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I think the real question is were people more nicer and courteous 50 years ago than now.[/QUOTE]
Please....do elaborate.
Are you asking me or the person I replied to? If its me, I'm referring to the experience that a racial minority or LGBT person would experience 50 years ago, from a mostly white straight society. It wasn't nicer 50 years ago for most people.
You just described me (dude in a Yankee hat in Miami), except I do care about the area I live in (Brickell) in Miami and have found 90-95% of the people here are nice--most of whom are respectful, successful white collar professionals, whether they are White, European or Latino. Met my fair share of people who grew up here and/or relocated here, such as myself, a few years ago. Then again, Brickell is a nicer area as are the other neighborhoods I hang out in--Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Design District, Bal Harbour, South of Fifth, Sunset Harbour, etc. I have lived in New York, Atlanta, Northern & Southern California and don’t find the people here any less friendlier during the vast majority of my daily interactions.
I find those who are not nice do not live in the nicer areas, have lower paying jobs/cannot afford to live where they want to, are in a foul mood/resentful because of traffic/commutes OR are vacationing tourists who do not live here......maybe those who cannot meet other nice people are living in the wrong neighborhoods which can be solved easier by moving rather than hoping the clock turns back 60 years to Father Knows Best, Donna Reed and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver--that ship has sailed. If one does not have the financial means to live in a nicer neighorhood surrounded by nicer people, that's on the individual--not the state of Florida, nor is there a statute in place I am aware of that guarantees one (native or otherwise) the right to live on the water or in other nicer areas. Welcome to capitalism. Also, the more touristy and transient the neighborhood the less likely you will find civic pride in that specific area.
Despite some shortcomings, Florida remains a desirable place to live based on the number of people who continue to move here—from the US and abroad. It is also a big state with many different cities and towns with different demographics, costs, and vibes (urban, suburban, rural, cosmopolitan, redneck, international, mostly natives, etc etc) —kind of silly to label the entire state or even an entire city or two as unfriendly.
I've lived in South Florida, West and North Texas and the Twin Cities and the level of friendliness/niceness in Texas and Minnesota vs South Florida is like comparing two different solar systems. South Florida residents are sometimes in denial about it, probably because some of them are rude/unfriendly themselve's or their only comparing other cities that have similar issues. I've been to Atlanta though, and there's actual southern hospitality there. You have to go north of South Florida to see that for the most part.
Also, it sounds REALLY classist to insinuate that people who are rude jerks are only so because they're poorer and economically frustrated.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,547,418 times
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Has this thread suddenly changed to include just South Florida (last I checked, the OP was talking about the entire state and complained about incidents that happened to him in Tampa...yes/no?)...when someone cut you off on the highway or at a store, did you stop and question if they were a tourist visiting or actually live there?...why is it I seem to run into less rude incidents here and found more (and posted about it ad nauseum) on other forum boards when I lived elsewhere—do I bring out the best in people in FL?....I rarely hear others complaining about rudeness in areas I listed and hang out in—I just don’t see a difference compared to other highly populated states/urban areas I named and lived in and I traveled to 32 states during my sales career.
I often find some of those who accuse others of being rude are the last ones who should be calling out others and aren’t exactly Miss Manners candidates themselves (the ones who call others rude, yet get on an elevator before letting others off; the ones who use the supermarket 10 item or less express lane with 25 items then call someone rude after they are called out for their selfish act; the ones who walk into a food establishment with their non service animal; the same ones who don’t acknowledge and say thank you when a door is held open for them, the ones who drive below the speed limit in the left passing lane and refuse to move over but call others rude for using a horn or flashing their high beams, etc etc). Some, not all, of these goody two shoes holier than thou manners types who call others rude can be like some, not all, of the goody two shoes, do as I say not as I do religious types—hypocrites.
Comparing West Texas or St Paul to SoFla (or even more dense cities) is apples to oranges—would be like comparing rush hour traffic in Cortland (upstate NY) to the Long Island Expressway or I-95 from FtL to Boca during the same time. Compare SoFla to NY metro, SF Bay Area, SoCal, DC, Philly, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadgerFilms
I've lived in South Florida, West and North Texas and the Twin Cities and the level of friendliness/niceness in Texas and Minnesota vs South Florida is like comparing two different solar systems. South Florida residents are sometimes in denial about it, probably because some of them are rude/unfriendly themselve's or their only comparing other cities that have similar issues. I've been to Atlanta though, and there's actual southern hospitality there. You have to go north of South Florida to see that for the most part.
Also, it sounds REALLY classist to insinuate that people who are rude jerks are only so because they're poorer and economically frustrated.
Last edited by elchevere; 07-22-2019 at 02:28 PM..
I've lived in South Florida, West and North Texas and the Twin Cities and the level of friendliness/niceness in Texas and Minnesota vs South Florida is like comparing two different solar systems. South Florida residents are sometimes in denial about it, probably because some of them are rude/unfriendly themselve's or their only comparing other cities that have similar issues. I've been to Atlanta though, and there's actual southern hospitality there. You have to go north of South Florida to see that for the most part.
Also, it sounds REALLY classist to insinuate that people who are rude jerks are only so because they're poorer and economically frustrated.
Pretty much my answer though I didn't have the "pleasure" to live in South Florida. I spent time there for one company I worked for and yikes, easily the rudest place that I have ever had the misfortune to find myself in. Miami was particularly bad and there was a lot of classism there that I noticed right away (kind of hard not to).
One miserable city IMO. Expensive, most of the jobs pay low wages, the weather is horrible year round, and people are rude as often as not. You couldn't pay me enough to live there. I feel truly sorry for anyone who has to live there. One of my work colleagues moved there for the 'lifestyle' and weather and she was sorry after about a month.
I agree that the Midwest/Upper Midwest has very friendly people and Texas does pretty well in that department too.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,547,418 times
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You couldn’t pay me to live through the Midwest winters nor Texas heat, let alone without an ocean and, sure, the winters here are absolutely horrible (“year round”)....
I do agree Miami has become more expensive (more people than not find it desirable to live here, thus driving up prices...Economics 101 supply and demand). If you cannot afford to live here or chose the wrong career path you made the right choice staying where you are. The most desirable places here are on the water which also get constant breezes that make the climate tolerable and enjoyable year round—and I moved here from San Diego, by choice, and am typing this on a beautiful summer morning outside my local Starbucks. No rude people so far—someone even held the door open for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marie Joseph
Pretty much my answer though I didn't have the "pleasure" to live in South Florida. I spent time there for one company I worked for and yikes, easily the rudest place that I have ever had the misfortune to find myself in. Miami was particularly bad and there was a lot of classism there that I noticed right away (kind of hard not to).
One miserable city IMO. Expensive, most of the jobs pay low wages, the weather is horrible year round, and people are rude as often as not. You couldn't pay me enough to live there. I feel truly sorry for anyone who has to live there. One of my work colleagues moved there for the 'lifestyle' and weather and she was sorry after about a month.
I agree that the Midwest/Upper Midwest has very friendly people and Texas does pretty well in that department too.
Last edited by elchevere; 07-23-2019 at 06:57 AM..
It's not just Miami. I'm from and currently live in Georgia , but went to college in Tallahassee and visit Florida several times a year and actually consider FLA my second home state, but people are definitely not as friendly...I don't know if I want to call them rude....but certainly less friendly.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,547,418 times
Reputation: 6685
Miami I could see being less friendly than other cities within and outside the state since there is a larger foreign population here with whom native born Americans, such as myself, have less in common with (Maybe if I wore a Neymar or James jersey instead of my Yankee cap more Brazilians and Colombians would come up to me)....but I have met more than my fair share of nice people here (also, less pretentious than some cities I’ve lived in—believe it or not) and am more selective with whom I meet and greet as I get older; however, in terms of rudeness no different than other large apples to apples urban cities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterRattler
It's not just Miami. I'm from and currently live in Georgia , but went to college in Tallahassee and visit Florida several times a year and actually consider FLA my second home state, but people are definitely not as friendly...I don't know if I want to call them rude....but certainly less friendly.
I think the real question is were people more nicer and courteous 50 years ago than now.
I highly doubt it. Today, folks have the benefit of anonymity behind a keyboard or smartphone and can be as bigoted as they please without fear of repercussion. 50 years ago, people were far more likely to turn a blind eye to bigoted behavior (heck, even a lot of TV programming in the 1960s through the 1980s would be considered socially unacceptable in today's world).
The only real difference is social skills - most Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers needed to have at least some semblance of social skills to survive. Millennials either eschew them or never had them to begin with, as it's basically at the point where two people can't even look each other in the eye and shoot texts at each other to communicate.
Has this thread suddenly changed to include just South Florida (last I checked, the OP was talking about the entire state and complained about incidents that happened to him in Tampa...yes/no?)...when someone cut you off on the highway or at a store, did you stop and question if they were a tourist visiting or actually live there?...why is it I seem to run into less rude incidents here and found more (and posted about it ad nauseum) on other forum boards when I lived elsewhere—do I bring out the best in people in FL?....I rarely hear others complaining about rudeness in areas I listed and hang out in—I just don’t see a difference compared to other highly populated states/urban areas I named and lived in and I traveled to 32 states during my sales career.
I often find some of those who accuse others of being rude are the last ones who should be calling out others and aren’t exactly Miss Manners candidates themselves (the ones who call others rude, yet get on an elevator before letting others off; the ones who use the supermarket 10 item or less express lane with 25 items then call someone rude after they are called out for their selfish act; the ones who walk into a food establishment with their non service animal; the same ones who don’t acknowledge and say thank you when a door is held open for them, the ones who drive below the speed limit in the left passing lane and refuse to move over but call others rude for using a horn or flashing their high beams, etc etc). Some, not all, of these goody two shoes holier than thou manners types who call others rude can be like some, not all, of the goody two shoes, do as I say not as I do religious types—hypocrites.
Comparing West Texas or St Paul to SoFla (or even more dense cities) is apples to oranges—would be like comparing rush hour traffic in Cortland (upstate NY) to the Long Island Expressway or I-95 from FtL to Boca during the same time. Compare SoFla to NY metro, SF Bay Area, SoCal, DC, Philly, etc.
North and central Florida are much friendlier and nicer than South Florida. This isn't even a surprise. And Saint Paul is a pretty dense city in a metro area of 3,000,000 people. It's not some Walnut Grove or anything. Minneapolis also has nice friendly people. Even bigger than Saint Paul. And I lived in DFW which is a metro area of nearly 7,000,000. Guess what? Nice and friendly people there too. Y'all acting like this is a "big city" thing... it's not. There's lots of big cities where people aren't jerks. Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Dallas-Fort Worth aren't small metros. DFW is bigger than Miami metro and MSP is bigger than Orlando's metro. I'm not comparing Fargo and Miami or Abilene and Fort Lauderdale. There's a huge country between the east and west coast and surprise surprise, it's not all farmland doncha know?
Pretty much my answer though I didn't have the "pleasure" to live in South Florida. I spent time there for one company I worked for and yikes, easily the rudest place that I have ever had the misfortune to find myself in. Miami was particularly bad and there was a lot of classism there that I noticed right away (kind of hard not to).
One miserable city IMO. Expensive, most of the jobs pay low wages, the weather is horrible year round, and people are rude as often as not. You couldn't pay me enough to live there. I feel truly sorry for anyone who has to live there. One of my work colleagues moved there for the 'lifestyle' and weather and she was sorry after about a month.
I agree that the Midwest/Upper Midwest has very friendly people and Texas does pretty well in that department too.
Yep its very classist AND image oriented. People put on airs and try to act high class in public but it doesn't take long for the low classness to erupt.
Obviously it's not everybody. (You always get the usual "not everyone is like that". No sh** Sherlock. But a huge chunk of the populace is) But you see this more in Miami and it's suburbs than the rest of the country. I've been told that it's due to the Latin culture there, (and I've been told this by other Hispanics, and I'm Hispanic too FTR) and it is different. It's not even the same Latin culture that you see in Texas which is a lot more down to earth. I think it may have something to do with it but it's also a lot of other things. I think it's the "Hollywood" effect. Miami and South Florida in general tends to see itself as this hyper glamorous place, basically the Southeast's version of California, but it tends to turn a blind eye to it's socio economic problems and corruption, which California also has but is at least more self aware about.
As a sidenote, Latinos there tend to also look down on Mexicans. I was told by my aunt before I moved to Texas that she had a friend (Cuban) who moved to Houston and then moved back because "There were too many Mexicans." I ain't making this up. There's a lot less ethnic tension in Texas than Florida. That's another issue altogether.
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