Preface: I've lived in Denver, OKC, KC (hated it), Dallas.
You want gripes? I've got gripes!
For a small city, there are numerous rude people here. I was hoping to get away from rude people (I thought Denver & KC were bad) but I think this is the worst place thus far.
My neighborhood is like high school. I like how the area looks but can't stand the residents. The neighbors are in constant competition among everybody else and their pretensive nature makes me sick. I've been accused of not minding my own business on several occasions (I noticed a suspicious person one night, geez! - I bet they're dealing!), but now they do their best to make my business theirs now. It's bad when you're afraid to mow your damn yard in fear of a disgruntled neighbor wanting to start something. Thank God I leased. I'm hopping over to the other side after this--give it a shot. (?)
But the neighbors are just a chip of an iceberg. People who work for the public don't give a rat's ass. Other people you encounter in public (like other shoppers) start altercations when you're really minding your own business, or do stupid things intentionally like getting in your way with their shopping cart. Asking them to move just starts altercations. I don't get it. I might as well be in Detroit or Philly or Brooklyn. But I'm in a decent area that seems developed a decade or two ago.
I've never received courteous customer service wherever I shop. You'd think customer service would be scaled up in a smaller city cuz if a place makes you mad then there are numerous alternatives at where you can shop, but it's evident nobody cares. "I just [barely, actually] work here" attitude. I had so many establishments I swore I'd never go back to that I'm back to square-one.
I have never hated people in general so much until I moved here, and I'm honestly very sorry to say this. Oddly enough, I work with people every day and about to stop my personal operations and find work at a company... (see another reason why below).
And the drivers! Yes, I'm used to dealing with lead-foots, tailgaters, lane-surfers, etc. Who cares. But it's apparent that people here often take driving maneuvers personally. It's just DRIVING! Someone can dangerously tailgate me, zoom in front of me, but then slow ME down, but God forbid I wanna pass them after their childish maneuver? Grow up. Or drivers intentionally not letting me onto a highway when I'm accelerating my best not to disrupt traffic and there's no reasonable explanation for their decision other than to be a butt hole. (If you pulled this in Dallas you'll likely cause a nasty pile-up -- and possibly be held responsible for a number of deaths.) I cannot understand what warrants the selfishness of causing a high-speed accident.
Once at a steakhouse I pulled into a parking spot and the driver of the truck next to me barked at me for trying to hit his pickup. I barked back, "Did I hit it?" "No." "Then what's the problem?" "You ALMOST hit it." "So you're saying you own the 15 inches of air all around your truck?" The only way to get him to stop harassing and verbally threatening me was by pulling my phone out of my pocket and threatening to call the police.
And once in a public parking lot in front of a large store I was walking to the store front and was kind enough to let a motorist go ahead before I crossed and he still had the snide audacity to roll down his window, shout profanities at me, threw his burning cigarette butt at me, then he floored it and which caused slush to be thrown all over me. (A rear-wheel drive dually, in fact.) Excuse the heck outta me for being nice WHILE minding my own business. (And, NO, it wasn't during Christmas. It was about two weeks ago.) After this event I stopped being nice and started getting real. I Had ENUF.
The hateful attitudes I notice from people make me wonder if they're just that unhappy living here. I'm used to an amount of rudeness but it only happens where it's warranted, not just because your life sucks. It's amazing, with the concealed gun laws here, that we haven't shot everybody dead yet! I've experienced so many negative situations with people here and I haven't even lived here a full year yet. Cheer up! Count your blessings!
At least there's still a prevailing middle class here, unlike many other cities where the "haves" have a lot more and "have-nots" have a lot less.
Enough whining about people...now about roads
The inner city highway system seems outdated, with the exception of 96 and 254, both east of 135 (they seem rather new and have long on-ramps). On-ramps to 235 are often steep and short. Those may have worked fine back in the 55 speed-limit days, but not now.
Construction's prominent, especially on the east side, but there are still many city streets that do a number on your suspension system (try Pawnee). And many streets have no lane markings (or they've long worn off). I guess they put off road repair for too long before I moved here and now EVERYTHING's under construction. Was there a funding crisis before I moved here?
And I know there can be some confusing roads wherever you go, but dang! I've never found so many potentially dangerous interchanges in one city. If you're not familiar with some of these interchanges, or are not fully awake, you'll find yourself upside-down off the ramp into the body of water beneath. A posted exit sign with 15 MPH on it means just that. I'd wish there were divided-off or separated deceleration lanes for these.
Examples: 235/Kellogg cloverleaf is easily 40 years outdated and has poor visibility of oncoming traffic--you just gotta turn into the loop and keep going without any regard of approaching vehicles. I still can't get used to this. (A usual cause of my road-rage rant above.) No car can go 15 to 75 instantly. Southbound 235 onto Zoo Blvd--You gotta stomp on your brakes if you don't wanna fly off the ramp. Northbound 135 to 96 West--who's idea was it to put a tiny hairpin curve on the seemingly most-used ramp that causes backups a mile long in the MIDDLE LANE on 135!? Oh, and the words "East Kellogg" are a punchline and I've learned to avoid it all costs. The only interchange I approve of is the Kellogg/135 "spiral" interchange. That's what I'm used to and thankful there's at least one spiral interchange here.
And it seems like every major street and intersection is different--no consistency among them. One street has a "chicken lane," one doesn't. Some have third lanes on the far right and it's difficult to tell if they last clear to the next major intersection or not. They often abruptly end. And the intersections--one has both separate left- and right-only lanes, some have neither. Some have two left lanes (I like that). Some have those convenient right-turn lanes where you can just turn and go (yielding, of course) and some don't. These inconsistencies drive me NUTS.
Response to winter weather is REACTIVE instead of PROACTIVE. Crews seem to let it pile up, then scrape up the junk after the storm instead of pretreating a day or two in advance. I'm definitely not happy about this.
Yes, I drive around. A lot. I'm an independent consultant.
I'm sorry I cannot loathe about other more important things, such as schools, as I'm single & no kids cuz I'm a work-a-holic, but the roads are something many people use.
Oh, I can gripe about doctors. Since I'm self-employed, I have no health insurance. (It's either that or retirement. It's CRAZY expensive.), and NO ONE will see me. Even in the emergency room refused me after a nasty case of food poisoning, and a month ago a physician refused me so now I've been dealing with a sinus infection for over a month. I guess proof of income isn't enough. Are the doctors here that afraid of being shafted? But I make too much to get one of those medical cards.
After reading about about the parks and lifeguards (OMG), I had to post something about the roads. I truly apologize about the rude people, but I'm just being factual. They turn off the lights at the parks to SAVE ENERGY! There's actually neighborhoods (walled or gated communities) in one suburb I used to live nearby that turned off the street lamps at midnight for energy conservation and back on at 6am if it was still dark.
As far as recreation, there are bike trails galore near me. Too bad I haven't used them yet. My bike's being put in good use as a dust collector lately. Cuz it's Kansas. And weather hasn't been favorable for bike riding! That's why the parks close at 4 right now!
Overall, this city's the right size, really. It's large enough to where you can just stay in your corner of town and still have access to places you frequent, but if you need to go across town, it's still just a 20-minute drive. This often forgotten and underestimated American city is indeed formidable in itself. Plenty of opportunities (which I need to investigate!) and industry. Who cares if it's in Kansas!? It's among the top 100 largest cities in US.
List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Now somebody else feel free to discredit my posting...
I'm sure I'll get some nasty responses to my observation of rude people.
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RUDE people, awkward highway interchanges, doctors
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