When people hear the Jersey Shore, I'm sure the first images that pop up in their heads consist of coastal beaches, boardwalks and rowdy fist pumpers (thanks to the very inaccurate and scripted reality show). Living where thousands of individuals flock to vacation every year is a challenge that many can't understand or comprehend. Keeping that in mind, I'll try and illustrate it the best that I can; it's a challenge. Please don't get me wrong, living less than a mile from some of the most famous beaches in the world has its perks, and nine months out of the year it's a four season paradise. However, from Memorial to Labor Day, living at the Shore has its obstacles.
What every local has to deal with are people who don't know about local customs or the local way of life. Kooks, Shoebies, Bennies, all names for posers that try and act like they know the local style but really are outsiders. Classic signs for these types are socks with sandals, aviator sunglasses and cheap Hawaiian shirts. Advanced symptoms will include Jordan sandals, wife beaters and basketball shorts. It's hard not to pass judgement on those types as a local mainly because they represent the very image of annoyance. Bumper to bumper traffic while trying to get off the parkway exit on a weekend night is something that we have to deal with every summer. Surfers and Bodyboarders have to deal with young kids wearing white t-shirts and water shoes dropping in on an inflated tube, effectively cutting off their opportunity at catching a great wave. Drunken twenty year old's yelling obscenities from beachfront bungalo balconies at families simply trying to make their way to the beach.
All of these daily occurrences will make most locals hardened to the idea of helping tourists. Basic questions such as, "How do I get to the beach from here?" will possibly receive a sarcastic response such as this, "Oh, you just turn around, take Highway 35 West to the Parkway North so you can go back to wherever you came from." It never ceases to amaze me the amount of questions that I get that seem so obvious to me, but aren't to them. "Do you ever see dolphins in the river?", "Why can't you swim when there's a red flag?", "Why can't you drink the water?" These questions will surely receive a blank stare of amazement, followed by a clear and concise answer that will definitely try and make the person asking feel stupid. Now, tourists do wonderful things for our local economy. They drive the sales for our small businesses and create seasonal job opportunities for the local youth. In looking at the big picture, we do need to thank them rather than to give them dirty looks. Yes, they are generally annoying because of the aggravation they bring from wherever they're from, but they make the Shore what it is because of their monetary involvement.
The Shore has afforded me the opportunity to acquire many skills. I've worked on boats, I'm a certified diver, and I know a lot about oceanography and marine biology just from living here my whole life. I'm extremely thankful to have been raised in an area with unique qualities and I'm even more thankful for the individuals that I've met along the way, including tourists. Living in a tourist trap has forced me to view people's lives in different ways than most have to. You have to take the good with the bad, and living in a place where a lot of people come to vacation, definitely tends to be more good than anything else.
