Does Seattle Really Suck That Much? (2013, unemployment rate, income tax)

[skidamarink]

I already got my plane ticket out of here. Hope that 2015 will be a better year, in a new place.

In summation, my experience living in Seattle has felt like some kind of purgatory. As if some kind of deity sent me here to teach me a lesson. I am definitely more aware of how people perceive me now, based on my appearance and voice. That is something I never knew mattered, but it does. Not just in Seattle, but everywhere. It's just more in your face here, I guess. Problem is, unlike most other places, people here won't even give you a chance to prove their perception wrong.

I never knew that glancing at someone of the opposite sex automatically means you are trying to flirt with them.

I never knew that asking the cashier for a grocery bag means you are trying to establish dominance and boss them around.

I never knew complimenting someone's outfit means you are trying to mock them or insult them in some way.

Thanks for teaching me these things, People of Seattle. Now I know that I am not to to say anything to anyone and I should just sit there and shut up. Oh wait, then that means I am being stingy and I feel like I'm too good for everyone. Dangit.

[DP79]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

I already got my plane ticket out of here. Hope that 2015 will be a better year, in a new place.

In summation, my experience living in Seattle has felt like some kind of purgatory. As if some kind of deity sent me here to teach me a lesson. I am definitely more aware of how people perceive me now, based on my appearance and voice. That is something I never knew mattered, but it does. Not just in Seattle, but everywhere. It's just more in your face here, I guess. Problem is, unlike most other places, people here won't even give you a chance to prove their perception wrong.

I never knew that glancing at someone of the opposite sex automatically means you are trying to flirt with them.

I never knew that asking the cashier for a grocery bag means you are trying to establish dominance and boss them around.

I never knew complimenting someone's outfit means you are trying to mock them or insult them in some way.

Thanks for teaching me these things, People of Seattle. Now I know that I am not to to say anything to anyone and I should just sit there and shut up. Oh wait, then that means I am being stingy and I feel like I'm too good for everyone. Dangit.

Lol... Don't forget to lose these habits the minute you get out of Seattle. The rest of the world is pretty normal, and doesn't give a **** if you want a grocery bag or not

[SaltyDawg]

This is the "When did you stop beating your wife?" thread of city data.

What a waste of pixels.

[Transmition]

I sometimes wonder if there is a hidden Seattle where all the weird stuff happens that I have never experienced, or if some people unwittingly instigate things in overdrive while they are here.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

I already got my plane ticket out of here. Hope that 2015 will be a better year, in a new place.

Congratulations! I hope you have a great new year in a great new place and those as unhappy as you are take your lead. I genuinely wish you the best of luck in your new home.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

I already got my plane ticket out of here. Hope that 2015 will be a better year, in a new place.

In summation, my experience living in Seattle has felt like some kind of purgatory. As if some kind of deity sent me here to teach me a lesson. I am definitely more aware of how people perceive me now, based on my appearance and voice. That is something I never knew mattered, but it does. Not just in Seattle, but everywhere. It's just more in your face here, I guess. Problem is, unlike most other places, people here won't even give you a chance to prove their perception wrong.

I never knew that glancing at someone of the opposite sex automatically means you are trying to flirt with them.

I never knew that asking the cashier for a grocery bag means you are trying to establish dominance and boss them around.

I never knew complimenting someone's outfit means you are trying to mock them or insult them in some way.

Thanks for teaching me these things, People of Seattle. Now I know that I am not to to say anything to anyone and I should just sit there and shut up. Oh wait, then that means I am being stingy and I feel like I'm too good for everyone. Dangit.

This is something that can be misunderstood in any part of the US, and commonly is. And whatever you do, don't smile to indicate you meant no harm and the eye contact was accidental! That only makes it worse. But for the most part, everything you've listed here sounds like you just had bad luck, and got the wrong person, or got them when they were having a bad day.

If you're leaving, and you have time before you leave, I'd encourage you to do an experiment. Go up to Everett or Lynwood on a couple of occasions and hang around the mall, the grocery store, the UW Bookstore branch up there. See if you notice anything different. Friendlier people. By the time I was on my way out of Seattle, I had a few experiences up there that revealed to me a whole different world, lol! If I'd only known that much earlier, life might have been different...

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by BUer

Seattle is a pretty nice place now. It will become ever more a hellhole when more people move over there though. The infrastructure is simply not there to support another 2 million people on a tiny sliver of land surrounded by mountains and cut off by water. Traffic is already extremely painful. You could build subways and tunnels, but that's going to be serious $$$$, which require shifting money from social welfare or pensions (good luck doing that in liberal Seattle) or significantly higher taxes.

Actually, it was liberals who consistently voted for a rail system connecting south Seattle with downtown and north Seattle, through the 70's and 80's when it came up for a vote several times. It was conservatives who voted it down every time. Seattle was a different place back then.

[skidamarink]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This is something that can be misunderstood in any part of the US, and commonly is. And whatever you do, don't smile to indicate you meant no harm and the eye contact was accidental! That only makes it worse. But for the most part, everything you've listed here sounds like you just had bad luck, and got the wrong person, or got them when they were having a bad day.

If you're leaving, and you have time before you leave, I'd encourage you to do an experiment. Go up to Everett or Lynwood on a couple of occasions and hang around the mall, the grocery store, the UW Bookstore branch up there. See if you notice anything different. Friendlier people. By the time I was on my way out of Seattle, I had a few experiences up there that revealed to me a whole different world, lol! If I'd only known that much earlier, life might have been different...

Thanks, Ruth. I have worked in and/or visited all those places before and yes you're right, people in the surrounding areas are friendlier. Unfortunately not a lot going on in the singles crowd in those areas and I didn't have much else of a reason to live there. But if I ever come back for whatever reason, I think places like Mill Creek or Bothell are great to live.

Best of luck to everyone else trying to make a life for themselves here! Hope it works out!

[joefrombc]

However bad you may think Seattle might be, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is MUCH worse!

I have never lived there but have visited many times as well as many other big cities and it boggles the mind how much worse the people are for the most part!

I actually don't mind the weather, or the architecture or places of interest, it's actually a pretty cool place in those ways.

But the people, good god they have the most arrogant, self absorbed, narrow minded, annoying and downright nasty attitude!! And not just the people living there, but people I bump into that are from there! I get along with most people and always assume the best about people until proven wrong but time and time again I am shocked to meet more and more impossible to get along with people from Seattle! It's crazy, I feel like there is something almost weird or purposeful about it, it's that extreme!

Maybe it's the lack of sunshine and in turn vitamin D, I know three are medical studies showing that can greatly affect your mood. Whatever it is, stay away from Seattle like the plague is my advise!

[PrincessoftheCape]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

I already got my plane ticket out of here. Hope that 2015 will be a better year, in a new place.

In summation, my experience living in Seattle has felt like some kind of purgatory. As if some kind of deity sent me here to teach me a lesson. I am definitely more aware of how people perceive me now, based on my appearance and voice. That is something I never knew mattered, but it does. Not just in Seattle, but everywhere. It's just more in your face here, I guess. Problem is, unlike most other places, people here won't even give you a chance to prove their perception wrong.

I never knew that glancing at someone of the opposite sex automatically means you are trying to flirt with them.

I never knew that asking the cashier for a grocery bag means you are trying to establish dominance and boss them around.

I never knew complimenting someone's outfit means you are trying to mock them or insult them in some way.

Thanks for teaching me these things, People of Seattle. Now I know that I am not to to say anything to anyone and I should just sit there and shut up. Oh wait, then that means I am being stingy and I feel like I'm too good for everyone. Dangit.

I'm so eager to leave the region myself. I just want to go home to New England. I miss the snow... I miss the cold, cynical people. This is such a pretty place -- easily the most beautiful I have ever lived. But beauty is only skin deep, and Western Washington is rotten to the core.

Originally Posted by joefrombc

But the people, good god they have the most arrogant, self absorbed, narrow minded, annoying and downright nasty attitude!! And not just the people living there, but people I bump into that are from there! I get along with most people and always assume the best about people until proven wrong but time and time again I am shocked to meet more and more impossible to get along with people from Seattle! It's crazy, I feel like there is something almost weird or purposeful about it, it's that extreme!

+1. I have a theory that it has something to do with the isolation. People in, say, Philadelphia or Washington D.C. can't just roll themselves up in a blanket and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. On the east coast, and in the south and Midwest, it's impossible not to run into people who root for competing sports teams, harbor vastly different religious or social beliefs, or listen to different music. It's a kind of cultural soup that forces the people living there to acknowledge that their city or state might not be the best at everything; might not be the center of the universe.

But Seattle isn't like that. Outside Portland (which feels similar enough to Seattle not to matter, is smaller and has less of a regional hold), and Vancouver (foreign, so their opinions can be largely disregarded by head-in-the-sand locals), this place is so alone it's almost striking. There are no competing football fans within a hundred or so miles to yack in your ear; there are no enormous America cities within a day's drive to wow denizens with their amusements. In an increasingly transitory world, this is a place that has as little cultural exchange as could be managed in a first world country -- it feels like an island.

And the islanders have grown arrogant in their isolation. It's very easy to thumb your nose at the next guy when he's not two feet away and able to poke you in the eyes.