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30 Encounters With Tourists From Hell Me And My GF Experienced While Working In Iceland’s Tourism
My girlfriend and I have been working in the tourism industry in Iceland for well over three years now. After hearing the same silly questions for the millionth time, we decided to put our customer service experience out for everyone to see. Meet The Tour Bunny, a fuzzy creature that tackles tourism-related issues.
How it all started: Our glorious drawer, Bun A, had a headache preventing him from going to sleep one night, while Bun V, his girlfriend, was studying abroad. He decided to sketch the funny comic "Do You Sell Tours?" and proceeded to send it to V, who read it and thought it was insanely cute and funny.
They then showed the cute drawings around in their circle of friends and colleagues, who all lit up after seeing it and demanded more. So, Bun A and V went to work and came up with stories that they encountered while having worked at a tourist information and booking center in Iceland. Oh, boy, were there a lot of stories for new webcomics.
For a while, this was circulating in private messages only, but we kept getting encouragement, and people said we should put these relatable comics online for everyone's viewing pleasure, which we did after a while.
Nowadays, we get submissions from all walks of life in Iceland (even tourists who found us and had some stories of their own!), and we are looking to get further input from outside Iceland as well to broaden our viewership.
If you find the comics funny and you have some stories of your own, please feel free to submit them on our Facebook page, Instagram, via email, or on the website (the last one is completely anonymous). If you do share, please let us know which country the story happened in!
We hope you enjoy our little project!
More info: thetourbunny.com | Facebook | Instagram
This post may include affiliate links.
I don’t think any country would be suitable for that...
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Only eat raw food? What kind of an idiot would harm themselves like that? We evolved BECAUSE of eating cooked food.
The country does not grow many vegetables, mainly the root vegetables and some hot house tomatoes. The meat and root vegetables stews were to invade for.
Could you do gluten, dairy, soy, egg, ginger, walnut and almond free?
I would kindly ask if that made sense for me to book it if I'm, say - lactose intolerant. Like - I don't have to taste everything, just tell me if anything would be alright for me. If not I'm not going to book it and make demands. But that just me.
...the non-alcohol part makes sense though. It should be ok to say you could have water (or possibly milk?). I avoid any drink/food with alcohol in it OR i would end up drinking all you have and become a really nasty person.
People don't do responsible research first and are, basically, ridiculous.
so hakkarl is dried shark and brennivin liquor weird names
No, hákarl is cured shark and brennivín is a type of schnapps, not just any liquor. Goes wel with the cured shark.
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I says send'em out... let nature take care of them..."The tour shall continue, but it is self-serve. Have a nice day"
I think every year we need one day where we could say what we really want to without repercussion. Like a verbal purge
I had a colleague once tell me she went for a hike through the rainforest on honeymoon in indonesia in high heels, because she couldn't wear anything else as it made her feet hurt!
I once was on a Tour in east Germany, not so long after the re-unification. The Lines were marking minefields thad hadnt been cleaned yet. Nobody crossed them. Long story short: We all need mor landmines for nature preservation
closer than Antarctica in the Argentine patagonia. We have large colonies of penguins. You can send this people there😋
My tongue gets bitten nearly in half several times a day from trying to politely reply to these people.
Well, do you sell any tours? :P it reminds me the Duck song with lemonade and grapes...
summer 2017: "I can't beleive the part about the new island of 1963 had a whole minute in BLACK AND WHITE!"
One of our customers sat on our desk once and wouldn’t move even when asked to. Well. Our desks are adjustable in height :)
This is very accurate, I as a tourist generally like places with few tourists.
I think i did that too. But is just to start conversation .I'm an introvert unfortunately
Note: this post originally had 65 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I don't work in the tourism industry, but I do work with the public...and these are spot on. lol
Thanks to the internet I've learned the public is pretty much just as ridiculous everywhere. I find I reassuring somehow.
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I work in hospitality and these are all my life!!! Thank you for good laughs
Thank You for reading them! Please feel free to send us an email/submit stories on the webpage if you feel like it! Just mention the country of origin please! ;)
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If you think it's any different here in America..it isn't. I love the service customers that ask for the impossible. "Can you give my dog a puppy cut?" (There's no such thing as a puppy cut.) "Can you just brush my dog out?" (From what I can see with the matts..it's because a brush rarely touches this dog at home, right.) "Can I sit and watch you groom my dog?" (Oh yes..because it's so much easier to groom a dog that's flailing around on the table because you're sitting 5 feet away and it thinks you're taking it home.) "Why is my dogs haircut so much more expensive than mine." (Because I doubt you bite your hair stylist, try to run from your hair stylist or that you squat and take a dump on the hair stylists chair.) People want champagne dreams at bargain beer prices. And they get so whiny when you tell them "no." Lovely that there's a whole generation of young kids now going through schools where teachers have been told that they can't say "no" to the kids. SMH
Actually, in the poodle world, there is a so called 'puppy clip' - you should try that one - hi hi hi :-D
Load More Replies... I've been to Island with my elderly mom and hence an organisedgroup tour. Some of the people on that trip.... -_- Seriously, I'd charge everybody 50€ a day in tax just for stepping on that island. The sense of entitlement that people have and this expectation that an almost empty, giant coutnry has the infrastructure, service and convenience of Disneyland is absolutely infuriating. Just stay at home adn watch a documentary, if you need a fancy toilet every hald hour! Fuckssake!
Yep...when people are on vacation and spending money like crazy they sometimes get a little stooopid! When you're jet-lagged and so many things are confusing and you know you have one chance to do this trip, and you want it be perfect, sometimes you become a bit ugly. Happens. Thank goodness for people who will help and keep a sense of humor. We recently returned from a fantastic trip to Iceland. Met some wonderful people. Beautiful country!
Norway knows you pain Iceland. Stavanger currently have problems with tourist entering the old treehouses by the sea, we are talking walking into yards and houses to take pictures. Thankfully been dead in my town. Let them never hear about the tunnel thats being made up through the mountain where the family cabins are, place is to pretty to be ruined.
I know that feeling. Icelanders also started to be less forthcoming about the few places that are still untouched... it's a shame, really.
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Visiting and spending some time in Iceland is my FIRST 'bucket list' dream. Not only for the Aurora Borealis, but for the awesome culture and amazing landscapes. I'll definitely travel to Iceland, someday. <3
If you do, hit us up - you can find a contact email on our website. We'll be more than happy to help you figure it out :)
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I helped for a while to sell t-shirts at a very touristic Christmas market. Our place was full of shirts. Shirts on hangers, on the shelves, on the counter. And I had everyday couple of customers that asked: WHAT DO YOU SELL HERE? Thank God, I am a polite person.
"We sell small off-duty traffic wardens." should be the default response :D Thank you for the story, made us realize it's not only us that are insane :D
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Haha, I guess these things don't change much around the world... Let us know if you have fun stories to share with us. Drop us a line whenever :)
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I laughed at most of them and almost cried - I spent 6 years working at a travel agency and nr. 2. was almost every day on my mind. I used to think if only one day, just one day every year I could call like top ten moron clients and tell them directly that they were idiots, I could do this job for much longer.. I don't work there anymore and it's been a relief, to be honest.
After essentially up voting all the entries in this post I'm now following The Tour Bunny on FB. <3
As one should! :D <3 It's always great to know that people like what we do. Thanks ;)
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Two warnings I give potential visitors about Iceland: Do not jump in the lake, you might end up as tourist soup; Just because the cliff doesn't have a "Danger" sign, doesn't mean it's safe to stand on the edge.
Back in 1973 when I was working at the Grand Canyon here in the USA, we had one person ask, "When do they turn the lights on over the Canyon?" Answer: "The moon comes up about 10 pm. Another woman had found the foot/mule path on her map and insisted that she be shown how to get to that "road down to the bottom of the Canyon." She refused to believe that her car would not be allowed.
Oh my, oh my... Thank you for this, we might just use them! ;)
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People are like this everywhere. Working at a tattoo shop, actively tattooing someone when a group of people come in. Their first question, “Do you guys do tattoos?” I once said that we didn’t and they stood there for a few minutes looking around while I continued to tattoo only to hear, “So like, um, you do tattoos here?” sigh.....
We have that with "Do you speak English" when we clearly address the customers in English! :)
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I work in the tourism and hospitality industry also. These are sooo funny 😆 cause they’re soo true!! Thanks for sharing 🤣
Thank you for reading them! :) If you have some stories to share with us, please keep us in mind! ;)
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LOL as an Alaskan.. I feel these so hard substitute "I wanna see Denali/Homer/Barrow/Seward for the travel all over iceland one. Or "can't you turn out the lights outside" in June from hotel visitors... yea I feel this
Thank you! :) If you have any stories that we haven't yet covered, please do share!
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Loved them. You could probably have this sort of thing made for every public engaged company or business. Really good.
Quite true! I was actually positively surprised that aside from the outpouring of love from you, there are also people who are using our stories as cautionary tales for those who are coming to Iceland, which is pretty cool!
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I really want to go to Iceland someday, but I like to think I'm a good tourist (having worked in travel I know nothing is ever perfect), I've even learned a few words, even if just to make the locals laugh at how badly I mispronounce it :D
We would be happy to have you over here, then! :) Do shoot us a message if you are coming. :)
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Worked 10 years on Panama City Beach sooooooo yeah. This is pretty spot on.
Thank you! If you have some stories... all I'm saying is please, remember us, and share! :)
Load More Replies... I can sympathize as I've seen this many times during travels. I'm kind of sorry of havingI laughed a lot but the drawings are so accurate and funny. Thank you to the author for this moment.
Dear Isabelle, Do not feel sorry for laughing. I think you can either be completely and utterly pissed and hateful towards all tourists, have nervous breakdowns every week, or just laugh at these situations since they are out of your control (mostly) anyway. But, as I can see from some comments here and on FB, people are actually taking heed of these stories and use them as cautionary tales.
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I'm a corporate travel agent and these are hilarious! I left the leisure industry 10 years ago but these still ring true, only now it's businessmen! My flight has been cancelled! I need to be there even though there is a hurricane coming and every airport is closed....I must get to my meeting!!
Oh, yes, we have this fairly often! "Can't you just do the impossible for me? Just this once?"
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Takk fyrir, Íris, gaman að heyra þetta! <3
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I hope to come back to Iceland soon. Such a beautiful country, and I like winter, so the weather didn't bother or faze me. But I'll never go to the Blue Lagoon again. I expected a good number of people there, of course, but I didn't realize just how very crowded it would be. I only stayed an hour.
Protip: while the waters aren't blue, public pools in Iceland are still geothermal heated, and come with hot pots at varying temperatures, steam rooms / saunas, etc. They're also vastly cheaper than places like the Blue Lagoon, and the water won't mat your hair. Super-relaxing.
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We went on a diving trip to see a mana ray cleaning station which was one of my most amazing experiences I have ever seen but it got ruined by another tourist diver group which made themselves feeling comfortable sitting on the still living corals like they where benches made for them!!! The tour guide didn‘t do anything to not loose their tip money as people are stupid to blame tour guides for not having a comfortable sitting opportunity presented even under water but we chased the all off and gave them a nice angry „get your a**e off“ under water :D There are such ignorant people out there unbelievable just because they paid some money they thing the ocean belongs to them!
I LOVED Iceland. Everyone was super nice. So glad we didn't ask any of these questions :)
In that case, we welcome you back! ;)
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Thank you so much! :) We are still flabbergasted by the amount of attention we got, but it fills us up with this weird, warm, fuzzy feeling...
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Every one of these cartoons is a reason that stupid people shouldn't breed.
A good friend of mine works in a pop culture store in the Melbourne CBD here in Australia. I reckon he’d have a lot of stories to tell! I don’t ask how work is for him any more..he has enough to deal with as it is 😋
Oh, boy, that doesn't sound good... do share us with him, in case he finds some comfort in other people living through the same things as he does on a daily basis. :)
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xD I enjoyed all of those! Thanks! <3 (Also sorry people are the dumb)
You're welcome, Alice. Thank you for the kind words and don't worry, people are only dumb when their brain is on vacation. For some permanently, for some occasionaly. Can't say we don't get a nice laugh out of it from time to time!
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I don't work in the tourism industry, but I do work with the public...and these are spot on. lol
Thanks to the internet I've learned the public is pretty much just as ridiculous everywhere. I find I reassuring somehow.
Load More Replies... I work in hospitality and these are all my life!!! Thank you for good laughs
Thank You for reading them! Please feel free to send us an email/submit stories on the webpage if you feel like it! Just mention the country of origin please! ;)
Load More Replies... If you think it's any different here in America..it isn't. I love the service customers that ask for the impossible. "Can you give my dog a puppy cut?" (There's no such thing as a puppy cut.) "Can you just brush my dog out?" (From what I can see with the matts..it's because a brush rarely touches this dog at home, right.) "Can I sit and watch you groom my dog?" (Oh yes..because it's so much easier to groom a dog that's flailing around on the table because you're sitting 5 feet away and it thinks you're taking it home.) "Why is my dogs haircut so much more expensive than mine." (Because I doubt you bite your hair stylist, try to run from your hair stylist or that you squat and take a dump on the hair stylists chair.) People want champagne dreams at bargain beer prices. And they get so whiny when you tell them "no." Lovely that there's a whole generation of young kids now going through schools where teachers have been told that they can't say "no" to the kids. SMH
Actually, in the poodle world, there is a so called 'puppy clip' - you should try that one - hi hi hi :-D
Load More Replies... I've been to Island with my elderly mom and hence an organisedgroup tour. Some of the people on that trip.... -_- Seriously, I'd charge everybody 50€ a day in tax just for stepping on that island. The sense of entitlement that people have and this expectation that an almost empty, giant coutnry has the infrastructure, service and convenience of Disneyland is absolutely infuriating. Just stay at home adn watch a documentary, if you need a fancy toilet every hald hour! Fuckssake!
Yep...when people are on vacation and spending money like crazy they sometimes get a little stooopid! When you're jet-lagged and so many things are confusing and you know you have one chance to do this trip, and you want it be perfect, sometimes you become a bit ugly. Happens. Thank goodness for people who will help and keep a sense of humor. We recently returned from a fantastic trip to Iceland. Met some wonderful people. Beautiful country!
Norway knows you pain Iceland. Stavanger currently have problems with tourist entering the old treehouses by the sea, we are talking walking into yards and houses to take pictures. Thankfully been dead in my town. Let them never hear about the tunnel thats being made up through the mountain where the family cabins are, place is to pretty to be ruined.
I know that feeling. Icelanders also started to be less forthcoming about the few places that are still untouched... it's a shame, really.
Load More Replies... Visiting and spending some time in Iceland is my FIRST 'bucket list' dream. Not only for the Aurora Borealis, but for the awesome culture and amazing landscapes. I'll definitely travel to Iceland, someday. <3
If you do, hit us up - you can find a contact email on our website. We'll be more than happy to help you figure it out :)
Load More Replies... I helped for a while to sell t-shirts at a very touristic Christmas market. Our place was full of shirts. Shirts on hangers, on the shelves, on the counter. And I had everyday couple of customers that asked: WHAT DO YOU SELL HERE? Thank God, I am a polite person.
"We sell small off-duty traffic wardens." should be the default response :D Thank you for the story, made us realize it's not only us that are insane :D
Load More Replies... Haha, I guess these things don't change much around the world... Let us know if you have fun stories to share with us. Drop us a line whenever :)
Load More Replies... I laughed at most of them and almost cried - I spent 6 years working at a travel agency and nr. 2. was almost every day on my mind. I used to think if only one day, just one day every year I could call like top ten moron clients and tell them directly that they were idiots, I could do this job for much longer.. I don't work there anymore and it's been a relief, to be honest.
After essentially up voting all the entries in this post I'm now following The Tour Bunny on FB. <3
As one should! :D <3 It's always great to know that people like what we do. Thanks ;)
Load More Replies... Two warnings I give potential visitors about Iceland: Do not jump in the lake, you might end up as tourist soup; Just because the cliff doesn't have a "Danger" sign, doesn't mean it's safe to stand on the edge.
Back in 1973 when I was working at the Grand Canyon here in the USA, we had one person ask, "When do they turn the lights on over the Canyon?" Answer: "The moon comes up about 10 pm. Another woman had found the foot/mule path on her map and insisted that she be shown how to get to that "road down to the bottom of the Canyon." She refused to believe that her car would not be allowed.
Oh my, oh my... Thank you for this, we might just use them! ;)
Load More Replies... People are like this everywhere. Working at a tattoo shop, actively tattooing someone when a group of people come in. Their first question, “Do you guys do tattoos?” I once said that we didn’t and they stood there for a few minutes looking around while I continued to tattoo only to hear, “So like, um, you do tattoos here?” sigh.....
We have that with "Do you speak English" when we clearly address the customers in English! :)
Load More Replies... I work in the tourism and hospitality industry also. These are sooo funny 😆 cause they’re soo true!! Thanks for sharing 🤣
Thank you for reading them! :) If you have some stories to share with us, please keep us in mind! ;)
Load More Replies... LOL as an Alaskan.. I feel these so hard substitute "I wanna see Denali/Homer/Barrow/Seward for the travel all over iceland one. Or "can't you turn out the lights outside" in June from hotel visitors... yea I feel this
Thank you! :) If you have any stories that we haven't yet covered, please do share!
Load More Replies... Loved them. You could probably have this sort of thing made for every public engaged company or business. Really good.
Quite true! I was actually positively surprised that aside from the outpouring of love from you, there are also people who are using our stories as cautionary tales for those who are coming to Iceland, which is pretty cool!
Load More Replies... I really want to go to Iceland someday, but I like to think I'm a good tourist (having worked in travel I know nothing is ever perfect), I've even learned a few words, even if just to make the locals laugh at how badly I mispronounce it :D
We would be happy to have you over here, then! :) Do shoot us a message if you are coming. :)
Load More Replies... Worked 10 years on Panama City Beach sooooooo yeah. This is pretty spot on.
Thank you! If you have some stories... all I'm saying is please, remember us, and share! :)
Load More Replies... I can sympathize as I've seen this many times during travels. I'm kind of sorry of havingI laughed a lot but the drawings are so accurate and funny. Thank you to the author for this moment.
Dear Isabelle, Do not feel sorry for laughing. I think you can either be completely and utterly pissed and hateful towards all tourists, have nervous breakdowns every week, or just laugh at these situations since they are out of your control (mostly) anyway. But, as I can see from some comments here and on FB, people are actually taking heed of these stories and use them as cautionary tales.
Load More Replies... I'm a corporate travel agent and these are hilarious! I left the leisure industry 10 years ago but these still ring true, only now it's businessmen! My flight has been cancelled! I need to be there even though there is a hurricane coming and every airport is closed....I must get to my meeting!!
Oh, yes, we have this fairly often! "Can't you just do the impossible for me? Just this once?"
Load More Replies... Takk fyrir, Íris, gaman að heyra þetta! <3
Load More Replies... I hope to come back to Iceland soon. Such a beautiful country, and I like winter, so the weather didn't bother or faze me. But I'll never go to the Blue Lagoon again. I expected a good number of people there, of course, but I didn't realize just how very crowded it would be. I only stayed an hour.
Protip: while the waters aren't blue, public pools in Iceland are still geothermal heated, and come with hot pots at varying temperatures, steam rooms / saunas, etc. They're also vastly cheaper than places like the Blue Lagoon, and the water won't mat your hair. Super-relaxing.
Load More Replies... We went on a diving trip to see a mana ray cleaning station which was one of my most amazing experiences I have ever seen but it got ruined by another tourist diver group which made themselves feeling comfortable sitting on the still living corals like they where benches made for them!!! The tour guide didn‘t do anything to not loose their tip money as people are stupid to blame tour guides for not having a comfortable sitting opportunity presented even under water but we chased the all off and gave them a nice angry „get your a**e off“ under water :D There are such ignorant people out there unbelievable just because they paid some money they thing the ocean belongs to them!
I LOVED Iceland. Everyone was super nice. So glad we didn't ask any of these questions :)
In that case, we welcome you back! ;)
Load More Replies... Thank you so much! :) We are still flabbergasted by the amount of attention we got, but it fills us up with this weird, warm, fuzzy feeling...
Load More Replies... Every one of these cartoons is a reason that stupid people shouldn't breed.
A good friend of mine works in a pop culture store in the Melbourne CBD here in Australia. I reckon he’d have a lot of stories to tell! I don’t ask how work is for him any more..he has enough to deal with as it is 😋
Oh, boy, that doesn't sound good... do share us with him, in case he finds some comfort in other people living through the same things as he does on a daily basis. :)
Load More Replies... xD I enjoyed all of those! Thanks! <3 (Also sorry people are the dumb)
You're welcome, Alice. Thank you for the kind words and don't worry, people are only dumb when their brain is on vacation. For some permanently, for some occasionaly. Can't say we don't get a nice laugh out of it from time to time!
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