I realize that my next post is supposed to follow suit of my previous few and be about traveling with school-age kids, but today I really need to vent. It has to do with our new neighbors, injustice, inconsideration, and snarkiness (is snarkiness a word???). Of course it also has to do with a campground…
We have put approx. 45 thousand miles on our trailer in the last 2 years. We have met thousands of other people on the road, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. But we hadn’t met snarky until yesterday. I should probably explain that we are dry camping in a public campground on a lake; we pulled in on Monday, snagged the best spot in the campground (under the only tree), and moved our son’s camper in 2 sites down since the site next to us was occupied (by someone we knew no less). We talked with the camp host, who said that when the gentleman in the next site moved in a couple of days, that we could move our sons camper over and the site change would be no big deal (for payment). Fast forward 3 days later, with our neighbor pulling out. He pulls out, I pull our van into the site while I hitch up my son’s camper to move it over. This is not a busy campground, but possession is 9/10ths of the law, right?(well, it’s not! lesson learned…) Getting out of the vehicle, a lady approaches me walking over from her spot and informs me that they are moving to that site – she has been waiting for him to leave for 3 hours, she wants the site, and she will fight for it. are you serious??? it’s a camping spot lady. and there are 25 more nearly exactly like it, all open for the taking. I nicely let her know that we had been waiting for the site for 3 days so that we could camp next to our son. She didn’t care – she had been waiting for 3 hours, she wants the site, she will fight for it… ummm, ok…
Even in the 4 months of being the lone camp hosts at a 77 site campground, I have never come across such blatant nastiness; most people tame their bad attitudes once confronted by some sort of authority. I told her that I would let the camp host know of the situation, and that he could decide the outcome. At this point, I didn’t really care so much about the site; I mostly just really didn’t want to have such neighbors for the next week and a half! So, while I drove over to the host site, the intruders pulled their truck around our van (which I left there and took the truck), and were throwing garbage bags of camping ‘stuff’ out as fast as they could (they still had to move their camper too). The camp host came over and asked them to move since we had site possession first. They Refused; would not leave, were in-your-face nasty at the host. The host’s boss ended up coming over, and I left and went in my rv since I knew that I had the right to the site and things were getting ugly. The host came to me apologizing, but said that I needed to move my van and that the boss had given the site to the usurpers. I’m still not sure why; maybe their lying about who was there first had a part in it (wouldn’t want to seek any witnesses now would we?), maybe it was the whole confrontation vs. lack of backbone (and since I know the boss, he knew that I wouldn’t give him guff like these people), but I think that it was mostly pacifying the snark (and her hubby and granddaugher who are just like her). So now, Lucky Us; we have new neighbors – they have a nice slide-in truck camper, they have a snazzy boat, they keep a clean site. If only their personalities matched their camp.
So, what is it with snarky campers? I guess that you could say, what is it with snarky people in general, but something about camping is a recipe for run-ins of the not so pleasant nature. Whether it is folks running their genes at all hours, having a loud drunken brawl at 1 a.m., or RVers that are so special that the rules don’t apply to them. While we have met far more super wonderful ‘neighbors’ while in campgrounds, it seems that when you do run into a nasty, they are extra nasty.
It is a popular saying that all clouds have a silver lining; (I’m digging here) and have come up with the silver lining in this cloud (which is going to hover for the next 10 days), is the reminder to Play Nice. Which I guess means that I will have to repress the urge to install the hardwood floor in the toy hauler this week (you know, with running the generator, the chop saw, the air compressor for the nailer…). Because someone has to be the adult, and goodness knows the sweet camp hosts don’t need anymore nasties in the campground.
So, there you have it, a reminder to Camp Nice – and don’t let the snarks get to you…
What is it with snarky campers???
July 22, 2011
Dana T.
hehehe! you all are great! wish we were parked by you instead of the snarks! LOL! 🙂
david huckabee
maybe snarky people are aliens from outer space. it is difficult for them to blend in smoothly. good manners gets lost in translation.
Janet
I love Professor 95’s solution! But there should be a written rule about snarkiness… I do believe I have read the unwritten version but obviously not every one has!
Professor95
Go to your snarky neighbors with a cherry pie, a bag of ice and a big smile.
#1 – They Will be shocked and then suspicious..
#2 – They will probably refuse the cherry pie out of fear it contains poison.
#3 – Take the cherry pie back but insist that they take the bag of ice.
#4 – When they want to know why, inform them they will need the ice to treat the stings from the yellow jackets that have a nest in the ground near their camper.
#5 – When they ask where the bee’s nest is, just set the ice bag down, smile and walk away while muttering loudly enough for them to hear, “Oh, you will be finding it very soon – no need for me to tell you.”. Be sure to swat the air with your hand as if to shoo away a bee while you are walking away.
🙂
dana t.
this was a rather bizarre experience – I don’t usually back down when I know that I am right, but in this case, I really didn’t want the camp host to have to deal with them being even worse later! Plus, when I moved my van out, I figured that it was so they could get their truck out easier… I was really a bit taken back that the boss would still let them stay after he found out that my van had been there first. We were actually going to take one of his host sites next summer, but I would never now – I could never work for someone that didn’t back me up as a host. We found out from the host later that these are regulars and they are always snarks – continually looking for a fight (I did think it odd at the time that she was hauling around a set of BOR regs!).
We do actually pack – but these guys weren’t the kind to creep me out – they are big cowards when it comes down to it… and you are right David, giving in to them only makes them worse. I was probably wrong to not make a case of it, and now wish I would have, but I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t be moving. It has been a bit stressful, but I have been trying to be NOT snarky since my kiddos are watching 😉
They were gone most of the day today, out in their boat, but then the mostly naked girls moved in (IN our spot) on the water’s edge, hoping to catch my boys’ eyes… (the boys didn’t mind, I let them go in and watch a movie they’d been wanting to see). grrr… I hate weekends! LOL! 🙂
Liz
I’m sorry you had such a horrible experience. We have been pretty lucky RVing. The only incident we had was when we firsted started. Went to a WA St. Park & didn have the sense at the time to tow a car. Left to go get a few things in town that we forgot & someone took our spot. Then to rain on that, the park issued us a ticket for parking in another spot. The park was so/so about clearing the mess up….we didn’t get our orignal spot back but the ticket was torn up. The only problem we have had over & over is barking dogs during the day & at night (yes, we have dogs). If you ever pass through Idaho, stop at Ponderosa St, Park in McCall. Great RV sites and next to Payette Lake.
david huckabee
your experience with snarky people, is why people need to be prepared to defend your person and family at all times, even in a camp ground. you have no way of knowing, who the psychos are next to your RV or tent. giving up to aggression, just feeds the fire. so, an old grand pa, grand ma and a grand child made everyone back down. you can bet your next hotdog, that was not their first nasty evolution. try to plan and think of the worst possible event in your camp ground. all the adults in your group, should be experienced with self defense and/or improvised weapons. the next step is to have a small caliber gun available, if legal in that state/federal camp site. better to be alive and answering questions than wondering why the nut case killed one of your family members. the world is a lot crazier, since we were kids. just one mans opinion.
Jim Sweeney
Well, all I can say is,,,,Thank God for the TYPICAL RV’er….who is normally super to be around. I haven’t had the pleasure of wanting to be snarked yet. Hope it never happens….rv’ing is too pleasant a time in our lives to make things worse by running into idiots and inconsiderate people.
Jon
We went camping two weeks ago in Michigan’s UP at Indian Lake. We had called and reserved our camp site more than 3 weeks in advance and paid for it. We we got there the site was occupied by an van type camper. I approached the people and told them that we had reserved and paid for the site. The man said they got there first and they were taking it. Well we had to get the camp host who we were familiar with. They had pulled in maybe 10 min before we got there. The camp host took care of the problem and they left the campground..I guess some people just have no manners..
Krystal S
I can truly say we’ve only had one encounter with snarkiness in the whole time we’ve been full timing. Overall we’ve had exceptionally great experiences. Unfortunately the one time still makes me sick to my stomach when I recall it. =( Sorry that the snarkers made their way to you this week.