Regional Rudeness

[auntiem]

Most of the relocated Californians are great - partly because most of them are happily retired is my guess. It just when the newly arrived try to act all "big city" on CSRs that they learn quickly that in our little town when they say "Well, in LA..." what some locals here hear is "please rant on and on about how we have single handedly driven up housing costs, killed your puppy and ruined Christmas." I've seen more than one relocated Californian visibly wince when tell me where they are from in anticipation of a verbal beat down. Which they won't get from me since my SO made a s-ton profit on his house because he bought it before the "invasion".

[LingualMonkey]

Also, I've noted something in the Midwest that sounds polite but comes across to me as rude. In New York City, 'excuse me' usually means 'May I get through?' In the Midwest 'excuse me' is often said with tone that means 'Out of my way, now!'.

I've lived in Illinois for 37 years--it might be our tone, but my experience is that it's rarely meant that way. Of course, some people almost certainly do mean it that way.

As for me, I've generally found that "pardon me" rather than "excuse me" comes across as much more polite.

[wagegoth]

Please don't roll all Californians into one stereotype. LA Metro area and SF Bay Area are very different. There's the Central Valley, which is farm land with encroaching urbanization and suburbanization. Then you have the foothills and the Sierras. The foothills are like, well, watch Sons of Anarchy. Lots of small towns. Lots of pot farms and meth labs in certain areas. North of SF and the Central Valley is the real Northern California. It's Pacific Northwest there. Logging, small towns, etc. Also, lots of pot farms hidden in the forests.

Each of these areas has spawned a different type. Even San Diego is different from LA which is different from Orange County.

[Boozy]

It's not generally a good idea to roll everyone from a particular geographical area into one group. There are SCs everywhere, and there are wonderful customers everywhere.

Everyone's been pretty civil thus far, but sooner or later someone's going to get offended. Stereotypes can hurt, folks.

Closed.