CYC Sickens Me
When Bahamians fist gathered from as far north as Abaco to as far south as Inagua on the internet to tell someone CYC, it was hilarious. I was amazed at how funny Bahamians truly were and how for once everyone could actually come together. When Bahamians told Americans to CYC over Shaune's well deserved gold medal at The Olympics, it was necessary because she won that fair and square. But now, it's like everyday Bahamians are looking for a reason to form like voltron and tell someone on the internet to CYC for any unfavorable comment they say about The Bahamas, regardless of what they say has an element of truth to it or not.
If someone says they don't want to come off of the cruise ship because they had a bad experience here, the CYC delegation is ready with the only insult they know. If someone says they were robbed in The Bahamas of course instead of empathizing since armed robbery is extremely prevalent, the CYC delegation shows up in their mentions. If someone says they had horrible customer service, instead of admitting service here often leaves much to be desired, CYC is the first thing that pops of many a keyboard. Sure, there have been a lot of untrue and unfair comments about The Bahamas, but instead of having an intelligent discourse, the first response is CYC. As a country that relies heavily on tourism we're becoming known as a nation of bullies on the internet and a lot of people think it's funny but it's really not because that's only going to cause more people to stay on the ship or not want to come here at all and deal with our people.
There's a lot of things happening in our country that we can give a hearty CYC to, but keep it cute and keep it mute. Yet refuse to give that same energy to previous and potential visitors alike.
Some things y'all really should be saying CYC to are:
- BEC/BPL who despite being the service provider of electricity from the beginning of time in The Bahamas can never seem to get it right. While I appreciate my power actually being on through the majority of hurricane Irma, plenty times I've come home to no power just because it's Tuesday. And time and time again I get told to stop complaining because that's how it is. But that's definitely not how it should be. Why should I accept that because it's summer my power should be off a lot? No! Tell BEC to CYC.
- Jet Ski rapists who continue to get horrible coverage. It's so bad that the US embassy warns visitors against riding jet skis. I say ALL the time that I want to go jet ski riding but won't unless a man comes with me because it's not safe as a single woman. But no one has headed off to any beach where there's tons of jet ski operators yet to tell them CYC. Wonder why…
- The BJC & BGCSE exams. Or maybe the Bahamian educational system. Who knows which one should go at the point. But what I do know is that every year we beat up our gums about the fact that the national grade is P- and getting worse every year, but in the midst of all the complaining I haven't seen anyone say that the exams need to CYC or the teaching styles need to CYC or the educational system needs to CYC. No everyone complains in that moment, forget about it a couple weeks later, then complains again when the next set of results are out.
- Anyone working in customer service throughout our 700 islands and cays. By now, most people expect subpar service when they're going out, so much so that they take it as no big deal. Once I went to lunch at Blue Sail and a friend asked why the avocado on her salad was so brown and the waitress actually told her because it's pear not avocado and refused to exchange it for something else. We all laughed amongst ourselves at the fact that she didn't know they were the same thing and just shared our food with the dissatisfied person and finished our lunch but really that shouldn't be the norm. If we want people to have good things about our country, then we should be giving everyone - tourists and locals alike - exceptional service.
I'm sure there's way more things in our country that we could be saying CYC to instead of waiting online all day everyday to troll unsuspecting people, but CYC is old, tired and plain ol ignorant. There's tons of ways we could have intelligent discourse with people on the internet who have had both bad and good experiences but instead choose for the one things it seems we know how to say in various colorful ways.
I have never told anyone online to CYC and while I have laughed once upon a time, it's no longer funny. As a nation we have to realize when a joke has run its course and is now distasteful, disrespectful, disgusting and just dumb. Personally, when I see CYC over and over again I really wonder if we know how to say anything else. It's not cute, it's not funny and it's probably turning more people away than you know. While yes, some people deserve a light drag, drag them with facts not insults. And until Bahamians can do that, maybe they should stop looking for fights high and low to have on the internet.
