20 things people at SXSW were grumpy about

South by Southwest is, on its face, a pretty nice event to attend. There are great speakers, free food and drink wherever you turn, great bands and interesting people. You’d think attendees would thank their creator for putting them in a position where it’s possible for them to do something like this — and, more often than not, have their employers foot the bill. You’d be wrong. The unofficial sport of SXSW is complaining about SXSW. Here’s what the people of SXSW complain about:

Wonky Wifi

Hotel WIFI is officially worse than cell service at #SXSW. Hilton: 7Mbps down. AT&T: 13Mbps down. Cell is much improved since 2008.

— benhuh (@benhuh) March 9, 2014

 

Hangovers

Fighting a hangover for @mindykaling @ikebarinholtz & @adampally at #sxsw. Please bring coffee. — Rob Moynihan (@robmoynihan) March 9, 2014

Crowds and drunks

Calling it s night. Sxsw crowds are scary. Especially when they are inebriated. — Michelle K. Dinh (@mkdinh) March 9, 2014

 

Marketing jargon

SXSW…. Because the world needs more empty marketing speak from ad agencies pic.twitter.com/6BGdKlq7bw

— Bob Bonner (@RBonner_) March 7, 2014

 

Ad agencies and their clients

When ad agencies and brand managers take over your film festival, you can officially say SXSW is dead.

— McSand Films (@mcsandfilms) March 8, 2014

 

The dearth of real nerds

The biggest complaint of #SXSW: It’s too many PR, advertisers and marketers and not real technologists. You know, people who build shit. — Geoffrey Colon (@djgeoffe) March 10, 2013

 

The presence of hip people and hip things

Oh my god I can’t even take anymore hipness.

— Ari Paparo (@aripap) March 11, 2014

 

Google Glass wearers

Just spotted the first douche bag wearing google glass #sxsw

— Cory Key (@pleekabar) March 7, 2014

 

All the brands here

Also, I hope everyone at #sxsw is thoroughly engaging with some great brands. #BrandsMakeAmericaStrong — Anton (@anton612) March 9, 2014

 

Having to walk

No cabs anywhere = I walked 50 minutes to get to convention center #sxsw — Kelsey Harris (@kelsrenhar) March 9, 2014

Parties they voluntarily went to where they were provided free food and drink

don’t need sentiment analysis to know this party sucks :( #sxsw (@ Seaholm Power Plant) http://4sq.com/hi2qft — Jason Wilson (@feKaylius) March 15, 2011

Not constantly eating

I’m on the #sxsw diet … lines are too long for me to bother getting food! Haven’t even had my coffee yet #needcoffee — EricaDuignanMinnihan (@ericaminnihan) March 9, 2014

 

Bad beards

I’ve seen so many sad, patchy beards in Austin, it’s like puberty quit before finishing the job. #SXSW

— Jenny Johnson (@JennyJohnsonHi5) March 8, 2014

 

Inaccurate GPS on shuttle buses

Tech-savvy people don’t have much tolerance for the inaccurate gps or clunky e-commerce of the #sxsw hotel shuttle bus. — Colleen Newvine (@cnewvine) March 9, 2014

 

Waiting in line for sessions

#sxsw so far: line to get speaker badge longer than attendee line, first session I went to see was closed/full. At least it’s warm out. — Rick Mason (@Egnaro) March 7, 2014

Men with poor aim

gentlemen of #SXSW .. aim your pee. — Soft Reeds (@softreeds) March 14, 2013

Having to wait for a taxi at the airport

The taxi line at the airport is ridiculous. No Uber’s available either. The next few days will be fun. #SXSW pic.twitter.com/hxvo6iXEjj — Daniel Brusilovsky (@danielbru) March 7, 2014

The weather

Austin, your weather really sucks #sxsw — Ashley K (@districtofash) March 9, 2014

 

Uber surge pricing

I’m fine with 2.5x surge pricing, but $151 minimum fare is slightly ridiculous #uber #sxsw pic.twitter.com/haiQUhHJBT — Marty (@smarty) March 9, 2014

 

People who leave sessions early

I don’t understand why people start leaving sessions when the Q&A starts at #sxsw. We got 20 people outside who wish they were in here.

— Chad Parizman (@CParizman) March 9, 2014