Are they mad or unhappy? (Orlando, Lutz: job, business, moving to)

[urban_hippie]

Hm, I think a lot of this perceived anger is a result of driving stress. Really! I have lived in the Orlando area, on and off, since 1989. Obviously, a lot has changed over the last 19 years. The huge population growth and continuous suburban sprawl has made our already poorly-planned road system worse. I don't think anyone was anticipating having to deal with so many people, so quickly! My personal theory (completely scientifically unfounded, btw ) is that having to spend so much time in traffic has a slowly-mounting effect on the psyche. Think about it - can you ever pop out to the mall to purchase something? Make a quick run to the store? Enjoy a nice, leisurely afternoon drive? Ha! Usually, no. Traffic is EVERYWHERE. And, sitting in this, day after day, week after week, month after month, not only causes stress, it creates isolation within a crowd. No wonder people are angry, unhappy, and stressed! It can be a lot to deal with. There aren't really effective public transportation options, to boot.

My two cents.

[Allison H. (Native FL)]

I have lived in Florida since I was a small child, and I'm now well into my mid 30's, and I can attest to the fact, like kloud9kutie, that there are quite a few just plain mean spirited angry people here. Either it wasn't as crowded before so I didn't notice, or the people that have moved here (the majority being from New York or New Jersey), are the most disrespectful, obnoxious, uncivil individuals I've ever met.

I've worked for these NY/NJ transplants at now 4 places of employment, have a significant percentage of my neighbors from the same area, and have observed many of them in public or common areas (stores, sporting events, parks, etc.) If you're not from Florida and you wonder how I know where they're from, they all have their Yankees license plates, jerseys, hats, and there's always their accent if you hadn't figured it out by then.

Just to give you some background, I live in an upper middle class neighborhood (I bought before the market spiked, it's not that I have a great deal of money) and I assumed crime would not be a big issue, other than the usual car thefts, minor vandalism, the usual you have everywhere. I have been robbed by an 8th grader whose family had recently moved her from NY, my neighbor across the street buys illegal drugs and sells them to other women in the neighborhood. She told me she buys them from her coke dealer friend in Ybor. This woman makes a 6 figure salary, so I didn't understand that money couldn't buy class.

The neighbor next to her would regularly drive out at night with a trailer and would steal from construction sites to put into his house-flipping business he had at the time. Again, a man in his mid 30's, good job, nice house. He once came home at night while a few of us were outside with a medium sized tree lying in the trailer, not wrapped as if it had just been purchased, but as if it had just been dug up. He bragged to me when I moved in that he had taken all of my floor tile and cabinets that were for the bathrooms. What he bragged about most was that his brother was staying with for a few months while he was trying to get back on the straight and narrow after being in jail. He would make his brother go out at night to landscaping supply stores, jump the fences and steal landscape rocks for his spa and waterfall he was building. The stones can be quite expensive so he decided he could threaten his brother with kicking him out if he didn't do it. He also made his brother go by himself, so in case he got caught only his brother would be in trouble.

A third neighbor refused to pay $10 a month for trash pickup so he would drive his trash either the night before or that morning and leave it in unsuspecting neighbors' cans. When he didn't feel like doing that, he stuffed them down the sewers and threw them into the pond across the street from him. So when we had the 4 hurricanes one year, all of the water backed up into peoples' yards because the sewers were clogged with bags of trash. Some people took law into their own hands and opened the manhole covers and started pulling out bags of trash. They found his bank statements, his kids' diapers, etc. This same neighbor was seen hooking up his garden hose to a nearby house whose occupants were out of town and was filling his pool. The people that lived there didn't understand right away why they had a $200 water bill that month.

The four bosses from NY/NJ that I've worked for have given me enough material to write a book, which I have given serious consideration to. Just the highlights though:

Worked in a tick infested home office and was told that "I better pray for a cold winter" (to kill the ticks) because she was not going to have the place treated. Florida is an at will state, so calling OSHA doesn't do any good, I tried.

Have been told by my current employer that we're not allowed to whisper anywhere in the office, nor are we allowed to use the plastic cups attached to the water cooler. We are all regularly yelled at, belittled, threatened, and blamed for whatever he feels like on that particular day. Because again, FL is an at will state, our only option is to leave. There are CONSTANT sexist jokes, sexual comments made, discrimination, breaking privacy rules, but there's no recouse because the company doesn't really have enough money to sue.

All of the above are just a sampling of what I've experienced in only the last 5 years here in Florida from people from NY/NJ. I have been to NY and those that remain up there are very nice, I have friends that I've worked with that live there, but there's something about the ones that come here that's different.

I grew up being a trusting, do-unto-others type person, always giving the person the benefit of the doubt. I have been so inhumanely treated in the past 10 years by transplants that I'm now gun shy about getting to know people or to take a job somewhere, because some people that appear pleasant and normal on the outside are literally out of the freakin' minds on the inside. My good friends that have lived here roughly the same number of years, give or take 5 to 10 years, have noticed the same things happening in their areas.

I've never been one to stereotype a group of people, I've assumed people are standup, respectable people unless they prove otherwise. Well, they've proven otherwise.

[bdpop]

I originally grew up in Central Florida, moved away for a while, and then four years ago moved back. Before moving back I had lived in New Jersey for nine years and during the time I lived there, most of the people I met were very nice and friendly, even more so than the people I meet here in Orlando.

It wasn't always this way in Orlando. During the time I was growing up here, it was far more laid back and people were a lot nicer.

[**NoodLes**]

Its gotten worse and I hate to say it but I believe most of it is from all the wannabe spanish thugs who are trying to turn Orlando into a little Puerto Rico. Add to that the extremely low paying jobs, limited job types, and commute times and that's the result as I see it. Good luck to whoever wants out, I had to leave because that place is just too ridiculous anymore.

[flycessna]

WOW..........sounds scary and sad....................also sounds like a city that has let its growth get out of control due to greed. Traffic, Crime, as these things change in a particular area it changes the people who live there.......those who came before all of this remember a cool hip friendly orlando where everyone wanted to live. My brother moved there in 1990 and I remember how it felt back then. It cirtainly feels different now. Out of control migration.........Orlando I am sad to say is........is not the only city suffering and won't be the last.

[breatheagain1978]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

you are nice. wounded people look for nice people to dump on.
mean people are not safe to vent to.
they are angry. many came to america thinking money would fix everything, it did not.

that is so true I have been doing income taxes and people are so greedy. they are getting back either 5 or 6 thousand dollars and they sit there and say thats it like they are ungrateful.

[shadow9d9]

We just went up and checked out the Oviedo/waterford areas and we stopped at least 10 couples/families and every single one was friendly and open to talk about the area. Surprisingly so.

[rescue brew]

IMO, you will feel different energy in different parts of town.

I love college park, winter springs, downtown winter park.... all full of very nice people with good positive energy.

Downtown, Pine Hills, South Semeron ... Not so good.

[kinglouix]

High cost of living, horrible traffic, insane crime, and 90+ degrees with humidity most of the time. I've never lived in a place where the majority of the residents hate their environment. That creates anger, lots of anger. Will a murder a day keep the tourists away? Apparently not Disney is able to keep te real Orlando a secret, you've got to give em credit.

[Wilshire81182]

that last comment just proved rescue brew's point perfectly.