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Assuming the Albany area (Capital District) hasn't changed with the recent influx of downstaters, I'd say that the NYC attitude stops where the Albany market starts, probably Columbia County. Just an educated guess....(geography is one of my interests...a few years back I used to study maps, populations, statistics etc.)
Hmm... My wife and I lived in Buffalo nearly all our lives and relocated NYC 10 months ago. We have not seen this "attitude" either. In both locales we have met lots of friendly and helpful people. Of course, you're bound to encounter a few jerks anywhere.
It is true that when you enter a deli or drugstore, the cashiers will shout "NEXT" every time they are ready for a new customer. This sounds very rude to most people from other parts of the country, but it is just the way things are done here. While the service is rarely friendly, it is quick and efficient.
In crowded public places, like subways, you don't see lots of smiling and chatter amongst strangers. It is considered more polite to just leave people alone. Every morning and evening on crowded subway trains and buses, total strangers sit hip-to-hip and stand practically cheek-to-cheek, never once smiling or saying hello to each other. To do so would be considered either rude, a little creepy, or both. However, when it matters, I've observed nothing but politeness and kindness. People always give up their seats to the handicapped and elderly, as well as pregnant women and mothers with young children.
I've never found this attitude in NYC. In Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx at least. If I walk into a pizza shop I'll get a "hey man what can I get ya. Sure thing!". Cab drivers strike up conversations. People hold doors. If I'm in an office I'm always am able to have a nice conversation with the secretaries. The only rude people I've seen were transplants trying to live up to that NYC stereotype.
You're confusing 'rude/loud' people with NYC inhabitants, not the same thing.
There may be more well known rude people in NYC only because there are more high profile people there in general being that it's a media base.
I have rarely found people to be unmannered or unfriendly whether on the street, in stores, or on the subway. Quite the opposite in fact. These are the typical NY'ers, not the ones you list.
What do the Italians have to do with the attitude? You just need to understand New Yorkers more and maybe you would look at the "attitude" in a different way, or maybe New York is just not for you !
I was born and raised in NYC. Personally, I feel that New Yorkers are some of the friendliest people I have met. You want rude and obnoxious, arrogant and snobby, try living in Boston!
I love NYC. When visiting, my friend and I found the RUDEST people were... wait for it....
the OTHER TOURISTS!! horrible, pushy, selfish - mowing down other people so they got "their" experience at the tourist attractions, even going so far as to engage my friend in an argument at one of the Chinatown "name painting" tables because she mistakenly stepped in front of them and they had already "ordered" their paintings. Ugh!
Ok, I have the credentials - grew up in a small town way upstate, lived in NYC and the Island for many years.
Why do people assume that attitude = rude?
NYC people do have an attitude and they need it to survive in a concentrated area of millions of people. That attitude you see would be considered assertive in other places...in NYC , if you're not assertive, you get run over or left behind - that's the nature of living in a high density melting pot.
You can afford to be more laid back in a small town in the sticks.
It's only rude if the behavior is different from what you find in your usual daily life....
To metro New Yorkers, this is not rudeness, it's normal and it's outgoing and full of life and in your face.
It's important to see differences for what they are - normal in one kind of situation and not normal in another.
It's just not normal for you....
Awareness, it's a great thing
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The media is full of typical New Yorkers
