I couldn’t help but notice just how crazy people are in the Los Angeles area. They’re like sharks! Rudeness abounded. Drivers honked horns constantly. Cars cut in waiting lines of traffic. Driving anywhere was an exercise in patience.
At the datacenter I was visiting, I walked across the lobby just as a woman was entering. “Excuse me,” I said as I stepped in front of her. I turned around to hear her grumbling loudly to herself “Go ahead! Walk in front of me and don’t even say ‘excuse me.'” She stormed off, leaving me shaking my head.
Wow, I thought. What is it about this place that makes people continually pissed off?
We were looking for a place to park at lunchtime at a crowded shopping center. A car in front of us was stopped to let a car back out of its parking space. A car opposite us, which had clearly gotten there first, was patiently waiting to take that spot. As we watched, the car in front of us quickly pulled into the waiting car’s spot, leaving the waiting driver livid. There were no manners anywhere!
There were exceptions, of course. My buddy Matt and wife Daniella were exceedingly generous, feeding me and putting me up for the night. They live in Palm Desert, though, where there’s more room to spread out. Also Steve, my business contact, was very cool. Decades spent in Southern California hadn’t jaded him. I suppose the surfing he does every day keeps things in perspective.
In spite of my long plane ride back, I was quite happy to be back on my home soil. Going away really makes you appreciate what you have.
As for Los Angeles, you can keep it, thank you.
A good high school friend of mine just relocated to Palm Desert. And, yes, everyone in LA is upset at something or someone. I just don’t like it there either.
-Greg
Yeah, its like the pressure of living in LA squeezes the humanity out of people.
And while I think LA is in the running for rudeness capital, I consider NYC to be a contender, albeit a distant second.
If that jerk had stolen the parking space from me, he would’ve come out of the store to discover 4 flat tires on his car, along with a baggy containing the needles from his valve stems.
she must be from freakin’ Brooklyn.
Apes in Los Angeles too I see…Dadgum Apes!
Ok, Yella. I admit I painted the city with a pretty wide brush there. Most of my experience revolved around trying to drive somewhere. Driving seemed impossible, and it largely is. I just seemed to run into more rude people than I expected. I’ll back off of my broad generalization.
Thanks for visiting!
OK, I lived in LA for a long time and everyone wasn’t rude. Now, Mark, you get a giant ‘ding ding ding ding’ hands waving in the air for gross generalization…
But if I might offer something of an explanation(s) as to why many people in the LA area might be miserable and taking it out on others: housing prices (not their fault – blame real estate agents’ greed), credit card debt (impulse control – but add them to the rest of the country), stagnant wages (and if you add all these up and put them right smack next to some of the richest people in the world flaunting their wealth, well, its hard not to feel bad about your situation).
As to Peanut Gallery: If I ever find my tires slashed I will know who did it! So much for benefit of the doubt… Peanut Gallery’s innocuous name masks some felonious impulses I see…
Mark, you are right about the driving though. Driving anywhere near LA is a sport. We notice right away when the weekend rolls around if there are lots of people from LA visiting the desert!
Yella
I said nothing about slashing tires – I said that I would remove (unscrew) the needles from the valve stems. Guaranteed to let all the air out of a tire but not damage it (might break the tire’s seal on the rim, though, making it more difficult to reinflate…). Don’t be an inconsiderate jerk and you won’t feel my wrath. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!
As for driving in Los Angeles, that city earned its reputation as “road rage capital”.