Tourist/ Local Relations

Tomorrow is the opening day of the track at Saratoga and it made me think about how locals and tourists interact. I was also behind an eighty year-old from New Jersey who was driving her Mercedes about 25 mph in a 45.

They're like this, but more Jersey

I think the strain between tourists and locals mostly erupts from driving. We know the roads, and the tourists just wander around trying to follow their GPS moving at about 10 mph. They throw on the left blinker and go right, they take our parking. It's enough to piss off even the nicest people.

However, the track acts as a mediating point between tourists and locals. We all just want to get drunk and bet the ponies, so everyone can come together; funny accents or otherwise. The track is like the melting pot of Saratoga. Just the drive there will make you pull your teeth out.

But then everyone heads down to Caroline street and shit goes wrong. Guys with weird accents and frosted tips cut you off in line for drinks, and shit hits the fan. It isn't the happy-go-lucky second race camaraderie of 2pm. It's the fight the douche 2am scene.

And then we come to the reason we all put up with them. When the tourists drop coinage. Whether you work at the track or somewhere else in town; someone from Jersey is funding your business through July and August. So even when you hate them, you have to like their cash. Even though it smells like New Jersey, ew.