The retired snowbirds all get first dibs at everything!

[greensinestro]

I love the last quarter of the year being the weather changes, fall is in the air, etc. The only downside to it is this is when the snowbirds all start arriving for their six months of troublemaking, bitching, and complaining about everything. Not only that, but they also are the ones who get first dibs at everything!

The public library is a good place to start. These days, I usually do not buy books being it was costing me quite a bit of money to do so. If I get a few minutes, I like to go and see what good books are out there that I'm not reading, or I like to pick up a few children's books for my kids. What I hate though is when I start heading over to the new releases section, there is nothing but a sea of blue-haired, varicose veined, wrinkly skinned whatevers all hovering around that area. I mean, some literally are over fighting each other for the latest Stuart Woods, Nelson DeMille, or John Grisham novel. I had a lady the other day that saw me looking, just looking, and nearly knocked me out of the way for fear of me getting whatever book I might have grabbed first from her. I might add that the only safe place in the library seems to be the children's section.

Restaurants can also be a problem here as well. It's rare, but I have had some cases where they ran out of something because a busload of them came in and all ordered the same thing off the menu. Everyone ate the baby back ribs!

And, a great pet peeve of mine lately: These people all get first dibs at the handicapped parking places when they are in perfectly good shape and can walk their asses a few more feet to the entrance of wherever they're going. It's a sad shame when they all do this, and yet someone who really needs that spot has to park further away, someone who can only get around in a wheelchair, or has a cane.

I love it when Spring comes and they all leave.

[PetStoreKate]

*laughs* I take it you live somewhere mountain-ish! I live a 45 minute drive away from the mountains so I can't quite empathize. That being said, there is a gigantic ski park a 3 minute drive away from my place of work. Those blue haired snow bunnies tend to take a break and make their way into our store because... we have a coffee machine! It tastes like battery acid (the coffee, not the machine) but it's hot and complimentary to our customers. So these ladies and gents tend to gather around the coffee machine guzzling cup after cup, chatting as if it's an office water-cooler.


"Did you see her jacket? SO outdated!"
"He did WHAT with WHO?!"
etc...


They don't seem to think themselves quite as entitled as the folk in your neck of the woods, though! Get to the library right when it opens one day and gather all of the John Grisham books into a pile and make them give you cookies for a book!! You could be SO powerful!

[LizaMarie]

That's funny, I live next to the ocean and winter is when all our annoying yuppie tourists leave! But I am very sympathetic to your plight. Tourists may bring in a lot of money, but they are a pain in the ass for the locals.

[SuperB]

For me, winter is the bane of my existance when the snowboarders and skiers start coming up. Of all of the different types of customers we have here, the snowboarders are the worst. The skiers used to be but I can handle arrogant and condescending but the snowboarders act like base punks. They're usually young and barely legal if at all. ID one, whether it's for alcohol/tobacco or Credit Card and they act like 5 year olds.

[South Texan]

The natives of south Texas have a love/hate relationship with them down here. These snow bird types usually cannot drive, so one of their adult kids drives them down here. Then leaves them the car. The streets can get scary! When the wreck happens, they are quick to blame anyone but themselves and their lost ability to control a car.

They are at least an hour early for everything and sometimes show up as early as three hours before something starts.

Then come the freaky sights of them wearing sparkly cowboy square dance costumes - complete with the women in short, wide skirts and big petty coats to show off their gnarled, spindly legs - in restaurants every night before they head back to their “special” camper parks where they stay for the winter in camper trailers.

Of course, while they claim/demand any and all discounts they can get, they do inject money into the economy, so the retailers tolerate them. There is a lot of resentment, however, from the rest who live down there.

[Interior Desecrator]

God bless you, greensinestro! We just got rid of the snowbirds up here, so I understand your plight. The roads are now clear of the blue-haired old ladies driving WAY TOO SLOW in their gigantic boat-cars. (Oh no! A curve! I better take this one at 10 mph!) Of course, we rarely get a break up here. We're currently in leaf season, which will be followed by ski season, which will end just in time for the annual migration of the snow birds in the spring.

(Though, I can't complain too much. A lot of my clients are wealthy snowbirds who own summer homes up here.)

[greensinestro]

*laughs* I take it you live somewhere mountain-ish! I live a 45 minute drive away from the mountains so I can't quite empathize.

Guess again! I live in South Florida, where it hardly ever gets cold, and that's why they're down here!

[PetStoreKate]

Guess again! I live in South Florida, where it hardly ever gets cold, and that's why they're down here!

Ahh! So they're migrating to get away from the snow! Gotchya They come here to FIND the snow.

[smileyeagle1021]

oh don't get me started on the winter tourists... I used to work for a car rental company out at the airport. And if even the slightest snow was falling everyone would get upset that they needed an SUV because nothing else would be safe to drive... it's like, come on people, I drive a subcompact quite safely, yet these can't handle anything less than an SUV. I hate it when they say that 4-wheel drive is safer in those conditions... guess what, no it's not... at least once a week I'd have to fill out incident reports from idiots who thought that 4-wheel drive was safe, got going to fast, and couldn't STOP.
For the record, the best car for the snow that we had there was the Impalla, it was heavy enough to be stable, but not so heavy that it would have excess momentum, it had a low center of gravity so it had better grip, and that thing had a massive engine over the drive wheels giving you just as much if not more traction than some 4 wheel drives. And, if you knew how to drive them you could put it in low gear and your handling the mountain roads piece of cake (assuming you aren't trying to break any spead records).

[protege]

We're currently in leaf season, which will be followed by ski season, which will end just in time for the annual migration of the snow birds in the spring.

It's already starting here in SW PA. I never really understood what the big deal was about the changing leaves. Of course I've lived here my entire life, and am used to it, but still. Doesn't stop the damn tourists from plodding along at 5mph during rush hour...

[princess4life]

oh don't get me started on the winter tourists... I used to work for a car rental company out at the airport. And if even the slightest snow was falling everyone would get upset that they needed an SUV because nothing else would be safe to drive... it's like, come on people, I drive a subcompact quite safely, yet these can't handle anything less than an SUV. I hate it when they say that 4-wheel drive is safer in those conditions... guess what, no it's not... at least once a week I'd have to fill out incident reports from idiots who thought that 4-wheel drive was safe, got going to fast, and couldn't STOP.
For the record, the best car for the snow that we had there was the Impalla, it was heavy enough to be stable, but not so heavy that it would have excess momentum, it had a low center of gravity so it had better grip, and that thing had a massive engine over the drive wheels giving you just as much if not more traction than some 4 wheel drives. And, if you knew how to drive them you could put it in low gear and your handling the mountain roads piece of cake (assuming you aren't trying to break any spead records).

The SUV is only safer if you understand how to drive them and know that just because it is 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can drive fast and go anywhere you want to. The best thing an SUV is used for is taking them off road in the summer, but as for the winter if you get stuck you can put the car into 4 low get out of the snow bank turn around and go home until the snow clears

[greensinestro]

Ahh! So they're migrating to get away from the snow! Gotchya They come here to FIND the snow.

Got a question for you on that one. Here in Florida, we call them snowbirds for obvious reasons, and the bulk of them are from areas of New York state. Where do yours come from? And, if they are going to your neck of the woods to find the snow, is it appropriate to call them snowbirds? I mean, if they are looking for snow, it would mean they're trying to get away from the sunny areas of where they're from. Wouldn't it be safe to call them........sunbirds?

[rerant]

Can someone please tell me what the term snowbirds refers to? Because here in Canada The Snowbirds are a flight acrobatic team comprised of currently serving memebers if the Candaian Forces.

I'm so confused.

[yomiko]

Can someone please tell me what the term snowbirds refers to? Because here in Canada The Snowbirds are a flight acrobatic team comprised of currently serving memebers if the Candaian Forces.

I'm so confused.

The term 'snowbirds' is used to describe people who 'migrate' during the winter to warmer climes. Like here in Quebec, there are sections of the population that run away to Florida for the winter months and come back in the spring.

[Interior Desecrator]

We also have "half-backs." Those are northerners (we call them Yankees, no offense!) who eventually moved to warmer climes in Florida, but make it half-way back up north (to my neck of the woods) during the summer.