Politeness

So, this will totally sound like some sort of stereotype, but the biggest thing that cuaght me off guard when I moved here was how nice people are. I'm from the East Coast. Despite all rumors to the contrary, Jersey folks aren't rude or nasty, they're just not all that interested in you. I mean that in a good way. They don't really care what you're doing as long as it doesn't effect them. The mentality seems to me to be "I won't bother you if you don't bother me." Here, everyone is concerned about everyone else. I mean it. People ask you "How are you doing?" and they are genuinely interested in the answer. It freaks me out.

And then there's the whole manners thing. People hold doors for you instead of speeding up so they don't have to wait for you to get there. People will hang out in the stairwell at work for a full two minutes if they see you headed in their direction like certain Jersey friends have owned up to (you know who you are wt). People will offer to help you carry things and they aren't trying to steal your stuff. I know a guy who swears his car broke down in the middle of the busiest, messiest comingling of highways on the planet and instead of ramming into his rear bumper as hard as possible, people got out of their cars and helped him get out of traffic. True story. I swear.

Then there's this weird eye contact thing. Us Yankees put a lot of value on eye contact. It holds meaning for us. That means "I am not merely being polite, I really do give a damn what you have to say." Here, everyone makes eye contact all the time. There's this dentist where I work, since day one he has stopped in the halls and stared right in my eyes and said "Hi there, how's your day going?" like he's my oldest friend. For the first year I didn't even know his name.

A friend from Jersey always talked about how if he and his neighbors made the mistake of leaving their homes at the same time, everyone would drop their heads and scurry to their cars. Neighbors wave and smile here in Kentucky. They don't have to know your name. If you're in a residential neighborhood, every car gets a smile and a wave. You could be hauling the little old couple down the street's TV into the back of your Pinto and people would probably hold the door for you.

I'm adjusting.