What a Load of rubbish

I was amazed on Sunday to find an article in a local Palma newspaper, written by a journalist of long standing reputation on the island, in which he was talking about the general strike and the imminent general crisis. He seemed to be pleased to say that perhaps in that way the “natives” would be able to recover their rights, also quoting a former Majorcan politician, Tarabini, who said that the local Majorcans are treated in second place to the tourists. I think that they have both forgotten the old phrase, The client is always right and the newer Balearic Government publicity campaign that said “A tourist, a friend”. What are they thinking about? And I'm not talking about the time when it was visited by Chopin and George Sand or the Archduke Ludwig Salvatore. I'm talking about the sixties and early seventies when most of the summer waiters worked hard as builders' mates in the winter because there was no such thing as el paro (the dole). When my future sister–in–law (thinking of my probable expensive British habits) told me not to get married to her brother if he wasn't earning at least 6.000 pesetas a month, some 36 pounds at that rate of exchange, and a figure she thought was astronomical. As a provincial secretary in England at the time I was earning 52 pounds and my husband–to–be was employed by a Scot on his yacht for the grand sum of 100 pounds, certainly not an amount paid on a local fishing boat. The tourists in Port Andratx had to pay through the nose, or so thought the locals, for cleaning ladies or at the hairdresser's, since the price range for tourists was double or triple that charged to the “natives”. Yes, no–one minded the tourists coming then, and no–one minded charging elevated prices, because for the tourists, those elevated prices were still much, much lower than going rates back home. But funnily enough, the natives treated the tourists with much more charm and friendship than is abundant nowadays. They showed genuine pleasure when familiar faces returned year after year or even several times a year. Visitors who returned brought presents and were good tippers, but this interaction as it is called these days, was a friendly give and take. Now we have cases of readers writing complaining about the cost of meals out. Fortunately we are no longer living in a country where a waiter is happy with only 6'000 pesetas a month. Wages have increased and so have social security payments, and rentals, and building, and the cost of materials, and raw products, and..... Majorca is part of Europe and who can expect to go to any part of Europe and find the cost of living so much cheaper than in another country? And which Majorcan can expect to be treated any different from the tourists? In fact, as a host nation for tourists, the Majorcans should be prepared to do their utmost to make sure that the tourists return, year after year, especially the same ones, but also the new ones.