Indiana: State with the friendliest people? (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne: house, unemployment, construction)

[TootsieWootsie]

I've read a couple of times that the State of Indiana has the most friendly people in America. Does anyone have any statistics or links that state that--along with a study perhaps?
Does Indiana have the friendliest people in the country living there? Any why are they so friendly I wonder?

[rrah]

It's a little late for me to read this study, but it was darn friendly of me to find it.

http://web.mac.com/jrentfrow/iWeb/Dr...ersonality.pdf

[jc76]

Personally I found Oregon the friendliest place we have ever been to. Sure here in the hoosier state there are friendly people, but I doubt it's #1 for that, now for unemployment we may be numero uno.

[Waterlily]

I'm from Oregon but I'm going to be in Indiana soon. Maybe I'll be able to compare the friendly people of Oregon with those in Indiana. If it's anything like My state of Oregon some places will more more friendly than others. See ya soon Indiana!

[Interpol76]

The further North you travel in Indiana, the ruder people get..... General rule of thumb. Fort Wayne has some of the snobbiest people I have ever met, and I have lived in quite a few cities. As far as overall niceness...I think Indiana ranks somewhere in the middle.

[grmasterb]

How does one measure friendliness? Seems awfully subjective.

[RangerDuke08]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

How does one measure friendliness? Seems awfully subjective.

That's right but I guess the "stereotype" down South is called Southern Hospitality and out in Hawaii is a "chill" type of friendliness while in Indiana is more of a down-to-earth/honest "stereotype". Not encouraging stereotypes here however thus said for convenience sake, whether for the better or worse, I think Indiana is changing very rapidly, past several times I been there in the past decade the Hoosiers used to joke that you would be driving and all of the sudden the road would dissapear ... now you got toll booths and road construction everywhere, indeed the crossroads of America.

But like-wise as many Hoosiers have moved out all over the country for more opportunity on this crossroad. There has been a steady influx of in-migration to NW Indiana and Indianapolis in particular from all over the country for affordable housing. Indianapolis is the major city with the most affordable housing. For a state that also maintains a lot of its rural aspect, the higher educational system is exceptional (Indiana, ND, IUPUI, Purdue). All in all I wouldn't say it's much different from any of it's neighboring upper-midwestern states today.

[SW Native]

Oh man...well it depends where you're at in Indiana. I lived in Carmel last summer and it was sort of a blast. I worked as a satellite installer for dish network and man o man, was it a blast. I'm originally from the SW and people here are mean and just out for themselves. Well when I worked for Dish, I mainly worked very north of the city. Places such as, tipton, cicero, Lebanon, and so on. Well OMFG, the people that I met were phenomenal. Really nice and accomodating. Some customers even invited me to stay for dinner! I've had people come out and talk to me and just chat about everyday life while I was working. This REALLY blew me off guard as I've NEVER experienced anything like this in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. I even made good friends with a family in Cicero that invited me to party with them in their lake house for the summer. Truly amazing! I couldn't believe the people here. I mean, I'm a brown eyed, browned skin individual (Native American BTW) and the rural people of Indiana really made me feel welcomed and humbled.

Well that was the rural but now comes the city folk.

Livingin in Carmel was amazing to say the least. However I'm assuming since I wasn't white I was treated differently. Especially at Keystone Crossing.

When I first arrived, I was in awe that there was a mall so close by and that it was a high end mall. Now mind you, even though I was of a minority, I also liked high end goods. My first trip to Keystone, I had such high expectations. However, when I was in there, I was treated so much differently. People wouldn't help me. I had to ask for their help and even then, they were snobby and rude. I watched them as they flocked around the white people with such accomodation. This made me feel, I don't know...somehow. It's hard to explain. Only if you're a minority you would understand. Anyways, it wasn't just like this in Saks. It was like this all over the mall: Abercrombie, Willams Sonoma, and that sunglass shop by sunglass hut. It hurt so much to be judged like that by people that didn't even know me. This was a real turn off for me. I really hated it. It made me feel so inferior to everyone. And it didn't stop there. It was everywhere in the north of carmel. Too many places to count.

OMG...I'm actually fighting tears about all of this. For your sake, do not be a minority, I have to go now. Good-bye
,

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by SW Native

=
When I first arrived, I was in awe that there was a mall so close by and that it was a high end mall. Now mind you, even though I was of a minority, I also liked high end goods. My first trip to Keystone, I had such high expectations. However, when I was in there, I was treated so much differently. People wouldn't help me. I had to ask for their help and even then, they were snobby and rude. I watched them as they flocked around the white people with such accomodation. This made me feel, I don't know...somehow. It's hard to explain. Only if you're a minority you would understand. Anyways, it wasn't just like this in Saks. It was like this all over the mall: Abercrombie, Willams Sonoma, and that sunglass shop by sunglass hut. It hurt so much to be judged like that by people that didn't even know me. This was a real turn off for me. I really hated it. It made me feel so inferior to everyone. And it didn't stop there. It was everywhere in the north of carmel. Too many places to count.

OMG...I'm actually fighting tears about all of this. For your sake, do not be a minority, I have to go now. Good-bye
,

You can get the same treatment if you're white but don't appear to have money. Trust me -- Carmel isn't racist. It only cares about one color -- green.

[TootsieWootsie]

And bad treatment can happen anywhere. When I first moved to Houston in the '80's I would go to Sakowitz (an old line wealth driven department store) in a sweatsuit. Now I had the money for sure, but, since I was dressed so down, the clerks would literally look thru me! It is insulting and hurtful.
You cannot imagine my joy when Sakowitz went out of business partly due to the wealthy didn't buy...and they had turned off the middle class, so nobody was coming in during a 10% unemployment period then. Hee, hee...what goes around does sometimes come around. But, yeah, being white surely didn't help me then.