Tourism props up more than just NYC's economy

It's the time of year when NYC is overrun with tourists who are somehow under the impression that the city in winter is worth spending $350 per night for a hotel on. The Rockefeller Center tree lighting, the display windows at Macy's, the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square–these are all things that would be lovely in, say, Florida or California. But in New York, they're painful and miserable because of the cold. So I guess those $350-per-night hotels are worth it, because that's where they end up spending all of their time once they realize walking around Central Park isn't so fun when the wind is eating your face off.

Anyway, I'm particularly annoyed by tourists for no good reason. I'm not one of those people who's ever in a hurry, and I don't have any horrible Christmas memories that make me want everyone else's holidays to suck, but I require the subway to be quiet when I'm on my way to work. So when these massive groups of tourists all board one train car at 8:30 a.m. on their way to the Statue of Liberty every morning, I get my knickers in a bit of a twist.

On one particular morning, I was standing by one of the poles in the far end of a car, surrounded by French people. The French are especially bad, because they're so darned happy. At least with the Germans, you get mean-sounding accents with harsh-sounding words that only perpetuate your bad morning mood, but the French are always kissing each other and pleasantly tying each other's scarves around their delightfully pink necks, and all I want to do is knock them down a few notches.

The group around me was chatting away excitedly in their sing-songy sweet accents and having such a great time that I let out an audible sigh. I'm not sure they noticed. They continued, with the couple next to me kissing repeatedly and loudly. I looked over at them with my meanest grimace, but they continued with their merrymaking. Without even meaning to, I said, "God!", and a couple of them turned to look at me. I felt embarrassed but figured it was worth it if they got the hint and gave me a little peace in the ten minutes before work. But no, they continued on, laughing at nothing. I finally accepted that they weren't going to tire themselves any time soon, so I reached into my bag for my iPod to try to block them out.

I let go of the pole in front of me to use both hands to put my headphones on as I always do, but as luck would have it, the train conductor chose that moment to make the train lurch forward, sending me falling backward. Of course it was the group of French people who caught me and got me back on my feet, who patted my shoulder to make me feel less embarrassed, and who smiled as I reluctantly thanked them.

Tourists are annoying.