Are Gypsies really this bad?

Every time this topic comes up on Reddit, you immediately get American posters making fun of the euros for being racist because they (we) complain about the Roma, thinking it's a 1:1 situation with the black people in the US. Which is obviously insane and degrading towards black Americans.

And yes, they're incredibly difficult. They're a constitutionally protected minority with their own special representative where I'm from, so the cops mostly just leave them alone when they come steal shit from farms and such. They pull their girls from elementary school, which is illegal, but the state looks the other way. You can imagine how the cycle of extreme poverty and crime repeats itself over and over again when these semi-literate girls turn into baby machines. If only their kids were allowed to get a decent education, their whole community could thrive within a generation.

The only time I've ever called cops in my life was when a Roma woman left her naked newborn lying out in the grass under the scorching sun, while she was busy stealing shit from the recycling container. Of course the cops did nothing, so I had to yell at her to take care of her damn child.

From AI: ==========

The Roma and Sinti are ethnic groups with roots in various regions of Europe. While their exact origins are still a topic of debate among historians and scholars, it is widely believed that they originated from the Indian subcontinent and migrated to Europe centuries ago. They are often referred to as Roma, Romani, or Romany people.

The term "Gypsies" historically originated from the mistaken belief that the Roma people came from Egypt. However, this is a misnomer and a derogatory term. It perpetuates stereotypes, misconceptions, and discrimination against the Roma community. The term "Gypsy" has been associated with negative stereotypes, exoticization, and a history of marginalization, persecution, and discrimination.

Using the term "Gypsy" as a blanket label can perpetuate harmful generalizations and overlook the rich diversity and individuality within the Roma community. It is important to recognize and respect the self-identification of communities and individuals and refer to them using the terms they prefer, such as Roma, Romani, or Sinti.

It is crucial to approach discussions about the Roma and Sinti communities with cultural sensitivity, respect, and a willingness to understand their history, experiences, and challenges. Engaging with Roma advocacy organizations and seeking out educational resources can provide deeper insights into their culture, history, and contemporary issues they face.

Trollin' Trollin' Trollin'...

Years ago a Gypsy "psychic" was arrested for bilking thousands of dollars from a woman, . When asked if she had any sympathy, her response was something like, "If she was stupid enough to believe me, she should lose her money."

R1 is one of those AI chatbots?

I saw that show about their tacky weddings. Seems like an awful patriarchal type of system.

What about gay ones? Is that culture homophobic?

I would say yes R7.

My grandmother in the fifties would have a band of “Gypsies” come by her house a few times a year, although today we would call them “Travellers”. She lived in a rural area and would get a heads up call from a neighbor a mile away alerting her. She would bring in her dog, pull down the shades, draw the curtains, turn off the lights, double lock the garage door and hide in the kitchen pantry. She said they would snoop around and peek in the windows. The dog would start barking and they moved on.

I don’t know, but every time I was bad, I always had to live in fear that they were gonna come get me.

Those Brits—racist without even batting an eye…and too bad for us—they gave the USA Appalachia and the Deep South.

Yes, Gypsies really are this bad.

I am the queen of the gypsies

Gyp gyp gyp gyp a gypsies

Meanwhile, what are tramps and thieves like?

Are they "gypsy gypsies" (true ethnic Roma) or just a lot of chavs and layabouts?

I've met some who are lovely but also some who are thriving bastards!

They have good music, though.

As a child, I remember reading Enid Blyton stories. Every time she introduced gypsies into her narrative, they were always portrayed as sneaky, lazy and good-for-nothing. I used to thoroughly enjoy her depictions.

Once again, it proves, that every stereotype is borne from observable reality.

They are absolute bastards.

It was just an unfortunate accident. It wasn't my fault. It was my wife.

My parents raised me to be virulently prejudiced against Travellers (Irish gypsies, I think?). It’s very strange in retrospect as they were American and second- or third-gen away from Ireland but both had identical beliefs on this topic. I didn’t think about it—except to say, almost by rote, that Gypsies lie, cheat, and steal whenever the topic came up—until my Jewish then-boyfriend heard this speech for the second or third time and was like, “Uh, you know that’s exactly what the Poles used to say about my family before WW2.”

What a wake up call!

After impoverished Romania was inexplicably allowed to join the EU, Western Europe got flooded with Roma. I always recall Roma women sitting on the ground on bridges in Annecy, France in the middle of winter with their unclothed babies lying on rugs on the freezing cobbles while their mothers begged. They're shameless. I always wanted to feel sorry for Roma till I actually met some.

[quote]Years ago a Gypsy "psychic" was arrested for bilking thousands of dollars from a woman, . When asked if she had any sympathy, her response was something like, "If she was stupid enough to believe me, she should lose her money."

Gypsy folklore has it that a Gypsy either stole one of the nails intended for Christ's crucifixion, or a Gypsy blacksmith made the four nails but only handed over three, which was why only one nail was used on his feet. At any rate, Gypsies say that Christ gave them the right to steal from non-Gypsies in return for this act.

R23, damn, they were even stealing back then?

R1 Where are you from?

Worse. How are the current teen pregnancy rates?

It's Roma people, not gypsies. What's next, mulattos, colored people, yellow people, polacks, wops, orientals..? What's next?

The Roma are not from Romania. They’re from Northern India; apparently they migrated to Europe about a thousand years ago. A lot of them are in Italy and Spain. The Travelers are Irish and, not surprisingly, unrelated to the Roma.

Yes, OP, weally...

The culture of thievery is real - whatever the history, it’s a behavior that is more prevalent in certain Gypsy groups.

[quote]I am the queen of the gypsies.

I'm Lily of the Valley.

Their music and dance are pretty cool, though.

We are talking about the Roma, right? Not the Travellers, who are of Irish or Scottish origin.

We had Roma kids in our elementary school in the San Fernando Valley. We didn't treat them very well. They were different. Then they were gone.

I find them annoying, unnecessary, and often quite ugly.

Romas are tomatoes!

R28 No shit? I don't think anyone call them Romanian

No, OP, they’re a complex and contradictory bunch of people, like any other.

If anyone’s interested, there’s a great book, Mikey Walsh’s _Gypsy Boy_, that gives you a glimpse of life as a gay boy in the Roma community.

All these replies and no one asking what Roma dick is like

Romani sounds more romantic.

If 15K of them are living in Mexico, you know they're ....

R39 Romani? Oh dear!!

I was on a tour in Greece and the guide pointed out people in the side of the road that she identified as gypsys and warned us against them. She was vehement but didn’t really curse them.

All I know is that a group of them were preparing to rob be when I was changing money in the Prague train more than 20 years ago. The clerk was wise to them and I somehow avoided it.

I'd be happy if that son in the documentary came around, and laid his money down.

R38, R22 said that the influx of Romani into Western Europe was the result of Romania being allowed to join the EU. There have been other threads on DL about “gypsies” in which Romanians and the Romani have been confused, so it’s possible that R22 had done the same thing.

Fuckin gypo scum are the worst.

The hyer violent Irish lot are the worst.

Horrible people. They shouldn't even be allowed in public. Unbelievable that this pianist was internationally famous and appeared on concert stages all over the world. He should have been executed, because of course everyone realizes that every Romani person is a thief, and likely a murderer.

Are the men cut or uncut?

So wouldn’t the term “gypsy” be a lifestyle choice rather than an ethnic term? Lady Gaga and Cher both ID as gypsies in song and obviously the Irish “Traveller” Gypsys are different than the Romanian Gypsys.

My Grandmother was home alone once in the 60s and a woman rang the door asking for something while her accomplice snuck in the side door. My grandmother closed the door on the woman and realized someone was hiding under the table so she pretended to call to her husband upstairs (who wasn’t really home). The guy under the table grabbed some silver and bolted out the door. She always referred to them a gypsies when telling the story.

What do Vita Sackville-West, Michael Caine, Rita Hayworth, Tracy Ullman Bob Hoskins, Bill Clinton, Ava Gardner, Mother Theresa, Yul Brynner and Charlie Chaplin all have in common? Roma ancestry.

I knew it. They are really that BAD.

It's bad luck not to buy something from a gypsy!

R50 talking shit. Must be a gypsy.

I love it when they come into town and pull a big bajour.

R44 I'm not confused. "Gypsies" call themselves Roma now. And there was and is a very large population of Roma in Romania.

Flamenco is not purely gypsy music.

Flamenco is uniquely Andalusian and flamenco artists have historically included Spaniards of both gitano and non-gitano heritage

Cher was beautiful and did very well for herself.

Beware the Roma Maffia.

Antique Gypsy doll, circa 1910's-20's.

Pedo is built into their culture. They pimp out their children from a very early age.

Fine...*I'll* post it...

R40 eat my fuck Grandpa,

Just reminisce about about the good old days: Poppers, Donna Summer, Prosciutto wrapped melon , and T-Cell counts

I feel like we need to trust what Europeans tel is about gypsies. We still don’t see them in much of North America

If you see them while visiting Europe, just ignore them. They move on to the next tourist quickly

I don’t see why we can’t criticize them. It’s a group of white peoples who are United in their love of grifting not a religion or anything.

I tried to buy a coffee from a street vending machine in Spain and it just took my money - no coffee. This gypsy woman appeared out of thin air and asked if I needed help. She put in some coins and voila, coffee. Then she wanted more money from me for it. It all felt very scammy. It's also extremely common to see a gypsy woman begging on the street with a sleeping baby...very likely not their baby and how is it always sleeping? Gives me the creeps.

The Gypsy doesn't have to be great as long as you have a strong Rose.

R23 Did you hear that in King of the Gypsies (as I did) or is it a real belief?

I watched Time of the Gypsies, and I cried my heart out for them. Such a pitiable bunch of people.

If they came from shithole India, that would explain the crookedness in their DNA.

R21, the guy with the anti-gypsy parents again. I just recalled that my dad would tease me by saying that he tried to sell me to the gypsies when I was born but they didn’t want me. Sometimes this would twist slightly into the gypsies stealing me and then giving me back because I was annoying.

I can laugh now but damn, that shit is dark in multiple ways. The gypsies do have a rep for stealing/selling children.

Phipps is a great big bunch of Gypsies!

A group of gypsies tried to steal my grandma’s sister when she was a baby in 1930s rural Kansas. They tried to drag her from the porch, but some of her 11 siblings were able to fight them off.

R48, from my (very limited) experience, uncut.

They would definitely be uncut, nomadic, always against the establishment. Probably don't wash down there either so you'd have to give them a bath first.

[quote]It's also extremely common to see a gypsy woman begging on the street

La da dee, la da da.

Roma/Sinti are US-invented terms. All over Europe, gypsies are still called by the same name they were called for the past 1,000 years: gitane, Țigani, zingaro, gitan, Cygan, циган, tzigane, tsiganes, cigány, etc.

[quote] What do Vita Sackville-West, Michael Caine, Rita Hayworth, Tracy Ullman Bob Hoskins, Bill Clinton, Ava Gardner, Mother Theresa, Yul Brynner and Charlie Chaplin all have in common? Roma ancestry.

R50 None of the above-mentioned were/are pickpocketing tourists in bus/train stations/the streets from Madrid to Trieste, from Athens to Amsterdam. While the police (and you) turn a blind eye to their crimes, as long Gypsies stick to ripping off tourists.

If a gypsy and a Muzzie got into a fight, which would kill the other?

I have a friend - passionate "anti-racist" bleeding heart leftist - who can't even defend them.

r75 Roma and Sinti are NOT US invented terms. The Greeks mistakenly identified these people as being wanderers from Egypt, and every language in Europe quickly followed suit, using terms in their languages that have the root idea of Egypt in them. However, modern research has firmly placed them as descendants of people who left India over 1000 years ago. The Council of Europe is the group that has insisted that they be officially identified as Roma all over Europe. Their numbers in the US are miniscule compared to their numbers in Europe, so there would have been no motivation for the US to get involved in renaming them.

I'm pretty sure that petty street crimes are more commonly committed by Roma than their numbers in the places they live would warrant. But as with all scapegoating efforts, to label every member of a minority group as criminal invites counter examples, which are easily found. In some places Roma resist education and government efforts that could assist them to find better jobs or integrate better into the wider society - but in many more places, they are denied education, must live separately, and are in a cycle of poverty and crime, with only a few tried and true methods of earning money available to them - among those, playing music and dancing in public places for tips, telling fortunes, and the like. I gave some examples above of people who escaped that lifestyle and there are many many more.

I picked up a Romani man at a gay bar. He was dark and swarthy, with jet black hair, a strong chest with chewy nipples, a huge cock with a helmet head, and a lush black blanket of pubic hair. He was gorgeous. We hooked up for six hours. I’ve never had a man like him. I still feel my fingers running through his thick bush.

I have a writer friend whose American wife was posted in Slovenia with the US Embassy, so they were living there. I visited them and it turned out that her entire job there was to "work with the Roma". The State Department was, apparently, spending TONS of money on everything from weekly garden parties to giving them legal aid. It was weird. She didn't talk much about her work, but he did when we were alone. When he got drunk one night he said that he loved the country but couldn't stand the people his wife was forced to work with "always lying, stealing and ruining other people's lives" and hoped their next posting would be better.

[quote] with only a few tried and true methods of earning money available to them - among those, playing music and dancing in public places for tips, telling fortunes,

Gypsies ceased being "entertainers" long ago when they found that they could make far more money in human trafficking, drugs and prostitution.

There was a movement to return to using the term "gypsy" because "Roma" and "Romani" were being confused with Romanian.

Very different culture and values. It might be prejudice speaking here, but I wouldn’t let my guard down because they wouldn’t hesitate to steal anything that isn’t bolted down.

Madge did a Roma-themed segment in the Sticky & Sweet Tour

1: La Isla Bonita

2: Miles Away

3: You Must Love Me/Don't Cry For Me Datalounge

I've been to a traveller/gypsy camp in Pembrokeshire in the UK and it felt weird. It was a bunch of concrete houses. I was left wondering: how are these people travellers? They were clearly settled. In the major city I subsequently moved to, there's a gypsy camp nearby and it consists of caravans. There is a huge memorial site with flowers and photographs on a road near to it where one of theirs died being chased by police. Kind of says it all.

What does it say r88?

R89 That they are statistically more likely to be involved in crime. This is an objective fact: you can look it up yourself.

So someone getting chased down and killed by a cop (and subsequently mourned by their community, what subhuman monsters) was involved in crime. Okay. You know you sound like a fucking idiot, right? Even simply from a rhetorical perspective, your comment is moronic, betraying your own fucked-up assumptions about cops and gypsies.

You know that cops here in the UK don't have guns for the most part and rarely kill someone? It was just funny/ironic to me because gypsies do have a far higher chance of being criminals than almost any other group in the UK.

R79, did he steal your wallet and phone after the wild sex?

Oh, and if that gypsy had simply pulled over, he wouldn't be dead now. Why did he flee and therefore crash and kill himself? If he'd just pulled over, he'd be alive now.

Just go away and leave us alone. Otherwise, there will be big trouble.

You still sound dumb and crazy, r94.

R96 I am neither dumb nor crazy. This was a car chase. The police were chasing this gypsy man. If he'd simply pulled over when they wanted him to, he'd be alive today.

Here It's not unusual to see them stealing and trying to scam people. The thing is they are loud, unapologetically dishonest and easy to identify, and we tend to classify people in groups, specially if seems threatening in some way, stigmatizing them.

But they are many of them who work quietly and honestly, making them invisible even if they are the big majority.

gypsies broke into my grandparents' house and stole money/jewelry. The scam was that a woman went to my grandparents' front door in distress. While my grandma was talking to her and distracted, the gypsy gang snuck into the back door and stole a bunch of stuff--they knew exactly what they were doing. Raced up to my grandparents' bedroom and hunted through drawers to find jewelry.

I've hated gypsies ever since.

r99 was this in Europe?

Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, indeed!

I hope more gypsies aren’t let into North America

I grew up with a romanticized picture of gypsies in my head until I actually met some. When they beg, they don't want anything but money. If you don't give it or not enough, they spit at you. Babies are a tool for them they use for extra pity. German cities, Stuttgart in particular (I lived there in 2015 when they descended on the local park in the city center), are sometimes hounded by swarms of what are Roma, apparently. It's their culture to shit in the park the path through which is a main connection between central station and opera/theatre, and the galleries.

They also molest people with selling roses they previously steal from the graveyards, and it goes like this: They target single parents with a child, bend down and put the flower into the child's hand, demand 5 € and when you refuse they start making a scene, claiming your child damaged the flower. Oh and there are also the bands of people all walking with a limp that get dropped off by a Mercedes for begging in the morning. Sometimes they limp on different feet on different days, and always wear shoes way more expensive than what I could afford.

Gypsies in Germany really are not "Fahrendes Volk" as in circus people or traveling musicians or artists.

I have a Romanian friend with who I happened to walk past the Stuttgart park (the Oberer Schlossgarten) there. It wasn't like the picture, there were about 200 gypsies camping there. His glance at them said it all. It said '... and because of you I am having a hard time.'

They sound a lot like the Amish, lots of hidden and dubious practices, like the child marriage, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, many many birth defects etc. The police look the other way they say. The Amish are horrible people. Fuck religion

r104 I grew up around the Amish (and encounter them almost every time I ride Amtrak). While there MAY be some superficial similarities, the Roma sound nothing like the Amish.

Gypsies! Filthy, thieving, gypsies!

I’m told that they have bad hygiene habits too.

How do they get to America and Canada?

They swim the Atlantic, Rose.

"Are Gypsies really this bad? "

Why yes. Yes, they are. And it is ok to look down on them. Not everyone deserves the same treatment. If they thrive on not giving and always taking, then they suck as humans.

Classy people

They're hated across Europe, particulalry Southern Europe.

Stealing IS part of their "culture".

The term "Gypsy" in Greece (and among expat or 1st Gen Greeks) is a derogatory term more so than in North America. It has very specific, derisive connotations.

Gypsies, Trans and their apologists!-- You'd hear it from the people of the Lounge-- they'd call them gypsies, trans and their apologists. And every night Russian trolls would come around, and confusion would abound!

Gypsies, Trans, and Queens!

I think gypsies would sneak across the ocean hiding in cargo

Many of the comments on this thread read like something you'd find on Nextdoor for a mostly white and xenophobic suburban neighborhood.

And you sound like the usual sniping twat who lives to attack others while pretending to do it from some superior higher ground.

Right, hypocrite at R115?

Right.

I like this gypsy

R115s comment reads like a redditor who thinks he’s cool and so enlightened and pats himself on the back for living in a once working class but now newly-gentrified, wholly-castrated neighborhood in a mostly-white midsize city that doesn’t have any gypsies. R115 WISHES his city had gypsies so he could give them money and go around telling everyone about his good deed.

[quote] Every time this topic comes up on Reddit, you immediately get American posters making fun of the euros for being racist because they (we) complain about the Roma, thinking it's a 1:1 situation with the black people in the US. Which is obviously insane and degrading towards black Americans.

It IS the same thing, you retard.

[quote] They would definitely be uncut, nomadic, always against the establishment.

The establishment is uncut, dear.

R119 In my country 5% of gypsies are in prison. In the U.S. 1.2% of Black Americans are in prison (and I think the U.S. has a bigger incarcerated population). Pretty big difference. Gypsy culture does have issues.

R119, you clearly have never lived around gypsies. You sound like an NPR liberal, not one of the people, but one who looks down on everyone for not liking people you NEVER have the displeasure of actually having to live with in your own community.

The only uncut people I know are children of fringe people— religious and other zealots. But I’m in America.

R100 no, a suburb of Chicago.

So you have a culture of no education, traveling all the time so not to put down roots and have a stable job - yet you have to make a life. How else do you do that exactly without crime and thievery?

Sometimes a 'culture' is fucked up and needs to be called out. When people move on to your land and steal your stuff over and over - how are you supposed to embrace them exactly?

Are all gypsys bad? There are probably some good ones. But does the culture promote anti-social behavior and crime? Absolutely - and it shouldn't be tolerated.

I’m scared shitless

They have the ability to induce rapid and irreversible weight loss with a just touch and a one-word incantation. I’d think DLers would be a little less nasty and a bit more excited to meet them!

The Romani were actively captured and murdered by the Nazis all over Europe.

I'm sure nobody wants to murder them. That's not the same thing as talking about issues their culture has that impacts negatively on others.

I can see this being a thing a hundred years ago but are they really still grifting as a culture in 2023? These seem like rogue outliers who are basically bottom of the barrel bums with no cohesion other than their immediate family.

Harassing and persecuting Romani is a huge issue with the far right in Italy, which is comic in a macabre way—Italy, of all places, is an entire country with a culture of crime.

The Romani believe that their acts of thievery are sanctioned by God.

What’s with all the gypsy apologists?

It was a couple of days before Christmas. I stopped at an outdoor pastry shop on the Rue du Marche in Geneva. The very pricey and elegant Rue du Marche. As I was buying a sandwich, a Roma woman suddenly appeared at my elbow with a baby and a small child, begging me to buy her something to eat. It was Christmas, so I was weak and did. Within 2 minutes I was surrounded by about 20 Roma who started ordering full meals and telling the salesgirl I was paying. Charming folk. I did cling onto my wallet for dear life.

In my small town (north shore of Boston) in the 80s and 90s, quite a few elderly couple had fallen for a filthy gypsy scam, I can say that since according to my Ancestry DNA, I am 2% Balkan and Romanian).

There were dozens of poor elderly people who fell for the black paint on the driveway scam, the filthy gypsies are known to pull. They would tell these poor elderly men and women that they would re-tar and seal their driveways for something like $1,200.00. But first rain, the paint would peel and wash away.

I also worked at a clothing store in college. It was always 3 filthy gypsy women wearing long flowing maxi dresses. They would come in fat but not pregnant and leave fat and pregnant.

When confronted about their filthy gypsy thieving ways, they would either pull all of the clothes from under their dresses and run or just run.

But would always return another day. FG or filthy gypsies are relentless.

Sorry I meant Armenian, not Romanian above

Let's just ask Stevie Nicks.

R134, the same thing happened to me in a Kroger parking lot in September 2021 in Sherman, Texas— except, instead of Gypsies, I was quickly surrounded by Great-Tailed Grackles, and instead of a sandwich, it was a brand-new box of Banana Cheerios.

Bald and Bankrupt visits the largest gypsy slum in Europe. Love how they all just throw their trash out the window and nobody ever removes it.

What's with all the hate, R133?

Since you lazily have plenty.

[Quote]The Romani were actively captured and murdered by the Nazis

No shit. So were Catholics, gays and other groups.

A guy I dated in London while in Uni heard about a special event in Hampstead where electronics were being sold for next to nothing. I went along with him to see what this was about..

There was a group of travelling gypsies on stage selling wrapped packages. They claimed they couldn't legally reveal the contents, but they gestured with their hands suggesting what might be inside...like computers, movie cameras, etc.

You know where this is going.

People weren't allowed to open their packages until they exited the building all together. When they did they found they had been thoroughly scammed with crap like plastic ducks in side their 50 quid package. The doors were locked to the building very quickly so nobody could get to the sellers to kick their asses.

Had these buyers been gullable? Sure but most looked poor and desperate. I found the whole thing shocking and sad and highly fucking illegal.

We have gypsies in my country Spain but I've never heard of them operating like this.

No, they are not "bottom of the barrel bums". They have rigorous hierarchical, patriarchical structures. It's never just one person you are dealing with. Which also is hugely problematic when you have children in kindergarten age. The child may be fine but really, do you encourage your child to be friends with a child whose mother has firm ties to organized crime?

Mitzi was once a Gypsy for 12 minutes.

The mom in the documentary looks like she's been a meth head. She's got that methy twitch.

Gypsies gave Ward Bond nothing but shit on Wagon Train.

A cousin pf mine in England had Roma people camp near her on private land every summer for years. No issues. She said it's important to treat all people with respect and she'd answer if women came to the door and buy small items they were selling and would greet them if she saw them in the town. But, as she said, "I don't raise chickens, which do seem to disappear at times, I've heard." She also has heard the stories of the group-shoplifting but "not in our area."

The property owner closed things down and people now camp at the designated council spot.

She and her Irish boyfriend have a different view of Travellers, who they see as quite a different social group altogether.

I see a pentagram in your palm, OP.

Brynner felt a strong personal connection to the Romani people and in 1977 he was named honorary president of the International Romani Union, a title that he kept until his death.--Wikipedia

Believe me I would not turn him away. I'm jealous of his bush. I was disappointed I didn't get a big one, like my friends had.

They steal children in the night. How could anyone be team gypsy?

[quote]They steal children in the night. How could anyone be team gypsy?

Oh, you'd be surprised.

It's one my best songs, homos.

So how bad can they be?

It was the gypsies who created all the hate towards our community. Drop the G!

R146 it's okay when they steal others people's property then. If they camp there and most of them (and that's putting it generously) don't have a job - how does she think they support their livelihood? Mana from heaven, Rose?

If you’ve ever worked in restaurants or retail in the US, you’ve dealt with gypsies. My experiences:

In restaurants, they’d come in a large group with children up way past a decent bedtime, all to run you ragged. They liked to find problems so they could get as much for free as they could. Tipping was usually out of the question. They loved fried anything and it showed: they were all fat and everyone looked like the guy pictured at r84, even the kids and women.

The clans I encountered in Atlanta had weird, exaggerated Chicago accents (think "Duh Bearsss!"). They had a lot of grifts going, including car bodywork scams and psychic readings (telling you someone cursed you but she could remove it for a generous sum). They lived for pulling shit over white people, in particular. They’d even do it for fun and not profit.

The kids were thoroughly rotten. I talked to the little assholes a lot for the entertainment factor. None of them went to school. They dressed like the adults, in long skirts and chignons for the girls, suits, ties, and tacky jewelry on the boys. One kid in a 3-piece suit and nugget jewelry told me I was a really good server and asked me if I’d come be his maid. He wanted someone to wash his dog, he said. I thanked him but declined.

The ones I encountered referred to themselves as gypsies. Like, "Has a gypsy boy named Sammy been in here?" which was so helpful because every other gypsie man was named Sam or Sammy.

In clothing retail, a bunch of women would come in with one or two men and descend like locusts in the racks, stuffing clothes under their voluminous skirts, then bolting out. They’d try to return the good stuff to Nordstrom since they are known for easy returns. The older women would saunter in wearing St. John and Ferragamo to do the returns (those two brands really spoke to them).

If this seems like stereotyping, it’s because these clans were so over the top conforming. They were like caricatures of their own making.

Joseph Mitchell wrote several article in The New Yorker back in the 40's about gypsies and their various scams - there is one published in the anthology Up The Old Hotel that details the working of the fortune telling grift (I can't find a free copy to link to online). If you read it, and then read any recent news report of people swindled out of large amounts of money by storefront "Psychics" you will see that the basic m.o. has remained unchanged for a century.

In the 90’s in Europe I heard a big ploy was for a lady to desperately say, “Please hold my baby!” and then they’d rob the person with the baby or whoever was distracted.

An old gypsy woman once said to me:

[quote]"The way you walked was thorny though no fault of your own, but as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end. Now you will have peace for eternity.”

Then, I died...

[quote]In restaurants, they’d come in a large group with children up way past a decent bedtime, all to run you ragged. They liked to find problems so they could get as much for free as they could. Tipping was usually out of the question. They loved fried anything and it showed: they were all fat and everyone looked like the guy pictured at [R84], even the kids and women.

R155, apart from the "they were all fat..." This sounds like a night in a typical Indian restaurant.

And, before anyone gets their knickers in a twist:

1. I am Indian

2. I managed an Indian restaurant for four years

3. I'm not self-loathing or any other modern day buzz words

R155 Yes you are well-versed on the scams. I worked in retail, food service and managed a movie theater - had run-ins with them at all of those establishments. You really need to be on your toes with this group. I hate even typing that but it is the truth, sadly. The movie theater gypsies tried to get refunds from ticket stubs they found in the trash and did not care that refunds could not be issued for movies already finished. One of the women cursed me and said my face would be fucked up

My face is no more fucked up than usual and this was 20 years ago. I don’t think they are doing their cursing right, or have lost the magic over the years or coming to US

I finally watched the YT video OP posted. My mouth was in a grimace of disgust the entire time.

The only two who seemed, somewhat, redeemable are Skatey, and the metallurgist. They at least talked about finding jobs and working for a living. The rest of them kept saying "benefits" like it was their birthright. Oddly, those two were the best looking of the lot. Skatey had pretty decent teeth.

Oh also encountered many like-minded (grifting) folks in Russia (St. Pete) at all the big tourist destinations. I had a video camera and accidentally scanned a mother with - you guessed it - a beautiful baby and she screamed at me to pay her for taking a pic. As if I wanted them in my shot. I said no money but she was insistent until I hissed at her and started speaking in tongues. LOL it worked so I guess that’s one way to get rid of them temporarily on a one-to-one basis

The gypsy car repair scam:

As you park in a shopping plaza, a car with two people pulls up and offers to get a dent out of your fender, a scratch off your door, or whatever. If you hesitate at all, they're already doing it, and the scam always ends with a cloudy paste over the repair. You're told not to wash it off for 24 hours. Then they demand cash.

When you wash off the paste nothing is fixed and your paint job may even be more damaged.

R161 Let’s hope Skatey gets in a Jackie Chan flick ir at least gets a concertina job.

The big fat guy with a bunch of kids was the worst. He talked about saving 40,000 pounds from benefits and how until he started receiving benefits he’s just steal what he needed like it was t a big deal.

R165 Yes, the stealing was like, meh. Isn’t he daft to admit that several times on camera?

[quote] you clearly have never lived around gypsies. You sound like an NPR liberal, not one of the people, but one who looks down on everyone for not liking people you NEVER have the displeasure of actually having to live with in your own community.

Get a blog, moron.

Hitler killed gypsies. Brits are Nazis.

R121 seems to think that percentages of people in prison prove only one thing.

R121 has neither understanding nor informed solutions. She only want to prove her narrow, pissy point, which seems to be that generalizing about a complex worldwide set of socio-cultural groups associated with a 1500-year-old diaspora is a fine thing to do.

R163 I hope they did it to you

I was in a Sofia, Bulgaria train station for several hours awaiting a train. This was soon after the end of the Iron curtain, early 1990’s. A large group of gypsies spotted me and surrounded me. The children became very aggressive , poking at my back back (which was padlocked ). I finally actually sat on my back pack to prevent theft. I was very young and inexperienced as I should have moved. The station had busted out windows, busted out ceiling lights, dirty. I was scared but made it out ok.

[quote] Are Gypsies really this bad?

Yes, even worse

[quote]A guy I dated in London while in Uni heard about a special event in Hampstead where electronics were being sold for next to nothing. I went along with him to see what this was about.. There was a group of travelling gypsies on stage selling wrapped packages. They claimed they couldn't legally reveal the contents, but they gestured with their hands suggesting what might be inside...like computers, movie cameras, etc.

This is called a "jam auction."

Is the gypsy apologist the same person as the trans apologist?

Same MO— no thoughtful counterargument, just ad hominems.

R171, that reminds me of many years ago in the Gare du Nord. While my partner was getting a taxi, I was forced to straddle our luggage while a bunch of gypsy women and children surrounded me asking if I spoke English and had money. I said, "Non!" of course.

The invention of Uber (and transportation apps, in general) has been a godsend.

My story:

Once upon a time (1970s) in Austria, my husband and I changed our vacation plans and decided to head south to Greece, via (then) Yugoslavia.

Off some mountain road, we spotted a Roma camp, complete with colorful wagons. Stopped for photos.

Before we knew it, there we stood on the road with two Roma men.....and their bear. A sweaty 5' bear. But on a leash and muzzled. Took photos with it and them!

THEN THEY ASKED FOR MONEY. My husband demurred, gesturing that the bills we had were too large in denomination.

The Roma man not holding the bear proceeded to pull from his pocket a huge wad, showing us he could, indeed, make change. And would we NOW PAY UP?

I, too aware that nobody on Earth knew where we were (not knowing we had impetuously left Mittel Europa), that the road was otherwise deserted, and that we could easily be robbed or worse (the bear!), implored my husband to just do it!

He came to his senses, paid, and we were allowed to travel on. Whew!

That photo is now one of my prized possessions!

Looks like the gypsies put a curse on R169 brain, thereby disabling coherent thought. (T)he(y) must have forgotten to "cross my palm with gold".

WTF are you on about?

There are some great stories in this thread.

Where I grew up in rural Australia most smaller towns would have a free or very cheap caravan park run by the local council and there was a group of itinerant workers and their families who did a circuit of these caravan parks. Everyone knew when a group turned up and what sort of work they did (Joe might be great at blade sharpening and his wife Dora sewed curtains etc) The locals would drop into the park and line them up for work. They'd stay until the work dried up and then move along until next year. The kids would attend school as well. No one ever called them gypsies, they were just part of rural life. Anyways, years later it occurred to me they might be Romani so I looked it up and yeah, Australian Roma keep a very low profile and tend to do seasonal work in rural areas. So it seems like the outback and Gypsies are a good match.