Hey! That's not nice!
When you live on the coasts for a while (Jordan and I did for 11
years), you start to see the Midwest the same way coastal natives do
— it's a bunch of big states in the middle of the country that are
all pretty much the same. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana are
all interchangeable in a native Californian's mind, thought of as
(when thought about at all) "those big M states I fly over on my way
to the East Coast."
Now, as a native of the Midwest, I knew there *were* differences. But
as I prepared for our move, I started thinking along these lines:
Chicago = Midwest = Minnesota = Minnesota Nice™
Not so much. Chicago may be in the Midwest, but it's not into the
"nice" thing the way other places are. It's no Boston, where
strangers are greeted with a snarl, but it's definitely less polite
than San Francisco.
This is particularly apparent when dealing with the capital-C City.
The library, the DMV, and the CTA are great places to have your self-
esteem trounced on. City employees can all somehow do their jobs
(which is, after all, to serve their customers) without even
acknowledging said customer's existence. "Oh, did dare to think I was
worth the slightest hint of human connection? How silly!"
But it's not just the staff. People blow by me on their way out of
the library and the YMCA as if I were their doorman. No "thank you",
no smile, no head nod. Hell, I'd settle for a snarl at this point.
Drivers regularly accelerate through the crosswalk at the end of our
block while Baxter and I wait patiently under the "School Crossing"
sign. I didn't realize how often this happens until today after
school, when yet another driver pulled out of the four-way stop
without letting us cross. "Hey!" Baxter yelled, "That's not nice!"
posted by Matt @ 4:34 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I know what Matt's saying. Chicago falls somewhere between Boston and San Francisco on the Friendly Factor. I also want to emphasize, though, that it depends a lot on the context. Like Matt said, this is most glaring in the capital-C "City" - I do, however, notice more friendliness among other parents at the playground and strangers passing on the sidewalks in our neighborhood than I'm used to. Think about how much strangers helped us find a good school/neighborhood combo before they'd even met us!
I have also felt more of a connection much faster with the parents of my clients and my new colleagues here.
But man, those employees at the library and the DMV leave a lot to be desired.
It's almost nice--no pun intended--to hear this from someone else, b/c when we lived in Chicago (after living in Minneapolis-St. Paul), this was our experience as well. We totally thought that Chicagoans were rude and grumpy. Especially the service employees! Man, would a hello or a smile from a cashier or desk clerk kill someone? Apparently it would. Anyway, as much as we adored Chicago, it was really nice--oops, there's that word again--to move back to Minneapolis after 6 years in Chicago, and be bombarded by Minnesota Nice once again. I adore Chicago too, but some things are a little hard to take for this native Minnesotan.
I think I like it somewhere in between Chicago and Minneapolis. The nice factor in the Twin Cities went above and beyond too often, like Target cashiers commenting on what you were buying and trying to draw conclusions (out loud) from your particular collection of goods. It's kind of like the goofballs I deal with at Trader Joe's - but everywhere!!
Aparently, they forgot to tell you that as a Chicagoan, you are supposed to just walk ahead into the cross-walk without waiting for the cars. They'll stop. Usually.
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