By Liz Wilcox
Honestly, I don’t think this post needs any introduction. Let’s just get into it.
People who leave their mess in the shower
Every. Single. Time.
Every single time I go take a shower some nasty person has left a big glob of their hair in the drain, on the wall of the shower, or, you know, in a big ole pile right by the door for me to step on.
My personal favorite thing is when I walk into the shower stall and there’s a band-aid on the floor to accompany the hair. Yeah, that’s great.
Campground managers who lock up the plunger
So the other day I walked into the bathroom to see someone had left a big ole STANK in one of the stalls.
Now, this has happened several times in the last few weeks and my first reaction is that there are a bunch of insanely gross people in the park. But, I am an optimist by nature, so then I thought, “There just can’t be that many NASTIES in this park! I refuse to believe this!”
Upon further inspection, I realized there was no darn plunger in the bathroom. These poor souls can’t help it that the campground installed low-flow toilets and then gave them no plunger!
Campground owners! Please stop locking up the plungers! I beg of you!
The neighbor who over-shares
Now, I love RV parks because I love meeting new people. I’m naturally an extrovert and have never met a stranger.
All that aside, sometimes I pull into a site and find someone that blows me outta the water! You know what I’m talking about…
The neighbor that within 24 hours of camping by him you know enough about him to write his resume, fix his marriage, and run all his errands three counties away.
Sir, please. Backing away is not your cue to step forward. And no, I don’t want to see that funny picture on your phone while I’m trying to grill.
The people that cut through your site
I understand that I’m just a visitor and my site isn’t technically private property, but come on! It’s just weird and intrusive. Go around!
P.S. It’s especially odd when we both know dang well I’m sitting here watching you do this.
Readers – Do you have a “campground jerk” story? Feel free to vent (as politely as possible) in the comments below.
Don’t miss The Virtual Campground website for RVing tips, tricks, interviews, humor and more.
##RVT901
I especially love the guy next to me that declares, “I’m getting an early start tomorrow” then starts the diesel and let’s it run for 45 minutes at 4am, while he packs up. All the while slamming storage doors and entry doors. Maybe pack up the night before?
I’m going to take some heat on this…..I don’t like dogs…..I’m a cat person. I bring my cat camping with me so I don’t leave him home. He stays inside. I scoop his poop and throw out in the trash. I don’t walk him on a lead. I don’t want to pet your dog, I don’t want him to jump on me or sniff me….last year as one came towards me (owner had him on the lead) he said ‘friendly, he won’t bite’, the dog proceeded to nip my husband. I know why you bring your dogs, keep them under control please!
Though not technically a CG Jerk, it is definitely an RV lifestyle type of Jerk – and there are many of them, as we found every night last summer, at every CG requiring reservations (typically National Park and National Forest CGs).
These are the Jerks who reserve campsites – but then never bother to show up or cancel, taking up spaces which many other spontaneous campers need. Particularly bad this past summer we found, but we have noticed in walking around a CG late in the afternoon how many sites had “reserved ” notices posted on them – usually with precise In/Out dates – yet were unoccupied. We would then walk again the next AM and usually find virtually of the same still empty. We noticed a number of sites with reserved dates of at least a week that remained totally empty the entire week!
Meanwhile we noted that throughout the afternoon there was a constant caravan of campers hoping and looking for an open, available site.
I think that’s good that you have check that out. I have never stay at one yet, but sure hope too. Do you tell the person in charge and do they do anything about it? I wonder if they pay for the stay.I am glad that I always call and cancel which have only been twice one break down.
Several CG Jerk pet peeves –
(1) Those who decide to burn their trash & garbage in the fire pit. Nothing like the smell of burnt garbage and cancerous plastic fumes floating through the park. People just too lazy to bag up their trash and deposit it in the available dumpster.
(2) Biggest single Jerk award goes to the fellow who decided to wash his 5th wheel while parked at the dump station directly in front of us. Don’t know why, as all sites there supplied water, but this large CG only had 1 dump station to serve all RVers there (no sewer at any sites). So this one Dump station had a lot of business, and a large line quickly grew as everyone lined up had to wait while this fellow decided to use the dump hose and his own brush to wash his entire rig. And it was not even that dirty! After all we were not in a muddy area.
We’ve been lucky, good neighbors and no negative experiences. Long time tent campers, RVing regularly since summer 2020 across several states.
People who pick up their dog’s poop, then drop it in MY garbage can. And people who take their dogs out to poop after dark, thinking nobody will see that they don’t pick it up!
People who light their area like daylight and leave them on all night. Even the porch light can light up my bedroom all night.
At a campground, we had a family of 6 or 7 behind us that constently cut thru our campsite as the bathroom was right across from us. After asking with no response, we called the manager and they offered us a new spot. Oh great, let’s break down to set up again instead of saying anything to the offenders
Death neighbor campers with barking dogs. I actually go camping to get away from the barking dogs in my neighborhood. I have nothing against the dog, it’s the lousy pet owner that is the problem. Not only do all camper have a dog, some of them take 2/3/4 dogs and they have no consideration or respect for others.
Reading down through todays comments, I can see a theme about the unpleasantness of dogs in a campground. Maybe one day campgrounds will advertise the benefit of being “Pet Free” (no pets), or at least keep some sections “pet free” so nature can be enjoyed.
But on the other hand, so many take the fur baby with us for the joy they give us .Mine is quiet and does not bark unless someone comes into their space that does not belong.I too do not like to listen to a dog bark nonstop for hours,What I dislike the kids from all around that think any dog is cute and wants to pet them.
No Campground Jerks Here! Extended family trip to Key Largo a few years back. We were all gathered at my nephew’s site having a cookout. Unfortunately, my nephew had a few too many and began saying the Pledge of Allegiance to his US flag that he always brings with him. We all joined in (about 15 of us). Suddenly everyone around us stopped what they were doing, took off their hats and joined in with us. Even kids on their bikes stopped and joined in. After we were finished the roaring and clapping was huge! You could hear whooping and clapping all over the campground. Our hearts were beaming with pride because instead of people getting angry and screaming for us to shut up they joined right in. God Bless America!!
Motorcycles with straight pipes for mufflers, seems that this year there is more of them. People who leave skid marks in the toilet, please flush again. You won’t be wasting water, I flush it till its clear.
It’s a toilet, why waste the water and the possible extra loading on the septic tank?
Article is 1 1/2 years old.
Even MORE relevant today than it was then!!!
The thing that really disappoints me are the inconsiderate people that do not contribute to keeping the campgrounds clean!
Dog poop, running through your site, nasty bathhouse actions, loud TV/music, rowdy late night conversations (after10/11 pm) and unwarranted help/conversation during setup and departure efforts. I love meeting new people and hearing some of their stories and advice (sometimes, LOL). I love that more people are entering this life style but one must keep in mind that proximity does not extend an open invitation to just walk up and enter your “world” without some sort of greeting or welcoming gesture. Keep others in mind and ask: “Would this action of mine, by others, bother me?” Relax and enjoy the out of doors; it’s the reason we are all there. Happy Camping to all and here’s to a covid free 2021!
PS Thanks for offering this platform. I love hearing from fellow campers.
I knew this article would get a large number of comments. People love to complain.
Campgrounds that sell wood that isn’t dry enough to burn without smoking up the entire campground. I’m not a fan of campfires but wet wood makes campfires that much more annoying.
Also fires that are left burning when there’s no one sitting by them. I’ve seen some burn/smolder 24 hours a day.
Disclaimer:
We have a glass-front wood stove that we use to heat our house. I have no need to play with fire when I’m camping.
a 55+ RV park and then you see little kids running around. I know they must rent to others in this economy, but then don’t advertise as a 55+ park.
what annoys someone in a stationary life, is the same in an RV. Rude neighbors, other people’s kids, theft, too friendly neighbors, loud music, barking dogs, crying babies, revving cars, sand rails, wind, rain, etc. No one lives in a bubble. I embrace it all as part of life’s journey.
Playing loud music and watching your outside tv so the rest of us can “enjoy” it with you. If you need your electronic devices so much stay home. You can’t truly enjoy nature and its sounds and smells if you have those outside distractions. I know I can’t while you share your distractions with me.
Preach, Mary!
I have a length of rope lights under the rig, red so hopefully they don’t bother anyone’s night vision. I’m convinced that the lights keep the small critters away.
Saw a rig with a strobe light underneath. Might be OK in a big, well lit, crowded place, but might be a bit much when boondocking?