A few weeks ago, I saw a lady bawling her eyes out in an Italian airport security queue.
At first, I thought perhaps she had just said goodbye to someone she won’t be able to see again for a long time. Or she was really sad to leave the country where you can buy a bottle of decent wine for just a few euros.
But she continued to cry for long enough to get people around her looking increasingly startled and worried.
Eventually, one of them asked if she was all right.
She replied, in an unmistakably American accent, that she’s sure she’ll miss her flight because of long queues.
‘Well… you can just ask people to let you through?’ they said back to her.
The American lady froze in confusion. But a group of people in front started to make way for her to pass, and so she snapped out of it, grabbed her backpack and went ahead without saying a word.
Even after her figure disappeared in the sea of travellers, I couldn’t stop being confused at her confusion, though.
I’ve travelled a lot, mostly around Europe and mostly pre-pandemic, yet I never worried that a lengthy airport security line would make me miss my flight — if you’re short on time, you can ask people politely, and they will let you through. I queue-jumped more times than I can count and not once had an issue.
But then I started thinking about all the other times I came across American tourists or expats here and noticed a repeating, and quite depressing, pattern.
The ‘Ugly American’ stereotype
Americans are, generally speaking, quite hard to miss.
Mostly because of their big and blindingly white smiles, love for running shoes — sorry, sneakers — and the fact they often look like they’re going to the gym even though they probably aren’t.
But sometimes, it’s not just that.
If you’re from Europe — or any other place they like to flock to — you’re probably familiar with the…