It's JUST a COMPUTER

[poofy_puff]

I work at a large university in Cambridge, MA that starts with the letter "H". We get a lot of international tourists. So, I get into work this morning and my computer has no internet. I go talk to the people whose job it is to correct such things, and he tells me to wait for an email. This means I must log onto one of the computers in the computer lab. It is 8:30am local time. The Science Center is swarming with tourists. I navigate my way through the hordes and plop my butt in one of the seats nearest to the door of the PC lab. I am actually in the middle of reading THIS FORUM when about half a dozen of them enter the lab, walk right up to me, and pose for pictures with me in them without even asking if it is ok !!11!!!!11!! (and I never thought I'd need to use that emoticon). It all happened so fast that I was in the process of logging out and once I realized what was happening, all I could think of to say was "It's JUST a COMPUTER!" I mean, REALLY folks! Don't they have these in China or wherever you come from???? I can understand you want to take your picture next to the statue of John Harvard, etc. and maybe the museums, even the chem labs (that is where I work; I try to keep the doors closed but they wander in here anyway and it's a TEACHING LAB so no cures for cancer to see here move right along now), but I have seen them take pics of the payphones, ATM's, public computers (not with me in it though), and bathrooms (next thing you know they'll follow someone into a stall or take a picture of a guy standing at a urinal).

So, I got the fuq out of there and went and told the administrative professor that I work for what just happened. He said they walk into his office (which is right across from the elevators on the main floor) all the time and take pictures of him working, and he has to kick them out, and that I can tell them to knock it off if they do it to me.

In the four and a half years I have been here, nobody has ever taken a picture of ME in that manner. It's not like I am SHY or anything, but they didn't even ASK, or SAY anything. Of course, maybe they didn't speak English, but I would never go to THEIR country and do that kind of thing to someone who was just going about their usual business, not without ASKING. And, if I planned to ask, I'd figure out how to do it in the native language.

I think I have said all I need to say. Thank you everyone for listening.

[HawaiianShirts]

I am actually in the middle of reading THIS FORUM when about half a dozen of them enter the lab, walk right up to me, and pose for pictures with me in them without even asking if it is ok !!11!!!!11!! (and I never thought I'd need to use that emoticon).

That's happened to me, too!

I was about nine years old. Dad took me to Disneyland. I was sitting on a bench waiting for him to finish with the restroom. Two girls, giggling and speaking Chinese or Japanese or some other language from that part of the world, stopped and pointed at me. Then one came to sit down by me while the other took a picture. I was a little creeped out and just kinda froze there, staring off to one side. After a couple of clicks, they left, still giggling and chattering to each other. The only guess I had at the time was that they saw me wearing a cheap hat that vaguely resembled Donald Duck's head and mistook me for the actual costumed employee.

Yeah, it's a weird experience. I never thought it would happen at work, but it did. I did hotel housekeeping in Yellowstone one year and had one family from China (they told me several times) insist on taking pictures of me and with me when I came to clean their room.

[poofy_puff]

The internet is back in my office thank gawd...

[Imogene]

I work at a large university in Cambridge, MA that starts with the letter "H".
I can understand you want to take your picture next to the statue of John Harvard.

What? You mean to tell me you don't work at 'Hale', or 'Hampshire', or even, <Peanut>'Ham, ham ham hamham'</Peanut>?

[StarSong]

One time when I was in Hawaii, some Japanese tourists asked me to take a picture of them holding up a Snickers bar and a dollar bill. It was strange.

My best friend, who is Chinese-American, had one of her relatives come to America for a visit when I was about 9. She didn't speak English. I went over there to hang out and when this woman saw me, she grabbed a handful of my hair and started excitedly talking. My friend told me that her relative had never seen someone with blonde hair before and she was very excited about it. Rock on, I guess.

[Custard Chick]

I don't think it's the computer that interested them, it was probably you.

I went to Hawaii in high school with my best friend and her parents. We were visiting USS Arizona Memorial, just sitting there minding our own business when an Asian lady plopped down beside us and her husband started snapping pictures. Thinking we were in her picture and didn't want to ruin it, my friend and I scooted over out of the frame. She scooted towards us again, motioning at my friend, me and herself then pointing at her husband with the camera, signaling that she wanted a picture with us.

It was the single most surreal experience in my life. I am now in some random Asian family's photo album.

Asian's in particular seem to have a fascination with American's in general I think.

[Lingering Grin]

See that would really bother me if someone just walked up and started snapping pictures of me.

I don't like cameras... I don't even let my FRIENDS take pictures of me. Let alone complete strangers!

[poofy_puff]

What? You mean to tell me you don't work at 'Hale', or 'Hampshire', or even, <Peanut>'Ham, ham ham hamham'</Peanut>?

No, there is no secret. Just being snarky as usual.

I don't think it's the computer that interested them, it was probably you.

I guess I should be flattered, but they could have at least gotten to know me as a person! I mean, what am I, a prop? PWEESH! They probably thought I was a student. HA-HA!

Maybe they liked my purple hat:

[Calud]

A few weeks ago my brother went to participate in a tournament (at blizzcon, yes he rocks) and brought back some US stuff and a dollar bill.

Never seen one in real life before so it was fun to check it out for a while.

It's like you guys come to europe and you heard all those great things about the eifel tower and Rome and so on. For us its the dollar bill and snickers. (well not for Europeans but for folks from china? who knows, maybe they've only heard of it)

[smileyeagle1021]

. For us its the dollar bill and snickers.

you guys like Dollar bills... you could have some of mine... the way things are going they won't be worth much anyway

[poofy_puff]

It's like you guys come to europe and you heard all those great things about the eifel tower and Rome and so on. For us its the dollar bill and snickers. (well not for Europeans but for folks from china? who knows, maybe they've only heard of it)

I understand there's a certain degree of fascination with foreign countries, but they practically sat on my lap when they took their picture. They totally invaded my space. It reminded me of a thread on here a while back about SC's touching employees and grabbing their arms to drag them to another part of the store.

Besides, the Eiffel Tower IS a popular tourist landmark. Me checking my email is NOT on the "must-see" list. I have already stated that I have no issues with people taking pictures, I just thought it was rude the way they swarmed around without so much as an "Excuse - we tourist."

I probably still would have said "no" even if they DID ask nicely.

[Carolaaine]

Apparently I'm also a popular landmark, back in high school, I had to wear a uniform (not so weird I think) and tourists kept taking pictures of me and my friends because of our uniforms... Often they would ask us to stand in front of an old building and then take a picture, like the uniform was something medieval?

[Chromatix]

Asians don't tend to have the same "personal boundaries" as Westerners do. Consider that in Tokyo, the underground trains are often so crowded at rush-hour that they employ people to actually stuff commuters into the trains. Both Japan and China have a noticeable over-population problem, so living, travelling and working close to other people is normal for them.

But they do bring that attitude to the West when they visit as tourists - just as Americans notoriously bring their attitude with them when they visit foreign parts.

Now, I don't mind holding a camera for the occasional tourist. I'm actually a competent photographer. But I do see how an invasion of privacy could happen and would be annoying.

Something else interesting about Asia: there is very little there that is anything like similar or even analogous to our 19th-century industrial-age architecture, never mind anything older. Japanese cities were pretty much levelled towards the end of WW2, and as far as I can gather, China has largely gone straight from rural and urban slums to modern industrialism, without a "romantic industrial" phase in-between. Both tended to use organic materials for building (wood, paper, mud) instead of bricks and mortar, and therefore the buildings are not as permanent.

But this explains why Asians are so fascinated by anything essentially old-world-like. They literally have nothing like it at home.

[Animae]

I lived across the street from a temple that only has one location in all of north america. So I got my fair share of tourists. in my drive way. And my back yard. It was lots of fun.

When I was younger and my father would mow the lawn, the tourists would take pictures of him mowing the lawn, or they would take pictures of themselves pretending to mow the lawn.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

See that would really bother me if someone just walked up and started snapping pictures of me.

I don't like cameras... I don't even let my FRIENDS take pictures of me. Let alone complete strangers!

I'm camera shy too . . . if somebody points a camera at me and I'm not in the mood to have my picture taken, I'll go hide until they put it away.