Just Wondering: Do people in Oregon dislike Washingtonians? (Portland, Medford: hotels, unemployment)

[novemberrain]

We spent last weekend in Southern Oregon (Medford) and didn't encounter many friendly people. Especially on the road, for example. We had to go 15+mph over the speed limit just to keep up with traffic, and we were still getting passed by everyone, and they'd turn back and glare and flip the bird.

At home, if we were to go 5 mph over the speed limit, we'd be passing everyone, and there'd be a good chance we'd get pulled over and reprimanded LOL.

I hope I'm not offending anyone, but it really just seems like the further south we went, the snottier the locals got. My husband and I were really excited for our trip, but we felt like we stuck out like a sore thumb. We're young (22), friendly, polite, normal dressers...why would everyone be rude to us?

We kind of don't want to go back!

[PNW-type-gal]

If this was on I-5 in Southern Oregon, remember that most of the people traveling that stretch of highway don't actually live there, they are passing through to somewhere else - the number of residents versus the number of cars on I-5 don't match up.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by novemberrain

We spent last weekend in Southern Oregon (Medford) and didn't encounter many friendly people. Especially on the road, for example. We had to go 15+mph over the speed limit just to keep up with traffic, and we were still getting passed by everyone, and they'd turn back and glare and flip the bird.

If you were on I-5 then stay in the right hand lane unless passing regardless of your speed.

I've never seen 15+ as the norm and have driven that stretch tons of times.

My driving speed on I-5 is speed limit + 7. Anything over +10 gets you a ticket. <+10 generally get's ignored by the cops.

[novemberrain]

Thanks, but we're aware of the traffic rules, and that was just an example. That kind of thing doesn't happen on I5 near Seattle! Yes, you have your aggressive, nasty drivers everywhere, but that's not necessarily my question.

What about in stores, restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, etcetera? We got horrible service and unfriendly people and glares every place we stopped in to. I'm just wondering if it's because we're from Washington, or if it's because most people there are snottier than we're used to.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by novemberrain

What about in stores, restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, etcetera? We got horrible service and unfriendly people and glares every place we stopped in to. I'm just wondering if it's because we're from Washington, or if it's because most people there are snottier than we're used to.

How did people know you're from WA in stores, restaurants, etc?? WA has nothing to do with it IMHO.

We generally consider Washingtonians one of our kind.

You can always have a random bad experience. Did you start out being friendly. It can be contagious.

[novemberrain]

Well, we have a Washington state license plate, driver's licenses that we showed, our debit cards were from a Washington state bank, WE TRIED TO PUMP OUR OWN GAS and we were whining about the heat being over 50 degrees hahaha.

We really are nice people. Maybe we were just annoying because we were too chatty or something?

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by novemberrain

Well, we have a Washington state license plate, driver's licenses that we showed, our debit cards were from a Washington state bank, WE TRIED TO PUMP OUR OWN GAS and we were whining about the heat being over 50 degrees hahaha.

We really are nice people. Maybe we were just annoying because we were too chatty or something?

I've had my fair share of experiences where xenophobia (reasonably attributable to being from Washington) was quite evident in Oregon, but never to the level you describe, and not that often. Far more often, people have been pretty friendly or at least reserved but not rude, and the only way I would have had trouble based on my state of residence is if I had somehow managed to bring and offer it.

What you are describing sounds like we are missing an aspect of the story. I can imagine one instance or two like you describe, but the pattern suggests something else. It sounds to me that overall, in some way, you tended to annoy people whether you meant to or not, whether you realized it or not.

The only area in which I have noted a distinct pattern in 20 years of life within 30 miles of Oregon is this: on the freeway, if you aren't passing fast enough to make them happy, they'll gladly tailgate you real hard. And if you do not show the expected terror and submission by stomping on your gas and then immediately moving right, they will vroooooooooooom past you on the right doing a prominent middle finger, taking it very personally. Thing is, even if you do that (I experimented out of curiosity) they still vrooom past and flip you off, so no point bothering to please those kind. Of course, if you stay in the right lane and never attempt to pass the numerous trucks, landyachts and so on, you would never have to deal with that. You would also spend a lot of time going 55 on freeways, of course, or slower, but you would probably not get flipped off.

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by novemberrain

Well, we have a Washington state license plate, driver's licenses that we showed, our debit cards were from a Washington state bank, WE TRIED TO PUMP OUR OWN GAS and we were whining about the heat being over 50 degrees hahaha.

We really are nice people. Maybe we were just annoying because we were too chatty or something?

You are overanalyzing it. A growing number of people in Southern Oregon are from Washington, and most are from California. Nobody really cares. You just ran into unfriendly people. Unemployment is upwards of 18% and everyone who is employed is probably not doing so well either. Of course people aren't going to be too friendly... Especially if they're working the crappy jobs in the service industry, where you'd run into them.

And yes, people do drive crazy in the Seattle are too. I've seen it. Even in Portland. That's not limited to Southern Oregon, though as PNW-type-gal said, the vast majority of the traffic there is not Southern Oregonians, but people passing through.

If anything, you may have come across as rich, liberal city folk... "Normal" dress in Seattle is different than "normal" dress in Southern Oregon. They wouldn't be snobby--they'd be anti-snob snobby, thinking you were probably some snobby urbanites yourselves. Hard to say. People are usually pretty friendly down there though, regardless of who you are or where you're from.

[StampinTami]

We were in Medford this past weekend also, up from Central Ca. Everyone we talked to was nothing but nice and we did not receive dirty looks or anything. The freeway was normal. We didn't get the bird until we got back into Ca. lol We can't wait to go back!

[novemberrain]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

I've had my fair share of experiences where xenophobia (reasonably attributable to being from Washington) was quite evident in Oregon, but never to the level you describe, and not that often. Far more often, people have been pretty friendly or at least reserved but not rude, and the only way I would have had trouble based on my state of residence is if I had somehow managed to bring and offer it.

What you are describing sounds like we are missing an aspect of the story. I can imagine one instance or two like you describe, but the pattern suggests something else. It sounds to me that overall, in some way, you tended to annoy people whether you meant to or not, whether you realized it or not.

The only area in which I have noted a distinct pattern in 20 years of life within 30 miles of Oregon is this: on the freeway, if you aren't passing fast enough to make them happy, they'll gladly tailgate you real hard. And if you do not show the expected terror and submission by stomping on your gas and then immediately moving right, they will vroooooooooooom past you on the right doing a prominent middle finger, taking it very personally. Thing is, even if you do that (I experimented out of curiosity) they still vrooom past and flip you off, so no point bothering to please those kind. Of course, if you stay in the right lane and never attempt to pass the numerous trucks, landyachts and so on, you would never have to deal with that. You would also spend a lot of time going 55 on freeways, of course, or slower, but you would probably not get flipped off.

Yes, we must have just been annoying people. We were REALLY excited to be there, we were trvelling down to see our favorite band in concert...and everytime we bought something I'd remind myself (out loud :/) that there was no tax in Oregon. Plus it was super hot, so everyone was probably crabby and overheated.

We were going 80 mph on the freeway.....I didn't feel comfortable going any faster, we still got passed. Maybe the fact that we didn't see ONE Oregon cop the entire time we were there made people feel comfortable with going so fast.