GeniB

I'm talking about being a Brit in Portugal when other Brits behave in an appalling manner

Went to one of our favourite little restaurants last night. It overlooks a now very famous beach. (made even more famous now by that 'blasted' TA site)

Our lovely waiter was a bit 'off' with us at the beginning of the evening,but eventually told us why. He had been subjected to abuse from a group of English men who had eaten there the night before. They had simple drunk themselves into the by now familiar loud 'stupor' our countrymen are sadly known for.. but not usually in our town.
He was embarrassed as he had had to ask them to 'take it outside' as they were upsetting other diners,some of whom had children with them.He didn't say what they had called him...but we could guess

We felt we had to apologise to him on behalf of our countrymen..but it made me seeth with anger that it should be necessary. I found I was grinding my teeth and wishing I had been there to give them a piece of my mind...
I know I would have done... but would it have been wise? Would you have intervened if you had been there?
All this publicity for our lovely Portugal is wonderful,but not if it brings 'yobs' like this to our beautiful shores. I am still upset by it

mfesharne

Funny you should mention that........ A friend of mine was in a cafe in the Porto area last night & a drunken Irishman got into a punch up that resulted in a little old lady getting knocked to the floor.

Apparently it took 5 cops & 4 Bombeiros to pin the guy down & cart him away to the cells.

That sort of thing we certainly don't need.

scrubbedexpat142

We get this problem in Budapest as well - & it's not just through drink but often arrogant behaviour by Brits who should know better.

carvoeiro

i love Carvoeiro - it has a great mix of different nationalities living there who virtually all get along really well and a friendly family atmosphere that makes it nice even at the height of the tourist season
Sadly what it does have is that tiny minority of expats who believe they own the place
The absolute worst of the 'british empire' we rule the waves are the most important people in the world etc - a tiny minority well known to the people who live there
A couple of years ago we were in one of our favourite restaurants there in the summertime and they were already there and had ordered whilst we had an aperitif - very loud so difficult to not notice them - i don't know them but had seen them around several times
we were just sitting down at our table when their food arrived - they made the worlds biggest fuss - said they didn't want their meals - too long coming they said - and walked out - the poor portuguese waiter had no idea what to do
They had waited no more than 15 - 20 mins - in summertime
We called the waiter over - we hadn't ordered - and said whatever it was we would take their meal - and very nice it was too
Sadly it doesn't take many like that to ruin a small place - the good old British attitude rules the waves and makes us the least popular foreigners in Europe

scrubbedexpat142

Quite so - the other day we heard a couple complaining vociferously that they had waited a whole 5 minutes for their bill, in a very busy restaurant.

EMR

I do not think that it is an exclusively British thing.
We know a bar owner who has dress standards, no beach wear, no shirt no shoes no service.
He gets abuse from just about every nationality who visits his bar .
I think the problem is partly due to the fact thst we live increasingly pressurised lives and expect the same immediate service we are used to when grabbing a rushed lunch or snack for the other 40 plus weeks of the year.
Chill out , you are on holiday.

AliceCaroline

I'm not defending the Brits when I say this but my Portuguese language teacher says that the French are by far the rudest tourists. Just her opinion of course

macliam

It happens, sometimes through drink, sometimes not - and some people just shouldn't be allowed to go anywhere....

Last year i had a small fire on my property (accidentally caused by a neighbour). The GNR attended to take details and statements and I was talking to the GNR lieutenant, who came from Lisbon and spoke really good English. When I gave him my ID, he asked if I knew another countryman of mine in the area - I didn't. he then told me they'd had to visit this guy's property the week before and he'd gone out of his way to be as obnoxious as possible (given that they're armed).

It didn't seem to affect the way he treated me, but it was obviously fresh in his mind. Hopefully it was a one-off, or else cases like that will spoil things for all of us.

scrubbedexpat142

It may not be exclusively British but the British here are clearly the worst, and their attitude stems, as described above, from their perception of their own importance and a wholesale disrespect of all things "foreign".

macliam

It's true that the French can be rude, though not violent, but there is some "baggage" here.....

Due to the huge number of those of Portuguese origin in France, there is often a friction when they come back, as they're seen to "show off" and compare things to how it is in France - which doesn't sit well. There is even a slang term for them "Avecs".

If you scratch the surface, all nationalities have "characteristics", just as in the UK. Sometimes they are warranted, sometimes not. However, it is unfortunate that a number of British and Irish tourists come here and are unused to the strength of the beer and the low cost. At 5%, it doesn't take many canecas to bring out their worst side. Allied to the attitude that everyone should speak English and that everything is worse than "at home", it's surprising that we are still welcome here at all.....

carvoeiro

in a 25 year plus association with the algarve and Carvoeiro in particular - 100's of nights in the town in total the only people i ever encountered who didn't know how to behave were - 1 icelandic guy - so drunk he was fighting with his own shadow - 2 irish girls who tried to pick a fight with everyone who walked past them - and sadly many Brits - at least a significant handful every year

mfesharne

Sounds like we have a better class of tourist lout in my area because so far, in my 6 years here we haven't even heard of such bad behaviour!

Sorry guys. Only joking.

Bad behaviour is bad behaviour wherever someone comes from & I guess all countries (unfortunately) have their fair share of louts.

carvoeiro

i speak passable French and i've heard arguments with French people on holiday - arguments in German families - arguments within Portuguese groups -
but what seems to diferentiate the Brits is they want inflict their problems on everyone - friends families - bar and restaurant staff - passing strangers
we truely are in European terms a race apart

Knoxy_UK

Nothing installs greater pride in ones country than meeting a drunk person wearing a football shirt and them wanting to be your mate

macliam

.... and then punching you.

I don't know why you included the Corbyn clip from the LDs - the question was clearly akin to "Have you stopped beating your wife?" and designed to provide headlines whatever his answer. It was a stupid question, which he showed great patience in answering time and time again. It also has nothing to do with this topic.