Random Thoughts on Friday

We spent a little time in Gatlinburg recently. Man, do I love that entire area.

It had been a little while since the last time I was right in town.

We were there a couple of years ago and had a great time, but I remember one bad thing about the area- time-share salespeople.

We were literally assaulted by probably 10 of them within our first few hours in town. At first, you try to be nice and say "no thanks", but that doesn't work.

They will walk with you, try to harass you in to signing up, and use other aggressive tactics. Frankly, it is the kind of thing that makes a tourist think twice about going there for a second vacation.

It wasn't bad on this trip. In fact, we weren't approached at all!

Also, I noticed that the Gatlinburg of Commerce has taken a bit of a stand on this issue, as noted in their 2012 visitor guide.

In a section on the city map in the guide, they mention a little bit about the fact that you may be approached by someone offering maps or other information to get your attention. Tickets or other incentives may be offered to entice you to attend a presentation about time-shares.

The travel guide write up notes, "The City of Gatlinburg and the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce in no way endorse these methods of enticement or the information utilized to gain the interest of our visitors."

The guide also talks about the proper photo ID badges they should be wearing if they are licensed agents in the state of Tennessee.

They actually apologize in the article for the frequency of such contact from solicitors that you may experience.

Also to their credit, the Chamber of Commerce offers a "Thank you, I've already been asked" sticker that you can wear to show that you are not interested in being harassed by these sales people.

I am impressed with the areas effort to inform visitors of these hassles, and I am impressed with the fact that they are trying to give tourists a quick and easy out.

Again, on this trip, we were not approached at all.