From rude FL to polite NC, story inside... (Charlotte, Huntersville: work, high crime)

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by MJPost32

Yeah it probably also depends on the neighborhood..ours everyone waves and smiles...haha might be an illusion considering some of their crazy ideas!

I'm not saying it never happens, but it doesn't happen often around here. I think saying that everyone is so nice and always waves in Charlotte and is sooooooo rude in FL is a misconception, I am sure it is based more on a per development basis just like you have just stated. Good job pointing that out

[NCN]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

That's right folks, different areas in different States have rude people, just cann't give one area that honor! A lot of things have changed thru the years (30 years or whatever) and some things will continue to change. You will always find some "nice" and "rude" people everywhere today. As I always say, "Welcome to today's society!!".
We heard that NC was full of friendly folks before moving here from Colorado last year.....seen very little of that! Shoot, didn't see much of it in Colorado either!! People who are paid to be friendly (restaurants, hotels, car sales, etc.) we have seen that here, but that is everywhere. We just don't see that in your common everyday people (like the ones who pass by you at the Post Office) here. I will sometimes say "Good Morning" and will then (and only then) get the "Good Morning" said back, but I have to say "Good Morning" first!
It would be great if the general public would say nice things to each other, weither it's in NC or anywhere else, but with crime the way it is, don't see that happening anytime soon again.

A lot of times it has to do with where the people come from in the first place. We shop at Harris Teeter and have one 7 miles from our home in Wesley Chapel, but I prefer the one in Monroe because the people there are not so much in a hurry. I am talking about the customers. The people at Wesley Chapel will almost knock you down if you are not walking fast enough.

I recently drove between 700-1000 miles in one week in the Raleigh area and Virginia and did not have anyone riding my bumper until I got back near Charlotte. Some of these people complain because you do not break the law to make them happy??? I hope these people riding bumpers are not NC natives. It is extremely rude to follow too close.

The only people that I know that drive worse than Florida drivers are the ones from California. When we were in California, we decided I would not drive until we got out of the state. I could handle Florida, I just stayed in the slow lane most of the time. I really didn't notice the people there being rude. We were in Tampa and Clearwater. We did see the people in two cars having a road rage situation. One of them threw a milkshake through the window of the other car. I thought it was a waste of good food. There were a lot of tourist, so we have no idea whether the people were both from Florida. It was a little scary to watch. Just too much entertainment on the road for me.

[KLeigh0916]

Originally Posted by nkjaws

Okie Dokie people...really???? But you haven't even lived in Charlotte yet? Where is this part of Charlotte that is Somewhere over the Rainbow, where everything is so wonderful?? Honey, let me just say this quote of yours:
Where we're from, "other people" are considered inconveniences, people cut in front of you in line, bump into you and never say "excuse me"--and then give you a dirty look, things like that. Okay well in my part of Charlotte this is reality too. Now mind you everyone at the local Harris Teeter is great, although not the shoppers, they are usually rude. This weekend we were at a tennis court which had 8 courts there. This lady comes from nowhere and starts playing tennis on one of the courts where my toddler is running around. Mind you there are 6 empty courts but she choses this one. Next, she continued to give me dirty looks until I finally took my toddler to another court, b/c it just wasn't worth it. I was there first so I don't care if she was playing tennis or not, there were many other free courts she could have done this on. So open your eyes guys, really there are RUDE, INCONSIDERATE, POMPUS people living in Charlotte as well. BTW, I have never been to CA but I do know some people from there and guess what, some of them are rude, inconsiderate, and snobby, and they now live in Charlotte. See where I am going with this. With the current influx you can no longer say people from Charlotte are so wonderful, b/c the truth is many people are not originally from here anymore. And you don't just move here and become instantly wonderful, although that would be nice

Wow, that was kind of harsh...I was only trying to say that the people I encountered in Charlotte were quite friendly, and considering I'm going to be moving there I think it's a nice aspect to focus on. It isn't as if I'm delusional or unaware of the fact that there are in fact rude people all over the world. However, I have lived in several different regions of the country and I definitely believe that, although there are absolutely rude people everywhere, the general attitudes of people in certain places are overall "nicer" than others.

For instance, when I moved to San Diego from Ohio six years ago, I noticed how much less friendly San Diegans tended to be than Ohioans. It could be related to the pace of the city, the greater population, the fact that there are many, many different languages spoken in SD (mainly Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, but many others as well) and sometimes language barriers exist, but overall, it is not an easy place to get to know people. However, after spending that one weekend in Charlotte, my husband and I have already met several people with whom he will be working (they took us out to dinner, which seemed nice), and the wife of one of his future coworkers gave me her phone number and told me to call her when we got into town. Nobody was that nice in SD; it was a lot harder for us to make friends when we came to San Diego.

Although it baffles me that someone would be so offended that I was trying to complement their city, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm not living in a complete fantasy world about this--I don't expect Charlotte to be a perfect place. But based on my personal experience of moving into San Diego from Ohio, I can tell you it has already been an easier experience starting our move to Charlotte from San Diego.

And so what if I'm wrong...so, I think that people are nice in Charlotte and I'm the only one who doesn't know that they are actually just as rude as everyone else in the world....oh well, I'm happy to remain in the dark. I don't like going around disliking people, especially when my perception is that they are being perfectly friendly--it's too stressful.

[Metallisteve]

You're not wrong KLeigh...for the most part, there is a better attitude here...ESPECIALLY compared to Florida. Please don't make a judgement on the area based on this forum. Some folks just fail to see any green in their pasture and instead point out all the dead spots.

[LoveBoating]

It is hard to give to many compliments about "friendliness" to an area when you really have not seen that much (or any) "friendliness" at all. AND, not necessarily defending "friendliness" in Florida, but I really don't think people should say ALL of Florida is unfriendly! That is like saying ALL of California is like Los Angeles when it comes to crime, traffic, etc. Shoot, other than a couple of neighbors of ours, we thought it to be "unfriendly" in the Englewood & Parker areas of Colorado also. And, my wife and I have "friendly" personalities, but sometimes it gets tiresome initating/starting the "friendly conversations" with people!!

[luisdiovany]

Well when you say Florida your talking about the entire state, But not all of florida is bad..Im from Miami and ITS REALLLY BAD THERE...and since ive been here almost all my life i'll tell you why...It's Simple It's a desease...Your Rude to me I'll be rude to you..You hold open a door with no thank you then the next time you slam it...its sad but thats how it started. As for me - Ive had it! But there are rude people everywhere even ALASKA and even Charlotte..but its not a big population. Since there is a huge boom in population we should all make sure we dont change....Thats what happen in MIAMI...

[anifani821]

The OP was just talking about his personal experiences in two different places. I travel to FL several times a year and I have also seen things change tremendously. It depends where you are in FL as to how you will feel about your interaction there. Go to St. Augustine and your experience may be very different from Ft. Lauderdale, where our friends live in a beautiful highrise condo - w/ armed guards and iron gates. They love their view but hate how the city has changed - rudeness, crime, cost of living, etc.

I live in an area where people are cordial and friendly. But then, as I stated earlier, I usually am the person to speak first, wave, say hello, etc. My neighborhood has few "natives" in it. In fact, on my end of the street . . . everyone is a newcomer. Same for the street that intersects ours. Not one native . . . and everyone is cordial. We have people from all over the country - including FL, MA, W.VA, KS, PA, NJ, NY, OH . . . What is so interesting, we loved our town in KS and one of my neighbors lived in that same town for about 20 years and they never really felt at home there - and couldn't wait to leave!!! LOL! Now how can 4 people have such differing opinions on one town???? Maybe my neighborhood just had nicer people in it!

My point is - all things are relative, I suppose. Maybe we just got lucky when we moved here . . . people mind their own business but they are all cordial. And the local businesses I support . . . people are always cordial there, too.

I guess it all depends who else lives around you . . . and how you interact w/ people. I felt a lot of stress the last time I was in Ft. Lauderdale - people just seemed to be uptight. Maybe I just happened upon a lot of negative people, but I don't think so.

I didn't expect a brass band to greet me when I moved here. I did assume things would be about like they were when I left . . . and they are. Maybe if I moved to a different section of the city . . . I would see what others have seen.

The only time I feel stressed out here and disappointed about people's attitudes is when I am driving. I feel drivers are very rude around here, and that surprises me.

My experiences are very similar to the OP . . . I think people are basically friendly and cordial here, but again . . . maybe it is just the area of the city I live in. Or maybe it is the way I approach people. Or - maybe some of both.

[luisdiovany]

Soon Charlotte will be a melting pot...Charlotte will be in the same breath as NYC, Chicago, LA, Miami, Seattle. But we need to make sure we never crack..just like we did here in miami...Someone is rude to you - just smile and say hello to next person and hold the door for them. Greet your neighbors. Greet your Coworkers. Someone cuts you off on the road just shake it off and smile...eliminate road rage...I come from the #1 city in usa with road rage.

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by KLeigh0916

Wow, that was kind of harsh...I was only trying to say that the people I encountered in Charlotte were quite friendly, and considering I'm going to be moving there I think it's a nice aspect to focus on. It isn't as if I'm delusional or unaware of the fact that there are in fact rude people all over the world. However, I have lived in several different regions of the country and I definitely believe that, although there are absolutely rude people everywhere, the general attitudes of people in certain places are overall "nicer" than others.

For instance, when I moved to San Diego from Ohio six years ago, I noticed how much less friendly San Diegans tended to be than Ohioans. It could be related to the pace of the city, the greater population, the fact that there are many, many different languages spoken in SD (mainly Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, but many others as well) and sometimes language barriers exist, but overall, it is not an easy place to get to know people. However, after spending that one weekend in Charlotte, my husband and I have already met several people with whom he will be working (they took us out to dinner, which seemed nice), and the wife of one of his future coworkers gave me her phone number and told me to call her when we got into town. Nobody was that nice in SD; it was a lot harder for us to make friends when we came to San Diego.

Although it baffles me that someone would be so offended that I was trying to complement their city, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm not living in a complete fantasy world about this--I don't expect Charlotte to be a perfect place. But based on my personal experience of moving into San Diego from Ohio, I can tell you it has already been an easier experience starting our move to Charlotte from San Diego.

And so what if I'm wrong...so, I think that people are nice in Charlotte and I'm the only one who doesn't know that they are actually just as rude as everyone else in the world....oh well, I'm happy to remain in the dark. I don't like going around disliking people, especially when my perception is that they are being perfectly friendly--it's too stressful.

I never said I was offended, I sincerely want to know where this place in Charlotte is b/c it sounds sooooo much better then this part of Charlotte. As for your experience, I am glad that you had a good first impression,however, ours was great too and a year and a half later it just isn't so. Yes, you will run into rude people everywhere, that is just a fact of life.

[nkjaws]

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

You're not wrong KLeigh...for the most part, there is a better attitude here...ESPECIALLY compared to Florida. Please don't make a judgement on the area based on this forum. Some folks just fail to see any green in their pasture and instead point out all the dead spots.

Hmmm, but you even said when you rented in Berewick that people did not say hello, there were somewhat standoffish so you moved, ie not everywhere in Charlotte is filled with happy go lucky, friendly people. I am certainly not poining out any dead spots, but I have continued to say FL should not be judged as a whole state of rude people because there are indeed rude and nice people in both. You just have to weed them out.