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On your travels, have their been certain experiences (i.e: rudeness) in certain cities where you'd never have expected such things to happen? Of course there are nice, pleasant people everywhere just as there are rude, inconsiderate ones everywhere...however some places have more than their proportionate share of rude people or people who give off negative vibes.
In my experiences, I find the places generally with the "rudest" people are those in big cities with particularly heterogenous populations- that is, people from many different places come together and are somewhat particularly 'suspicious' or wary of each other's "differences". Places such as Florida (with its transplants), California, New York, and even in Seattle particularly share these characteristics.
For me, I never expected Fort Lauderdale, FL to be as hostile as it was...never have I experienced a place where people seemed so nasty to each other. Drivers were in 'pissed-off' mode in great numbers..The sales clerks were quick to snap at customers...we took a quick public bus ride (haven taken public transit in many other even bigger cities) & noticed how hostile the passengers were to the bus driver and vice versa...definitely a level of hostility among everyday people in various contexts I've never witnesed in that time frame elsewhere, even when I was in New York City & living in suburban L.A. So for me, the relatively "small" Broward County, Florida was a totally shockingly rude place that I never expected...
I would say San Francisco, which as a whole struck me as neither polite nor friendly. I encountered too many pretentious individuals. I also noticed a lot of these people were surprisingly unsophisticated compared to a lot of people in European cities they obviously were trying to emulate. Perhaps it was not as much surprising as it was expected. It was a little disappointing though. It is not unique to San Francisco. One can ascribe it to gentrification. They are nouveau riche.
Outside Europe you can definitely encounter rude people in most parts of Eastern Europe. Budapest, Riga, Vilnius, Kiev, etc. You probably get it in most post-Communist countries with more or less miserable people. Read http://www.theworldisnotflat.com/rus...stomer_service
It is not just customer service. It affects the atmosphere of a city.
Visitors often describe Americans as among the friendliest people in the world. It goes to the point of Americans having the reputation of appearing insincere and superficial. The people I met in San Francisco tried to be something they were not. I say this as a person who have been called a snob by blue-collar working class people on numerous occasions. San Francisco really appeared out of touch with the rest of the world. I do not mean any offense. I'm only reporting what I observed. I have relatives there and the setting of the city is beautiful in my opinion. It is a little small though. I had some great seafood there. I like the climate too. I would still like to visit the city again. I would not say the same of many Eastern European cities.
I agree that southeast Florida is a bizarre place. But if you go further up the east coast of Florida, it's not as bad. Places like Melbourne, St. Augustine, Port St. Lucie, Titusville, etc. are not like Miami or Broward County.
Southwest FL, where I live, has a large midwestern retiree/transplant population. East Florida attracts primarily a northeastern population. Surprisingly I find that the midwestern retirees are alot ruder than the northeastern ones. (I work heavily with the public in the healthcare industry -- this is why I notice where people are from. Also this is based on general observation.) But when I am in the midwest, I discover that the people are generally nicer than the people in the northeast.
Jacksonville, FL. I will never forget the girl at subway looking at me with such disdain when I asked if they had some sort of vinegarette (i probably spelled that wrong) I could put on my sandwich.
Paris! Je non comprend! Tres sh*tes, non? And I just watched Ratatouille and they even confirm this!
Can't you imagine french people are rude to people who expect them to speak your language in their country? Imagine people would come to you on the street and ask you "Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist das Klo?" and then complain that you are unfriendly when you don't answer. You would say it's normal people talk to you in english when theyre in america, so don#t you think french people expect to be adressed in french also?
Visitors often describe Americans as among the friendliest people in the world. It goes to the point of Americans having the reputation of appearing insincere and superficial.
Having lived over a decade in Europe and having wrestled with this general European accusation myself. this is the only explanation I can find: It is the only way most Europeans can explain American openness since it just does not exist in the European cultural context. Americans, from the earliest days, had to be open an informal in order to form a society out of complete strangers from different cultures - it just would not have worked any other way.
Yet, to be so open in Europe, surrounded by people who have knew you and your family for ages (and will remember every utterance of yours). being so open was not something wise to do. Thus, anyone being so open must be explained in terms that there is no way they are truly showing what they think about something - and thereby being superficial. Its a classic case of projection.
At the same time, many Americans visiting or living in Europe often remark that European are somewhat snotty - why else would they not return a greeting or be a bit more friendly? Nevermind that Europeans, for very good cultural and historical reasons (ie survival, etc) are more reserved than Americans. Again, the only way the average American will explain it is in his/her own cultural terms; someone who is not very open and friendly must be snotty. Projection strikes again...
Can't you imagine french people are rude to people who expect them to speak your language in their country? Imagine people would come to you on the street and ask you "Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist das Klo?" and then complain that you are unfriendly when you don't answer. You would say it's normal people talk to you in english when theyre in america, so don#t you think french people expect to be adressed in french also?
Luke,
You are so correct. I see the same thing here in Italy with all of the German and Austrian visitors - they don't expect to speak any Italian.
Can't you imagine french people are rude to people who expect them to speak your language in their country? Imagine people would come to you on the street and ask you "Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist das Klo?" and then complain that you are unfriendly when you don't answer. You would say it's normal people talk to you in english when theyre in america, so don#t you think french people expect to be adressed in french also?
I concur. I have never left this nation except to visit Ontario, Canada (which is practically an extension of us anyways), but I hope to do so someday. When I do one of the FIRST things I'm going to do in order to prepare for my vacation will be to familiarize myself as much as possible with the native language of that particular country. I find many people from the United States to be hypocrites. They whine "learn English" to folks who come here to visit/live from abroad, but when they themselves head overseas, they expect everyone to have a thorough knowledge of English. I know in some European nations nearly everyone is either bilingual or even trilingual. Encourage folks in this nation to consider learning Spanish before they visit Mexico, and you get a "deer in headlights" type of shocked look. I myself am roughly 50% fluent in Spanish, and it was a pleasure one day to assist a woman at a local department store who was asking "Donde esta la escalera?" Most people were rather hostile towards her, but since I was heading towards the escalator anyways I motioned for her to follow me. I have ENJOYED learning Spanish, and I hope to someday learn French as well. However, I think there may be some "limit" to how many languages one can learn, even a polyglot. For example, if I become fluent in English, Spanish, and French, I'm not sure if I'd be able to also learn Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Russian, German, etc. As such, I'd just hope that I would come across residents in Austria, for example, who are at least somewhat knowledgeable in either English, Spanish, or French (which I'd assume most are to at least one of these languages besides German of course).
Boston, but I guess thats not really a surprise.
From some of the threads I have read, Atlanta seems to have more than their share!
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I myself am roughly 50% fluent in Spanish, and it was a pleasure one day to assist a woman at a local department store who was asking "Donde esta la escalera?" Most people were rather hostile towards her, but since I was heading towards the escalator anyways I motioned for her to follow me. I have ENJOYED learning Spanish, and I hope to someday learn French as well. However, I think there may be some "limit" to how many languages one can learn, even a polyglot. For example, if I become fluent in English, Spanish, and French, I'm not sure if I'd be able to also learn Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Russian, German, etc. As such, I'd just hope that I would come across residents in Austria, for example, who are at least somewhat knowledgeable in either English, Spanish, or French (which I'd assume most are to at least one of these languages besides German of course). 
