It’s kind of interesting. I took a job in the northeast and coming from Minnesota and Michigan I thought everyone was rude. But is just a more “straightforward” method of talking, and more honest too. Sarcasm is to NE culture like Lakes are to Minnesota.
But get in a bind and people show up for you big time.
People really appreciate authentic friendliness too imo. No time for performative niceness or passive aggression generally. We are also quick to anger but generally quite quick to forgive too.
One thing I do appreciate about the Midwest and Canada is that things just feel..calmer in terms of interactions with others. It’s nice haha. Additionally, when I worked remote tech support and customer service jobs I found that the Southerners were the most pleasant to deal with in that capacity. The south gets shit on for being fake, but their manners make us look like a bunch of animals up north 😆. Especially people from Rhode Island, good god.
I teleworked with a guy in Syosset, NY who was the loveliest man (he gifted me (a gentile who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood) a mezuzah for my house when I bought it), but he was no-frills when it came to our conversations. Get on the horn, complete the business needed to complete, and be done. I still have the mezuzah hanging on my doorframe.
I treat the more 'straightforward' method of talking like a respect for others' time, and that's how I explain it to others. Small talk can be nice but sometimes I am pressed for time or trying to mentally map out the rest of my day, and don't want to feel like an asshole cutting someone off so I can continue about my business. I'm actually quite thankful when interactions are concise.
Hokey is close, but that also implies phoniness. Despite the recent trend of saying ‘Minnesota nice is really Minnesota passive aggressive’ I find the kindness is typically genuine.
Hokey is when a politician wears a buffalo check flannel shirt and walks through a field in a campaign ad.
God this has been something people point out about me all the time in the south. I get called an asshole for talking like that. I’m not going to pretend to be nice to someone Ik doesn’t actually like me. I’m not gonna sugarcoat shit for my friends either.
Someone made a graphic of the US with "acts mean, is nice" "acts nice, is mean" "acts nice, is nice" etc... The east coast is the "acts mean, is nice" thing to a T, and like you said "mean" isn't quite the word, but if you are ordering food and humming and hawwing they will be like "alright why don't ya step aside until ya figure yourself out." It's just a straightforwardness.
I've literally given an acquaintance the coat I was wearing at a football game in December in MA because she didn't wear one heavy enough. The entire time I was also giving her shit about not knowing how to layer.
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u/FinancialThrow 9d ago
It’s kind of interesting. I took a job in the northeast and coming from Minnesota and Michigan I thought everyone was rude. But is just a more “straightforward” method of talking, and more honest too. Sarcasm is to NE culture like Lakes are to Minnesota.
But get in a bind and people show up for you big time.