This whine has spoiled.

Like in most big cities in August, New Yorkers flee and tourists invade. But this year we've all noticed that it's been different. With the dollar crippled, traveling abroad has been a much less appealing option than before. Even some of those who spend the summer on the beach have had to give up their shares in the Hamptons or the Pines, (Say it's not so!). Since the onset of summer we've heard a new word repeated over and over: staycation, even though the pathetic economy has been a boon to foreign tourists for a while. (I remember people talking this winter about visitors extending their stay so that they could do their Christmas shopping here rather than at home.) Still, most of us remember not all that long ago when things were the other way around, when traveling in Europe was amazing since everything was so much cheaper, (Camper shoes here are less than $60? I'm buying all of these!). We know that things will even out again, that some years are good, (Clinton), and some years are bad, (Bush). On the other hand, there are those among us who feel a sense of indignation about the economy, as if they've been personally affronted by the weak dollar. What do they do? Bitch about uppity Europeans who don't know their place. Check out what they have to say in the New York Times. I have to say that I'm astonished at people's sense of entitlement and the classist tone of the article. New Yorkers are upset seeing "outsiders treat their city like a Wal-Mart of hip." One New Yorker expresses shock about her friends' spending saying: “Back home they’re just run-of-the-mill cubicle people... but here, they’re like three parts Kimora Simmons and two parts Oasis, circa 1995.” My favorite, however, is the unfortunate young woman who clearly doesn't understand that her status has changed after the mere shop girls, who should trip over themselves to help someone as elegant as her, ignore her for some tacky Europeans. "Wearing the sort of outfit that usually acts as a siren for department store salespeople — a Tory Burch shift dress and Jimmy Choo slingback heels — she instead found herself waiting behind a European couple in sneakers and bike shorts..." (Bike shorts! They're tacky and tasteless and they're still getting more attention!) Her inability to grasp the situation is summed up in the following: "She was always used to first-class service, she said, adding, 'But now, there’s an ultra-first.'" The poor thing doesn't even understand how ordinal numbers work. I wonder if she also thinks that Olympians who win silver come in first, it's just that the gold medalists come in ultra-first.