decided this was a little bit too much realism to be entertaining, cause no one bothered me like that any year after that.

Freckle Face Girl said...

Doesn't he know that most people only carry debit & credit cards? Cash is not very common.

dmarks said...

Saw a gold guy in front of the great Glockenspiel in Munich. There were a few silver guys in Venice as well. I think I tipped the gold guy, but not the silver guys (in too much of a hurry).

Somewhere, I think it was Rome, there was a gold guy who looked like an Egyptian god. Way cool.

All of them were silent. If they had sworn in German or Italian, I don't think I would have known anyway.

The pushy string guys all over Rome? Something else altogether.

Freckles: I'm one of those who mostly carries and pays cash. Don't mug me now.

Coco said...

Listen-it doesn't matter WHAT you do . . .serve me dinner, give me coffee, pretend to be a statue for me . . .if you call it a "tip", that's exactly what it is . . .
money I feel I want to VOLUNTARILY give you, in appreciation for your service.

If you start requiring it, or expecting it-then I say, it is not longer a "tip" but a "fee". So, if he wants money every time someone passes by-he better put up a sign that says "$1 to look at me" or get over himself.

Erica Ann Putis said...

Once I was driving up the CA coast and stopped a beach town and some surfer asked me for money and when I said I didn't have any he got pissed and gave me attitude!! I was so pissed and almost told him off but was too in shock and couldn't think of a good comeback until about 5 mins down the road. :)

Queen of the Mayhem said...

You know a city is going down the tubes when the statues start cursing!
:)


Seriously, I am a Louisiana gal and I love me some New Orleans....but it's not that safe there now! :(

Avin said...

LOL why did this exact same scenario happen to me just 1 month ago in New Orleans? LMAO! I thought I was losing my mind.