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Do people in DC like each other less than in other US cities?
I've never lived in a NE city before - if that's what DC is - so maybe that's it. I recall a lot of city weariness in Chicago, but the somewhat hostile vibe I think I feel here is a first. It's like people are just an inconvenience to each other. I hope I'm imagining this because this feeling is starting to bum me out. Maybe I'm just reading too many DC threads...
Give it time. By the 20th time you are walking up a Metro escalator and the person in front of you suddenly stops at the top of the escalator, for no apparent reason, and you almost run into him or her, you will start seeing certain people as "inconveniences."
Maybe it's true that Northeast cities are unfriendly compared to the rest of the country, but to me DC has never seemed any more or less friendly than New York, Boston or Philly.
Give it time. By the 20th time you are walking up a Metro escalator and the person in front of you suddenly stops at the top of the escalator, for no apparent reason, and you almost run into him or her, you will start seeing certain people as "inconveniences."
Maybe it's true that Northeast cities are unfriendly compared to the rest of the country, but to me DC has never seemed any more or less friendly than New York, Boston or Philly.
^ This. I'd say that DC is actually the friendliest Northeastern city (which isn't starting from that good of a benchmark), in part because it's slightly slower-moving (which, as a native New Yorker, drove me up the wall living there).
Believe me, it's not your imagination. I used to think I was imaging all the bad attitudes also, but Travel and Leisure has confirmed that people in this city are just simply rude. DC is ranked number 3 among the rudest cities in the US. Take a look: America's Rudest Cities - Articles | Travel + Leisure
All you can do is prepare yourself for the impatient honkers on the road, the people who will bump you out of their way on the side walks, metro riders yelling at you to "walk on the right", people who will look at you like you're crazy if you say good morning, people who will shut the elevator door on you if they see you headed their way, and the list goes on. Welcome!
The Travel and Leisure study does not confirm anything. It's just a survey of readers of that magazine. Pretty meaningless.
Also any city with lots of public transportation use and walking will be considered somewhat more rude by the average visitor. That is simply because in places like New York you are with your fellow man in tight spaces more often, giving you more opportunities to see acts of rudeness. In most American cities people drive
everywhere so you physically can't see acts of rudeness beyond poor driving etiquette or road rage.
I guarantee you if people rode public transportation and walked in Houston and Atlanta as much as Nyc or DC you would hear about how rude Houston or Atlanta are. Maybe due to Southern culture they would still be seen as less rude than the Northeast but the perception of rudeness would still go up.
Most of the people you run into don't live here. Highest ratio of any city. So that guy pushing by you without so much as an excuse me is probably from MD, VA etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stateofnature
The Travel and Leisure study does not confirm anything. It's just a survey of readers of that magazine. Pretty meaningless.
Even further, it's a survey of mostly tourists, going mostly to touristy destinations, populated mostly by tourists.
Nobody gives a crap around here, everybodys just out for themselves
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