Thursday’s Asshat of the Day
According to wingnuts, I mean conservatives, there is too much government and the only thing that progressives want is more government.
Well, here’s a shocker for you. Here’s something that I believe is totally ridiculous for any government to regulate:
The District [of Columbia] makes it illegal for anyone to work as a “sightseeing guide” without first passing a test and obtaining a special government license.
That’s right. New regulations make it illegal in the District to “describe any place or point of interest to any person” on a tour without a license. And if you’re caught doing this grave threat to peace and good order, you can be jailed for up to three months.
Now I can understand taxi drivers having to be licensed. I understand having to license my dog. The DC government is probably one of the worst run local governments in the region. You have school board members who think that the high school in their neighborhood is their own fiefdom. Residents pay high property taxes and sales taxes (6% general sales tax, 9% – Liquor sold for off-the-premises consumption, 10% – Restaurant meals, liquor for consumption on the premises, and rental vehicles, 12% – Parking motor vehicles in commercial lots, and 14.5% – Hotels) and yet their streets are the worst in the region, their schools, while getting better, still lag in student achievement, and police and fire response still are something to be desired. And my friends wonder why I moved away from there and relocated to Delaware.
And let’s not forget that Marion Barry (Crackhead/Tax Dodger – Ward Eight) is still serving on the City Council.
But c’mon, making tour guides pass a nonsense test to be officially licensed? It’s enough to make me award the DC Government today’s Asshat of the Day Award.
Philadelphia has a law asking tour guides to pass a quiz to get a license to be a tour guide. I know that the City of Niagara Falls requires guides to have a license, as do other places. Don’t know how useful this is, except to note that you aren’t going to be employed by the Park Service for very long by standing inside of Independence Hall telling people that Abe Lincoln had dinner with George Washington down the street. And that’s not a question of a license, it is a question of being committed to some historical competence.
I must be an asshat because I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to have to get a license.
One assumes this is for people who are paid to guide tourists, not just run-of-the-mill friends showing friends around. It being Washington, one might also require some sort of foreign language fluency. Seems reasonable to me.
Did you look at the test categories? Why should a tour guide have to know anything about regulations to impart that to their customers? And I have to disagree with you, Auntie Dem, about them having to know a foreign language. I’m sure there are companies that cater to our foreign visitors.
If you knew anything about DC government, you’d recognize this for what it is – just another money making scheme.
You don’t have to impart regulations to your customers per se, unless there may be safety rules on the buses or other conveyances the guides are using. Are there city (or monument) rules for sizes of tours? It isn’t impossible that there might be some regulations that govern the tour guide business.
Maybe the test is being used to weed out those Constitutional and historical scholars who go by the name of tea partier. 😉
The license in Philly stemmed from folks employed as tour guides, but going off script, w/ conjecture of the city’s history. This never would have happened (the licensure part), if some of the goofs tour guiding didn’t give their Disney version of events, or some mockingly tongue-in-cheek version of events, that left wanting tourists…well….wanting. It’s not a bad idea, the license part, but I do remember the conversation coming up about First Amendment rights, and the tour guides “right” to say whatever they wanted. Don’t know how that held up. It’s a shame that folks would intentionally undermine,fabricate, or rewrite whatever history their employer hired ’em for. Kinda like working at McDonald’s then sending the customer to a vegetarian joint, while on the McDonald’s payroll.
Places like Charleston, SC and Williamsburg, VA have licenses for tour guides too. My point here being that places that have industry that depends upon some history take some steps to try to protect that. The situation Joanne mentions is in the article I linked too — people basically making up stuff for people who thought they paid to hear something real about a city with a deep history. Which isn’t to say that they should not be allowed to do that — they should be made to label what they do a performance, not a history tour.
Sorry cass—I didn’t see your reference as a link–but I’m glad you know what I’m talking about!!!
But why should a person who conducts ghost tours or food tours or other such tours be required to know about the Presidents, etc.
And Cass, the regulations requirement is not for knowledge on how to get the license, they have to know how to answer questions about regulations.
There have been tour guides forever in DC. This new licensing procedure went into effect in July, when the District was showing a budget deficit.
I knew a kid who used to do historical tours in Philly. The other kids he worked with had a contest every day to see who could tell the craziest lie to tourists and pass it off as fact. No wonder we as a people are so ignorant about history.
My fiance used to work at Ft. Delaware and he tirelessly worked on the the accuracy of the staff’s representation.
When I was a kid we visited Gettysburg. Back then you could hire a college kid at the big light- up map to get in the car or bus with you and get a personalized tour of the battlefield. To this day my mother thinks that was one of the greatest trips she took us on. I don’t remember the tour guide’s commentary, but wow–they sure sold her. And maybe it was all good. A different time.
But why should a person who conducts ghost tours or food tours or other such tours be required to know about the Presidents, etc.
The article you linked to talked about sightseeing guides — don’t know that these people qualify. In any event, licensing of tour guides isn’t especially unique in places with unique history and an industry dependent upon it. Even the Philly law is relatively new. And certainly there isn’t enough info in the article you linked to know much about what they have to answer for questions or how far the licensing covers.
When I went to Versailles in college our teacher was almost tackled by security there for talking to us briefly about the hall of mirrors. They have extremely serious rules about non-liscenced tour guides that are stictly enforced. He was almost removed.
I’ve corrected reinactors at both Ft Delaware and Ft Ticonderoga. at Ft Ticonderoga i was 10, and at Ft Delware i was 16 and had Firetruck red hair in liberty-spikes.
Neither guy took it very well.
Reenactors. Please Capitalize your I. Add a period after Fort Delaware. 🙂
sorry, teacher. my strength is history; not, english and grammer.
I see nothing wrong with persons who are paid to talk about a topic being required to know something about it. The key words are “paid to talk.” They put themselves forward as knowing the topic.
I remember when Philly was considering the test for tour guides.
It’s not just that tour guides were making mistakes. They were making stuff up–sort of like Republicans do.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-05-27-tourguides_N.htm
Isn’t there a bit of “let the buyer beware” involved in tour guiding? Honestly, I don’t think I could take a guy in a Ben Franklin costume very seriously. But a guy in a tweed jacket with corduroy patches…