Southern Friendliness

OK, so back to my comparisons of life up North with life here in NC. I know it's a cliche, but people are friendlier here.

People wave to you when you drive by their house. In fact, I've taken to waving to everyone who drives by and saying hello to everyone who walks by. Contrast this with me yelling at and generally hating the kids in front of my townhouse in Staten Island.

Another place you notice the friendliness difference is when dealing with employees of restaurants and retail stores. And I don't mean waiters /waitresses - they appear friendly everywhere because their tips depend on it. No, here in NC even the fast food people are super-friendly and helpful. When you buy something from someone, you don't get the vibe that you are interrupting their chat or personal time. In NYC you get attitude 80% of the time. Here, almost never.

Another interesting thing - many people I meet here are not native to the area. Most of my neighbors, in fact, have relocated from the North or elsewhere, as I have. Still, it seems the Northerners who come down here quickly assimilate. Or perhaps they just never fit into the nasty attitude up North in the first place, and moved down here to escape it.

Some would argue that Southerners appear more friendly, but in reality they might hate you or be spiteful or whatever. This may be true to some extent. With Northerners, you know where you stand. If I hate you, I make no secret about it, nor do I sugar coat my words as I plot to back stab you. On the other hand:

- I don't care if the girl at Chick-Fil-A secretly hates me or not, as long as she's friendly when she serves my chicken.

- I also don't care if my casual acquaintances (neighbors and such) hate me. Really, I'm not that sensitive.

- For good friends, I should know whether or not they are sincere, so there's no concern there.

So I'll have to give a big advantage to the South on this point.