Why I LOVE Huntsville (Madison: appointed, HOA, attorney)

[tammie2]

I get these little reminders every now and then....

I went to Walmart at 10:30PM last night(my favorite time to shop, my house is asleep, the stores are empty). I walk in and the door greeter tells me "Merry Christmas, so glad to see you again"

Now I am walking through the store getting the items I need and I am in the electronics dept getting extra stylus' for the DSi's(there must be a black hole in my house for these things). The same door greeter is going back for his lunch and stops to talk with me, giving me a big hug and telling me to have a Merry Christmas again.

Then I go to checkout and the cashier say "Oh, I am so glad to see you, haven't seen you in a few weeks. How have you been?" More Christmas greetings and I am off. I was in the store 30-45 minutes for what should have been a 5-10 stop.

I love it!! Everyone knows everyone and everyone is friendly!! It doesn't get much better!! I have only been on this side of the mountain since September, it took me YEARS to have those types of "relationships" with the staff at stores in other areas. I have never felt more welcome than I do in Huntsville(even in my hometown).

The funny part about the whole thing is I am typically not a Walmart shopper, never really went in any other area, but it is here and after a few late night "it is the only place open and I need....." visits I like it for my late night needs that I don't want to put off, even if I could.

[Southlander]

How wonderful to read something positive for a change! Thanks for posting, Tammie!

[skinem]

Yup, this area's pretty special, isn't it?

(I have to spread some rep before I can rep you again...consider this a public rep for a nice, positive post!)

[ionlife]

I love this area because we are able to take the time to attend city council meetings and make our voices heard. Back in VA, people barely had time to attend HOA meetings. Here, the hours are reasonable and make it easy for people to become involved in the democratic process at every level.

Viva the South!

[rnc76]

We felt very welcomed here before we even moved here. We came down to do a scouting trip and when we told people we were in town to check it out as a possible place to relocate, everyone was so warm and inviting. Within about a year after moving here, Huntsville felt like "home".

Within a couple weeks of living here, we had coworkers inviting us over for dinner...and they meant it! We lived in the NE for 4 years before this and people were nice but standoffish. The only people that really reached out in the first year or so were displaced southerners. We eventually made some wonderful friends, it just took a while. I think the size of the Huntsville helps as well. None of our friends live further than 20 minutes away from us. That makes it easy to get together. Up there, it was a larger metro. One friend might live 1 hour away, another 45 minutes the opposite direction, another 40 minutes in yet another direction... That made it difficult to get a group of people together.

[HB2HSV]

Yes the personal touch of people in Huntsville is what we felt the best. Even in big box stores like HD, Lowes, and Walmart, there is a personal interaction and they take the time to answer questions & help. I went into HD the other day, the many employees there recognized me and greeted me like old friend. One took the time to make several calls and walked with me to the right section make sure I got what I was looking for. You just don't get this type of personal service in bigger cities.

Thanks tammie for a positive thread during this very happy Christmas holidays

[zenjenn]

I too love Huntsville and consider it a friendly place, but I have to say, I had an experience at the Hampton Cove Wal-Mart recently that really disappointed me.

Two weeks ago I slipped on wet concrete in the Wal-Mart shopping cart area and broke my leg. I was in the worst pain of my life, and I was treated like a liability, not like a human being. This was an injury that required surgery and a 2 1/2 day hospital stay. I know they did not know that, but I was obviously in serious pain, and the Wal-Mart employees cast blame, discouraged an ambulance call, and harassed me to answer questions for an accident report while I was trapped on the floor in agony. I had to several times say, "Look, I don't want to SUE you, ok? I just need SERIOUS MEDICAL ATTENTION."

I can forgive these individuals as I am certain the Wal-Mart employees are beaten over the head in their training to respond to an accident in this manner, and I do understand that Wal-Mart has such policies because of our overly-litigious culture. Still, I would have hoped when push comes to shove that locals would have the common decency to treat an injured customer like a person and not like a liability. I was very disappointed.

[ionlife]

Zennjenn: sorry about your accident! That stinks and right before the holidays.

Today I bought my groceries and picked up the usual two extra bags of food for the shelter/food bank. I was personally thanked by the manager for helping. Then I had a lovely chat with my favorite bagger and the checkout clerk about the holidays.

The Pros of living in this area are usually about the hometown feel and the wonderful people. But we can't forget that there are cons and they exist and the reason people come to this forum when they are planning to relocate is to get information about both sides of the coin.

Certainly, we did. We are living two sides of the coin right now. On the one hand I want to relax and enjoy my Christmas break with my family, but I can't because the city council of Madison is meeting December 28th to push through zoning that would be detrimental to my neighborhood, the school adjacent to it and the church just down the street.

So who was the Grinch that stole Christmas first? Not I? I wanted to have a merry time. Instead I am canvassing the neighborhood, fielding calls and emails about this travesty and gathering more data for a meeting I believe was deliberately scheduled to discuss this divisive issue at a time when the council was well aware was a bad time for most people to RALLY and fight an insane change.

So thanks for that...

Other than that, the feel good part of Christmas here despite the Grinch Council that tried to steal christmas, is that there are so many people willing to stand up for the community and the citizens in it. And we're a tight knit group that's grown tighter with each battle.

So I guess I can thank all my neighbors and new friends for helping me save my Christmas spirit with their generosity of time and efforts as well as for their genuine concern for the family health crisis we are facing on a personal level. Despite all the gov't muckety mucks running around trying to get 2 cents on the gallon, I have a lot of faith in the goodness of people here.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

I had to several times say, "Look, I don't want to SUE you, ok?

Those Alabamians are a shrewd bunch. They instantly recognized you as an ex-Californian.

By the way, did you call the attorney you asked me about?

[ionlife]

Charles you crack me up!