Welcome to Grumptown

Sweetie n’ Pooks talk about Grumptown as a metaphor for a general absence of happiness. It’s mostly a mechanism of making humor out of a bad attitude. We’ve visited Grumptown frequently on our trip so far, and felt it important to include it in our list of experiences.


Seriously people, lets get serious about being serious

Spaniards also tend to visit Grumptown regularly. So far, our general impression of them has been a mixed bag: some of them are quite friendly and nice, but many are loud, obnoxious, and occasionally quite rude. They have a principal called “Viva yo!” which literally translates to “Hurray for me!” The second part is an implied, “And to hell with you.”

In action, this means they’ll cut in line, nudge up beside you at the ticket counter waiting for their turn (or just start talking to the attendant before your transaction is finished), take your spot at the post office (even though you have the number that was called), or just generally be a pain in the butt. They also seem to have no ability to moderate the volume of noise they make. In hotels they stomp around, slam doors and shout at each other independent of time of day. During waking hours we easily laugh at this, at 2:30 in the morning it doesn’t seem quite as humorous.

Imagine all the considerate things you do for people in a given day. Move to the side of the sidewalk if someone else is approaching, give a seat on the bus to an older person, or wait for someone to finish their transaction before barging in to complete your own. Well, Spaniards pretty much don’t do any of these. A classic example. We were about to get on a train, waiting on the platform, giving a bit of space (maybe four feet) for the people exiting the train. When from behind come two teenage boys who shove past us (literally) and squeeze into the space we had left, both blocking the exit and cutting in front of us aggressively. Lets also make a couple things clear here, this train was not crowded and there were probably ten people waiting to get on. So there was no point other than being first. Hurray for you!!

Perhaps it’s cultural and they think we’re foolishly passive or naïve or both. But it’s certainly tainted our experience during our travels. The luxury we have, however, is time. So we’ve taken to laughing or smiling at these gestures, instead of becoming irritated or angry. A few minutes lost for us is no big deal.

On a more positive note, both genders seem to soften over time, as the folks we stay with seem hardened at first and nicer by the time we’re leaving. And we certainly appreciate their pushy streak when it comes to demanding good food, wine and lifestyle. The take home message seems to be that Spaniards demand what they want. And anything else is intolerable.