New Yorkers are friendly

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend was visiting from London. He had lived in New York for a few years before moving across the pond and he still harbors feelings for the big apple. We were sitting in a small diner on the Upper East Side (the quintessential NYC experience) and witnessed a man arguing for 15 minutes about a $2 difference in the price of an item on the menu that was posted outside of the restaurant and the updated menu that was actually being used inside. He clearly did not have a problem paying the $2. He said so himself: it was about the principle. If a restaurant is going to post a menu outside, they should charge costumers the amount that menu shows. I tend to agree with him, but would never make a fuss about it. However, New Yorkers are principled people. Even if they owe a large condo on the Upper East Side, they might argue over $2 at a diner. Not only that, but New Yorkers also love to argue. During the time we sat in the diner, another costumer - a young man dressed in a very fancy suit, especially considering the midday hours of a Saturday - starting arguing with the man about the fuss he was making. New Yorkers value their meals and their personal space - they do not want to be bothered while eating out. New Yorkers are principled people.

Witnessing all of this, my friend promised me that no matter what, New Yorkers were so much nicer and friendlier than Londoners. The Brits tend to be colder, more closed off, which I don't disagree with.  Living in Europe, especially in the eastern parts, it also becomes obvious that New Yorkers are not unfriendly at all. It's only compared to the rest of the US that the unfriendliness of New Yorkers holds true. After spending a few days in the Kansas City area, I was nearly surprised when a lady yelled at me at Trader Joe's yesterday for not moving up the line, cutting the person in front of me while she quickly left her cart for a second to grab an item off a shelf. I even - how could I be so silly?! - tried to explain to the angry lady behind me that the girl in front of me just went to the aisle next to us to grab something and she would be right back. In return, her and about 4 more people cut me and the girl in front of me off. I always tell myself in those situations that in the end, I will probably live longer without all that anger built up inside me. And really, on a Sunday evening, where was I in such a hurry to get to? Besides, you never know whether those extra 65 seconds I stood in line for might have saved my life from a falling crane. Right? You just never know!

Ok, so, back to why I am still arguing for New Yorkers being a generally friendly bunch. Last weekend, a friend and I went to see a movie. It was a Sunday evening on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As we walked in to the theater, a rather large man walked in with us. We were all scouting the theater for good seats. As my friend and I were sitting down, we head the man ask a guy who was sitting by himself just one seat from the aisle if he could sit next to him. I think it's generally understood, that if you sit alone, one seat off the aisle, that you probably don't want anyone taking that seat unless there are no more seats left in the theater. There were plenty of other seats. The guy who had been sitting down kinda grunted at the other man, obviously disapproving. In response, our hero started explaining to him how he was there by himself and thought it might be nice for the two of them to sit next to each other and watch the movie together. A novel idea in New York. The guy did not seem very much into the idea but he wasn't going to get into an argument over that seat, so the two man ended up sitting next to each other. Then I got distracted talking to my friend for a while. Maybe 10 minutes later I got up to go to the bathroom, and to my surprise, the two men were in deep conversation. When I came back from the bathroom a few minutes later, they were talking and laughing and were obviously having a good old time. I would have thought they were the oldest of friends who had obviously come to watch a movie together. Here is the thing about New Yorkers: they are principled, they value their personal space and their precious time; but overall, they are a friendly bunch. If you give them a chance, they will talk to you and they will be nice and some of them might even become your friends. It is absolutely untrue that New Yorkers are unfriendly and I still cannot think of a better place to live than right here.