Are August Visitors The Rudest Of The Lot To Invade The Hamptons?

A stronger, fouler wind seems to blow in during the last month of a Hamptons summer. As the sun begins to set earlier and earlier, many locals say there also is a noticeable change in the type of visitor to the East End once the calendar turns to August.

While some say they don’t see a noticeable difference, others are positive that the area’s August visitors are shorter-tempered, less patient and walk around with a greater sense of entitlement.

“It wasn’t like this in May,” said Rayeal White, who works as a clerk in the bakery at Waldbaum’s in Southampton Village in the summer. “Now, it’s mayhem.”

Sitting outside on his break one recent day, Mr. White, who lives in Brooklyn in the winter, said that earlier in the summer more families and locals frequented the supermarket. Now, younger customers from out of town, many of them rude, flood the store most days.

Seventeen-year-old Tyler McCor of Southampton, who was sitting outside the supermarket the same day, said August visitors have bad tempers, far worse than other visitors, when they don’t get their way. “Before August, visitors were more relaxed and patient,” he said. “At the beginning, it’s okay.”

A bartender at Barristers on Main Street in Southampton Village, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that those who stop in for a drink in August are “a little bit more pretentious and selfish.”

“It’s a ‘It’s my world and you live in it’ type of thing,” she said of their collective attitudes. “It’s a lack of awareness, and they don’t think that people live here” year-round.

The bartender, who also works in real estate, said she attributes that attitude to the fact that everyone wants to visit the Hamptons in August. “August is the highest price-point,” she said, referring to the cost of house and motel rentals. “Most of them are pretentious and flashy who need to be here in August.”

She also pointed out that those visiting the East End in August are trying to squeeze in one last vacation before summer ends and, as a result, some might be a tad bitter that fall and, inevitably, winter are just around the corner.

Likewise, Francesco Gardner, the co-owner of Villa Italian Specialties in East Hampton, said he’s noticed that late-summer visitors are more in a rush to soak up the last bits of the season. “They’re nervous that their summer is slipping away,” he said. “Everybody’s trying to cram as much summer as they can in the last two weeks.”

Noting that she sees an influx of customers in August, Lynne Jones, the owner of Lynne’s Cards and Gifts on Main Street in Westhampton Beach, said the month is always a little more frantic, because people are sensing the imminent end of summer.

“Locals get frustrated and a little bit apprehensive,” she said. “Some of us stick to the back roads. A lot of people don’t always know the rules of the road, and it’s not that they’re doing it intentionally—they’re either not used to driving or not used to driving here.”

Walking the streets of Southampton Village every day, a U.S. Postal Service worker, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed that people now visiting the area have far less patience than those who spent time here in June and July. “They’re squeezing in their vacation,” he said. “They don’t have the whole summer to blow. They are all just clueless as far as driving goes. They honk a lot more, and they’re rude to each other.”

The mailman said people often treat him as if he doesn’t exist, and many don’t move when he needs to get by them while delivering the mail. “It’s gotten a little better over the years, though,” he added.

Although he said he hasn’t thought about it very much, Henry Hildreth, the owner of Hildreth’s Department Store on Main Street in Southampton Village, said there is a little bit more of a sense of urgency among shoppers these days. “Some people think if they don’t get it now, why bother getting it?” he said.

In his opinion, Mr. Hildreth said some people might have shorter tempers in August because of the humidity, the dwindling summer days and because of the highly competitive nature of those visiting the Hamptons.

“It seems like the expediency of things needs to happen very quickly in order to satisfy a lot of different people,” he said. “It’s not bad, necessarily—it shows the American spirit in a different light.”

Billy Sacher, 23, who works at Hildreth’s, said he is just about fed up with the attitudes he encounters on his daily journey to and from work. “Have you been in line in a deli? If you hesitate two seconds—‘I’m here!’” he said, imitating someone jumping in front of him on the line.

He also noted that many who visit the area in August have accents, describing them as “major tourists” from Europe and other parts of the country, like Tennessee.

“Last summer, it was a lot calmer in terms of volume and attitude,” Mr. Sacher said. “Now, it’s a little more friction-y.”

Mr. Gardner, of Villa Italian Specialties, said he’s observed that more European visitors come out in the late summer, and that, unlike their American counterparts, they tend to be more anxious, possibly because summer is drawing to a close. “Early summer visitors are Americans, and they tend to be relaxed,” he said.

Ed Vecchio of the Sweatshirt Express on Jagger Lane in Southampton also said that August brings a lot of European visitors, as well as visitors from Westchester County. He has observed that many of those who flock to the area earlier in the summer are from Florida. “You gotta love the crazies who unfold 10 shirts,” he said, referring to the messes customers often leave behind.

But not everyone agrees that there is a change in visitors once the calendar turns to August. And those people seem to agree that if there has been a change in attitude, it occurred much earlier in the summer.

“This year, we all felt that the August people were here in July,” said East Hampton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marina Van. “By the third week of July, our staff was exhausted.”

Vince Catena, the owner of Catena’s Market on Main Street in Southampton, said that, overall, the types of visitor stopping by his shop this month are not very different from the ones who frequented it earlier in the summer. “I don’t really see a difference,” he said. “We’re very lucky this year—people have been really nice.”

In Westhampton Beach, Jim Flood, the owner of Westhampton T-Shirts on Main Street, said he has not witnessed a difference in visitors since August 1. He quickly added, however, that the number of people who visit the village in August is much higher. “A lot of vacationers rent a house for a week and spend more in August,” he said. “They’re on vacation and not out here for the summer. The economy hasn’t been great, but when they’re here, everything goes.”

He added that those customers swinging by his shop this month are just as nice and happy as those who purchased items from him earlier in the summer.

“The summer people have had some really good weather, and they’re really happy about being in Westhampton Beach,” Mr. Flood said. “If you’re out here, there’s no reason to be unhappy.”

Harold Wilson, the owner of Dunkerley’s Office Products on Main Street in Southampton, said that while he has not noticed a big change in his clientele in August, he did acknowledge a slight difference. “August people are a little more serious, and definitely more business-oriented,” he said. “Happier people are here in July.”

Mr. Wilson said his two dogs, Pepper and Geri, often spend their late-summer days at his office, and that they are his best people “barometers,” often offering a “growl or a bark” when someone is rude.

And there’s always a growl or two in August, he said.

Staff writers Rohma Abbas and Virginia Garrison contributed to this story.