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Please disregard the bitchy tone in yesterdays post. If you remember from your Health Classes in elementary school - emotions can run amok during “A Woman’s Time of Month”. I am well aware that our situation is nowhere near as dire as some, so not being pregnant this month? Nothing to freak out over.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Road Trip Story #1:
We drove home from Montgomery, AL through some killer storms yesterday. At one point, south of Birmingham, the radio weather guy alerted us to “Hail the size of Nickels.”
LilZoot: WHAT did he just say?
Me: HAIL. He said HAIL.
The nine-year-old in me knew how much HAIL sounded like HELL.
LilZoot: No - AFTER that.
Me: Huh?
LilZoot: The HAIL is the size of WHAT?
Me: Uh, nickels?
LilZoot: Oh Giggle. I thought he said N-I-P-P-L-E-S.
Me: HA!
So now? The next time it hails in your area? I want you to remember that, and giggle for us. Hee.
Road Trip Story #2:
I also did my good deed for the week at The World’s Slowest McDonalds. I saw a few women in the restroom discussing their current progress home, and what they were wanting from Dinner. �Should we just eat here?� one of them asked the other. I rudely interrupted and informed them that this McDonalds was the slowest on the planet, and if they wanted to get back on the road sometime before nightfall, they should eat elsewhere.
Disembodied Voice coming from one of the stalls: She’s Right. This IS The World’s Slowest McDonalds. If you are in hurry - don’t eat here. How many people are with you?
Woman 1: Um…total? 17.
Woman from the stall: Flush and exit stall Yeah. Don’t eat here. Trust me. It took my husband and I FIFTY MINUTES to get our meals one day and there was only one person in line in front of us.
Me: Glad to see I’m not the only one unfortunate enough to have learned the lesson the hard way. It was a good thirty minutes for my son and I to get one order of fries and two soft drinks. Thirty minutes AFTER we ordered. We won�t discuss how long it took for us just to have someone TAKE our order.
Woman 2: Okay. We’ll take your word for it and head further north before eating dinner. Thanks!
Both of us No problem.
Yep. I extended my fast food wisdom to a stranger and met a kindred spirit as a result. It was a profound experience in the bathroom at that The World’s Slowest McDonalds.
Oh - and when we went out to our car? We counted. There were 13 cars in the drive-thru. I’m guessing they are all still there this morning.
Road Trip Story #3:
LilZ and I got to the Meet-up McDonalds on Friday an hour early. We sat down for dinner and I told LilZ he could play in the PlayPlace, which is an indoor playground, some McDonalds have. The tables were very full and the only one open was almost attached to another one, which was occupied. I just hoped they didn�t mind me invading their personal space.
As I sat down, the daughter pulled out a portable aquarium with a small turtle in it. So what did I do? The good southerner I am? I started a conversation with them about it. It was perfectly natural and they were not at all taken back by a stranger butting into their lives. We spent the next thirty minutes discussing pets, Tennessee (where they were headed), their beach trip to Panama City Beach and the drunkedness they witnessed, and my favorite spots in Florida.
Afterwards, on the way home, I thought - Is this something I could have done ANYWHERE and gotten as good of a chat out of it? So - you aren�t all from the South. Some of you aren�t even from the U.S. Tell me - if I had asked you where your turtle came from…Would you have ignored me? Would you have answered and then cut off the conversation? Or do you think we would have had just as lengthy of a chat as the Tennessee family and I did? What about the other people where you live, would they have ignored me?
I mean - I need to know before I hit the road towards your part of the world.
Well…I’m a born & bred New England person, and I’m far from unfriendly. C’mon up, Zoot and have some sushi & a beah!
Zoot, I should add that we went on our honeymoon to Maine (I love Maine, so Mainers don’t take this personally) but I found myself attempting to talk to people and got some very odd looks and more often than not a total brush off. The one waitress we chatted with for a long time? Turns out she is from the small town of Sumter, SC. Yup. Its a small world.
what everyone says about pittsburgh I would say is pretty much true…people will talk to you about anything. anything. but, i like to think that pittsburgh has a little bit of southern in it…
Philly is kind of more closed off.
But the suburbs? People talk to me about crazy things. People will stop me in the store and talk to me about the weather. The woman who works at WaWa talks to me about her grandchildren all the time. People here aren’t quite as friendly as where you are…but it can happen…
And hey…no making fun of yankees!
Hrm, well, Southern California checking in here and I think it definitely depends more on the people than the place. I had a nice long conversation with the elderly lady sitting next to me in Shrek 2 the other week, but the vaguely creepy guy on the bus who asked where I got my skirt cause his girlfriend would like it? Got the cold shoulder.
It’s all about my mood and the vibe you give off. Also (I hate to say it but it’s true) it’s about the other person’s gender.
ahh…example of pittsburgh friendliness: I was sitting at a pizza place waiting to pick something up for a friend, and a woman who was waiting ended up talking to me about where she lives and her children and how she is going back to school at a community college near her, and where I come from, and everything.
Don’t forget to eat Doritos. SOME moms-to-be don’t eat anything with msg, including - ta-dah - Doritos. The Jury’s still out with me on that one.
You could totally have a stranger-conversation in Kansas City, but you’d have much less luck in Vancouver. People just keep to themselves a bit. I miss KC for that; I like chatting with people & making new friends easily. I would SO talk to you about turtles & pets, unless I was in a terrible mood.
I? Am totally friendly like that. Others around here? I would say they would talk to you. They probably wouldn’t start up a conversation, though. Or at least I wouldn’t. I’m open, but not that outgoing.
I went to Chicago once, and, not only did people think I was crazy because I smiled at them or their children, but an old lady, who was having trouble reaching some milk in a store, thought I was trying to steal it from her when I pulled it down for her.
Then again, the nice Yankee boy that sat next to me on the plane talked to me most of the way because he could tell I was terrified.
Around the smaller cities up north, it’s perfectly acceptable. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, I chat up anyone I know. People from Northern California can be friendly, as well, but it’s hard to tell since most are transplants.
DO NOT assume friendliness from anyone in Connecticut or the rest of New England. I learned the hard way.
The south? I live in NC for six years. I’m not sure they were any friendlier than other places. Raliegh didn’t strike me as a friendly town. I found that people are friendlier in small towns, no matter where you are. Big cities turn people into rats.
If you were in my town and started up a conversation like that, it would be pretty natural. I think my wife has talked with complete strangers like you did, although not while sitting on the toilet in a McDonald’s restroom.
If you were in Detroit and asked about someone’s turtle, you would have been killed, your car would have been stolen, and your dogs would have gotten eaten. Just my opinion, of course.
Alektra is right; New England is icy in more ways than one. If I dare to speak to a child when mine aren’t with me, people assume I’m a potential kidnapper. If my kids are with me, it’s tolerated, but friendliness is rarely returned. New Englanders suck.
Mmph. Actually, I have a very proper friend from the southern U.S. and she once expressed her dismay at the thought of strangers who’d talk to her in an elevator. I had to admit that I (a Canadian) strike up conversations with people in elevators. I think that if you have a blog or journal? You are the type to talk to strangers. It’s not about where you’re from.
I live in South Carolina and noone here has ever actually met a stranger. Some days I feel like I will never accomplish anything but I know everything there is to know about the gas station cashier, my waitress, and the person selling lottery tickets. You will always have people to talk to when you wait in line and when you stop to buy something. We also try very hard to convince people that our state is the most fun and the best of the Southern states, so be prepared to listen Also, be prepared to beasked very nosey questions.
Like: “Oh, bless your heart, your here to meet his daddy? Well, let me tell you that I was divorced once too honey, and I understand. Now tell me, was he a real jerk or what?”
I’m originally from New Mexico and it is THE friendliest place I’ve ever been. I didn’t realize how chatty total strangers are there until I had spent a lot of time elsewhere.
Here in Kansas City people are pretty friendly and will chat about anything, especially if they have kids in tow and are starved for adult contact, like me. However, every now and again I do run into someone who looks at me like I’m a total freak when I smile at their kids or tell them they have cute shoes.
Wow, New England is getting a bad rap! I lived there for 5 years and thought that people were reserved, but not unfriendly. In DC, people (including me) might be surprised when someone they don’t know starts talking to them, but are usually happy to talk back. They probably wouldn’t initiate the conversation though.
zoot i’d have a lengthy conversation with you about poo and farts, let alone turtles…
I am from Nebraska and I start up conversations with people all the time for no reason. It’s funny to see the looks on the Brits faces when I do this. They aren’t accustomed to friendliness in any form, in fact I get a lot of nasty looks, but I also have made many a friend that way too. The nasty looks don’t stop me, I just flash them a smile and keep talking!
Sorry I havemn’t been around much. Wroking is taking upo a lot of my time. The hail story is really funny.
Chicago pretends to be New York as a rule, but in my neck of the woods, you’d be able to chat away pretty easily.
And if you’re coming up this way, you better do it now while the crib’s clean!
Seattle has a pretty chilly reputation, and I have to admit that I don’t often initiate conversations with strangers. But when people talk to me I generally try to be friendly. However, I imagine that in a Seattle McD you would have gotten maybe 10 minutes of decent conversation *tops*, depending on how talkative the girl with the turtle was. The more likely scenario would be something like this…
Zoot: Cute turtle.
TurtleGirl: Thanks.
Zoot: How long have you had him?
TurtleGirl: I just got him a couple weeks ago, I wanted to get a dog, but my dad said that dogs were too noisy and then I saw this thing on tv about turtles and I thought maybe it would be cool to…
TurtleGirl’s Mom: Honey, don’t bother other people while they are eating.
Maybe things would continue a little bit from there, but the conversation would be over pretty quickly. My mom is from NY and even though she has lived in Seattle for 30+ years, she still comments on how hard it is to just have normal conversations with stangers.
I was at a restaurant on Friday and had a guy ask me which salsa wasn’t too hot. And it caught me totally off guard because people around here (The OC. Yeah, that one) don’t talk to each other. I actually remember thinking ‘he isn’t from around here.’ I have a friend transplanted from Maryland, however, who will talk to just about anyone about anything and people are usually pretty receptive to her.
Sometimes I’ll talk to strangers like that. Sometimes I’ll ignore them. It depends on my mood and on the creepiness factor of said person. If you had asked me about my turtle? I probably would have at least given polite answers, if not more.
Also, I’m from Michigan. So not the South. Random people starting random conversations? Definitely not the norm up there, but it does happen.
I think I agree with the rural vs. urban argument… Most strangers in Boston do not really talk to each other unless something unusual is going on- the Democratic National Convention, for example! (only the crazy people talk to strangers!) There are also a lot of pan-handlers in this area so people generally ignore people on the street, just as a matter of survival!
At the same time, I don’t think you can really generalize that either… everyone is different. I am a pretty friendly person and am not shy to say something to someone I don’t know. (especially if they have a dog or a kid!)
That said, I think that most people in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine would be more likely to be friendly than someone in Mass or Connecticut.
Just my “new england” two cents…
I think we would have ended up with the same lengthy chat.
I think Hungarians can be more open like that. In England people are generally more reserved, but you can’t generalise to everyone of course.
Or actually it depends, I might not have been in a mood to talk to anyone. But most likely it would have been a long chat
I love the south…
I’m a Southern transplant living in Chicago. I’ve had similar conversations with people at bus stops or on the el. Also, standing in line in the grocery store and at Six Flags. So, I don’t know if it’s because I’m Southern or if it’s because the people here are nice.
So I was in rural PA for about 1.5 years. And people in rural PA? They’re very closed. If they dont’ recognize you, they don’t want to talk to you. It’s really sucky for someone new moving to the area.
Erie was nice, the one time I was there, though…
Pittsburgh is still the best (and yes, I have been to Philly).
I live in Oklahoma right now and I think most people here would probably have a whole conversation. I, however, am a native Californian and I would politely answer the question but not take the convo any further. In a related vein: when I was 19 a friend and I took a road trip from CA to Texas and we were utterly gobsmacked that people were waving to us on the highway as we passed through rural areas. You see this difference in many aspects of day-to-day life, as well. Like here in OK people will gush over your kids. We are constantly getting comments, people coming up to our table at restaurants, etc. When I’m home in CA the majority of people barely give them a glance. I’m used to it since I grew up there but I imagine people from friendlier areas would find it disconcerting.
I definately would have done the same thing. I get into conversations with everyone, waiters, checkout clerks, people in line, people on the street, in stores, wherever. But being transplanted from Mississippi to NewYork, I almost always get surprised looks when I strike up a conversation, and the inevitable”where is that accent from?.” I have met a few icy ones, but most open right up once they see you are not trying to get over on them, that you are just interested in them. You just have to be patient and work on New Yorkers. They’ve had a hard time, living here.
Nipple-sized hail, heh.
And I don’t travel much, but generally have been able to chat with just about anyone, wherever I go. I haven’t tried travelling with a turtle, yet, but might start just to test some of the theories put forth here. Travelling with children is probably more scary, though.
Up in North Dakota you would definitely get a friendly conversation. Go a little further south to Minneapolis, MN and I would say things are much different. We lived there for a year and people wouldn’t even look up and smile when we were on the walking trails. I love living someplace where people say Hi all the time when you pass them by.
luhve the whole McDonalds story. I am horrified that anything in FAST FOOD takes that long!! Even though the Taco Bell I frequent takes a long time if you go inside, and sometimes the manager refuses to give me chicken soft tacos. But I used to work at a McDonalds and we were very very fast.
the whole turtle story - definitely a Southern experience. I love how you can just make friends with ALMOST anyone. It’s so expected that you talk to people you know, though, that sometimes I hide or pretend I haven’t seen them, if I’m feeling particularly unsociable.
(Montreal, Canada) I would have probably smiled tightly and answered your question(s) in as few words as possible.
Why talk to people in real life when you can leave perfect strangers comments? /irony
I moved last year from Hollywood Fl, and both my partner and I were amazed at how friendly people in Tampa Fl are compared to where were from. While my Partner was at the laundry mat bringing stuff to the truck, the girl from Blockbuster video who was on her break rushed over to help. And so on its been here. And Turtle talk, count me in. I recently had turtle talk with a new friend from Orlando. It consumed most of our email. :o)
this post seems to have gotten a lot of comments, so I guess I’ll just chime right in! I live in VT…in the Northeast kingdom, to be exact, and we’re a very friendly lot up here! I could have a conversation like you had about the turtle with a complete stranger. I’m not saying there aren’t snobs…there definitely are, but generally, everyone’s pretty nice!