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I've run into jerks & biotches coast to coast, just as I've encountered the kindest and friendliest coast to coast.
Everyone's different...although I do agree that although every place has nice people, some places have proportionately more rude people. I don't notice too much variation within the US, except yes in NYC you will run into more abrasive types.
Since I travel alot, I can say wholeheartedly I as an Asian am more likely to run into a rude stranger in Europe or Australia than coast to coast in US.
This is actually a complaint that many transplants have when moving to Midwestern cities typically not named Chicago, and even in Chicago it could depend on what neighborhood you're moving to.
A tourist wouldn't pick up on this though because the way the stereotype goes is that Midwesterners are nice and polite in day to day social interactions, but beyond that they have no interest in inviting you deeper into their lives, friend groups, etc. They already have all the friends they need, and they're not looking to make new ones.
It's a complaint that's leveled at cities across the region, including ones with booming economies (ex: Minneapolis). Here in St. Louis, transplants hate the, "Where did you go to high school," question. Some locals will use it to try and figure out if maybe you know someone in common, some to judge your background and class (we have one of the highest private school enrollment rates in the country), and some transplants just feel left out because, if the native doesn't have a connection to them one way or the other, they move on.
You're stereotyping, as well. As I said before, people are people....good, bad, friendly, unfriendly, and they exist e v e r y w h e r e. I have numerous neighbors, and each and every one of them is not me...they're all different. It's a big gripe of mine, when people try to paint everyone in a region of over 65,000,000 people, as having the same characteristics. Actually, it's more than a gripe, it bugs the he** out of me. At a state line in an area, where you go from one region of the country to another, do people automatically change, because they live on this side of the street, rather than that??? I think not.
You're stereotyping, as well. As I said before, people are people....good, bad, friendly, unfriendly, and they exist e v e r y w h e r e. I have numerous neighbors, and each and every one of them is not me...they're all different. It's a big gripe of mine, when people try to paint everyone in a region of over 65,000,000 people, as having the same characteristics. Actually, it's more than a gripe, it bugs the he** out of me. At a state line in an area, where you go from one region of the country to another, do people automatically change, because they live on this side of the street, rather than that??? I think not.
I described a Midwestern stereotype, in addition to stereotypical responses to said stereotype. Of course I was stereotyping in my post.
This is actually a complaint that many transplants have when moving to Midwestern cities typically not named Chicago, and even in Chicago it could depend on what neighborhood you're moving to.
A tourist wouldn't pick up on this though because the way the stereotype goes is that Midwesterners are nice and polite in day to day social interactions, but beyond that they have no interest in inviting you deeper into their lives, friend groups, etc. They already have all the friends they need, and they're not looking to make new ones.
It's a complaint that's leveled at cities across the region, including ones with booming economies (ex: Minneapolis). Here in St. Louis, transplants hate the, "Where did you go to high school," question. Some locals will use it to try and figure out if maybe you know someone in common, some to judge your background and class (we have one of the highest private school enrollment rates in the country), and some transplants just feel left out because, if the native doesn't have a connection to them one way or the other, they move on.
In my experience, this is insanely accurate about the Midwest, and becomes truer the smaller the city in question is. Even in some parts of the Chicago area, this is true.
Judging by the attitude of the OP in this thread, I would assume a good portion of hostility that he received was because of how he treated people.... I have traveled a good deal, and have only run into a handful of rude people (sorry, I don't count store clerks). In Chicago, my husband and I were trying to find Gino's East, and got turned around. We had two separate people help us out, that were clearly on their way to/from work or on break. Had the same thing happen a time or two after that as well. In fact, the only "rude" person I came across for the week we were there, was a waiter at a restaurant. The rest of the people were just... normal people. We even made friends with a couple from Chicago that we met at a bar called Hub 51, that just recently came down to the gulf and stayed with us for week.
Same thing for Colorado, the entirety of southeast, and the Mid-Atlantic. People are what they are, southern or northern, eastern or western. Maybe the big cities have more rude people, which is likely due to things like stress and anxiety, but I have found that most people in any area are friendly, as long as you are, and that some people can't tell the difference between someone being blunt or being rude. Big city or rural town, you will have a-holes and you will have people who would give you the shirt off their back. I have found very little difference in my travels between those in big cities or rural areas. The people here in south Alabama are no more or less friendly than those I have come across in NC, CO, or Chicago.
I find people in the East, NE and SE more "hyper" than the West. More confrontation in the NE, can be rude or just direct, depends on the person and more passive aggressive in the South. In the West people seem more flat, not in a bad way, just that their emotions are more contained. They don't need to say everything they think and feel.
Visited there, a lot of personal self-importance emanating off of it. Arlington too.
Even my wife picked up on it, and she doesn't usually pick up on stuff like that.
Probably gets better/more bearable with time.
Signed,
A guy that lives in another rude city.
I don’t find Denver rude either. Maybe it’s me
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