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<p>Upstate New York COLLEGES enroll a large number of students who come from New York City and its suburbs. Thus, the atmosphere at those colleges is different from that of the surrounding areas, sometimes dramatically so.</p>
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<p>hannaviolet, </p>
<p>I’m sorry if my ragging on Trader Joe’s checkers did not come across as I intended. I do give them a break, really I do. They can be endearing. And I love the TJ experience overall. It’s just that sometimes one wants to buy one’s groceries and get on with it. </p>
<p>I should have added to my list of regional differences and similarities that people everywhere think the weather is a more fascinating subject than it invariably is.</p>
<p>Maybe people should let TJ management know that chitchat is not always necessary.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus, thanks for the link. Watching those colors change on the map is truly scary!</p>
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<p>Asking someone where they are from is not, for me at least, a conversation starter, it’s something to ask someone new to the area - you’ve just seen them walking the dog in your neighborhood or you’ve met them and they are obviously new. There are a huge amount of people in my area that move here from out of state. I’m not from my state and neither are about half of my neighbors. I don’t really know who is who to be snobby, but if someone says they are from the next town over, I’ll tell them how much I like their movie theater, etc.</p>
<p>I do think there are an extraordinary amount of overweight people in the mid-atlantic and Southern States. I’m not sure why that is. I’d like to blame it on our long winters but that doesn’t explain the Southern states. It’s like it’s okay to be heavy.</p>
<p>This is def regional. We live on the outskirts of a large metropolitan area where most people are ‘transplants’ due to government jobs, military families, etc. I certainly don’t start a conversation this way, but when I am getting to know someone this is a very natural question to ask/be asked in this area.</p>
<p>I have to chuckle at the ‘where are you from’ comment. We are a military family and have lived in a number of states as well as Europe. So I think since my DH retired and the kids have lived in VA the longest that is where they say they are “from”. But one was born in Germany and the other in AZ. I know a lot of folks are “from” where they are born. </p>
<p>I don’t want to jump on the Boston crowd, but I lived just south of Boston and worked there for a year. I do not have anyone from that year who was from MA that I would call a friend or who I keep in touch with. It was very difficult to get to know people there for myself and my husband. I have several friends from that time who were also transplants. Probably the cultural differences were stumbling blocks to understanding how to get to know people. </p>
<p>I think wherever you live you have to figure out the vibe. That is easier to do in some places than in others. Those places aren’t the same for everyone because of their own backgrounds. Don’t let that stop you from spreading your wings and visiting or living in new places!</p>
<p>(cross posted with BI)</p>
<p>I often ask people who are new to the neighborhood where they are from- just as an icebreaker & to gauge how familiar they might be with local resources.</p>
<p>Both H & I were born in Seattle, but our old established neighborhood is currently undergoing quite a turnover after several very elderly residents have passed on.
We have a good elementary school within a few blocks so we are getting young families & couples from other parts of country. ( Frankly- I think that is because young families from the Northwest have already decided Seattle schools aren’t that great- so they opt for the suburbs)</p>
<p>I got a kick of how provincial some NYC residents were recently. A friend had her whole family visiting for several weeks & they mostly all still live in the city. They couldn’t conceive of why someone would move north or south of * some street*, living on the west coast, was unfathomable.</p>
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<p>I was not referring to people who you know just moved to town. Even in that case though, I don’t generally hear “Where are you from?” Rather, it would be some sort of “Where did you move here from?” or “Where did you live before?” The person you are talking to is from here. Maybe that is another difference - the way we ask the question or use the word “from,” but I think it is more than that.</p>
<p>I think the point being made was that on the East Coast, there is a sense that the question “Where are you from?” is being used as a way to define who you are and how you fit in. It feels a little judgmental. Maybe that is not true, but it sometimes feels that way for us non-East Coasters.</p>
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<p>I think that the TJs folks are usually pretty chatty and maybe that’s deliberate. Most of the ones that I run into, though, know enough to stop the chattiness if the customer isn’t engaging - sometimes I’m at TJs with a lot on my mind and am non-responsive and they usually pick up on that.</p>
<p>BTW, I see the same thing in the Apple Store. If it isn’t too busy and crowded, then someone in the store will try to engage you - if you’re not too responsive or obviously engrossed in checking out a product, they will leave you alone.</p>
<p>Apple’s a full-service store and I think that there are many people that expect a full-service experience. Most Americans are used to a self-service model now and I think that getting a full-service experience may feel a little foreign.</p>
<p>absweetmarie, your post came across as funny 
I just wanted people to realize the chitchat thing is mandated. oldfort, that’s a good idea (although, of course, it wouldn’t likely make any difference, as this sort of policy comes from the central mangement, not the local site, and they actually measure the workers on whether they are doing this). I think it’s weird to have such a policy, as clearly sometimes people don’t want to talk, but that’s retail management for ya.</p>
<p>I think the point being made was that on the East Coast, there is a sense that the question “Where are you from?” is being used as a way to define who you are and how you fit in. It feels a little judgmental. Maybe that is not true, but it sometimes feels that way for us non-East Coasters.</p>
<p>I see the difference- I originally brought up that East coasters want to know " who are your people"? which I think is different than where you are from.</p>
<p>People on the west coast often came from someplace else- often times to * get away from* " their people", so that isn’t something they are usually curious about.</p>
<p>Native Nor’westerner here, but metro New York resident for ages. I followed the advice “Go East, Young Man.” Encountered too many cultural differences between the Puget Sound region and New York to name. I will say that the differences have diminished greatly over time, as Seattle now resembles the same shiny glass-towered urban/suburban centers found all over America. One big cultural change in Seattle has been the acceptance of conspicuous consumption, particularly in one’s choice of automobile. Also annoying is the nefarious obsession Seattle folks have with San Francisco in that some want to knock down every single-family house and erect the modern equivalent of a row house, with multiple floors. Although some people call this ‘Manhattanization.’ LOL.</p>
<p>One area of virtue that continues to distinguish Seattle from the rest of the country is cultural diversity and residential racial integration. That’s one thing I think distinguishes the far north and the far west (The Pacific Northwest and Alaska) from the northeast, midwest and the southland.</p>
<p>As for the Great State of New York, I’ve found that Manhattan and environs do have some commonalties with upstate communities. NYC has lost its manufacturing base, just like Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. And each of those cities has an interesting degree of racial diversity.</p>
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<p>Hmmm, how does that compare with Orange County in southern California?</p>
<p>I grew up in NYC and went to law school there, and when I went to work in upstate NY, and it took me 20 years to understand that interrupting was not how to hold your place in a discussion.</p>
<p>Every time I go to CA I find it somewhat disturbing how little clothes young women wear, and it makes me feel old and crotchedy. My closest friends live in the east bay, and just walking around the shops, or when a daughter goes to work (for goodness sake! old lady finger wagging) the shirts are up to here and pants’ and skirt waists down to there and everything skin tight.</p>
<p>IN NYC and Chicago people are wearing fashions I have not even seen discussed or advertised yet in the NYTimes. College kids at NYU. They are making the fashions. In DC women all dress pretty much the same and have the exact same shade of polish on their pedicured toes. The most daring young people wear hipster glasses and let a tattoo that they got on a volunteer work travel jaunt jauntily peek out from a not very daringly low cut top.</p>
<p>In the midwest I am of average weight. On the east coast I am pretty fat. In Santa Monica and Miami Beach I risk being arrested for being over the maximum weight limit (I find it frightening to enter their city limits.) Speaking of Miami, it is so delightfully international these days it qualifies as foreign travel for college essay purposes so let your kids know.</p>
<p>Thank our lucky stars that in these days of homogenization there are still regional differences! Now I am going to sit down and drink either a cuppa regulah cawfee or some soder.</p>
<p>I think there are huge cultural differences five hours away from WHEREVER you are.</p>
<p>Living in the D.C. Burbs. A five hour drive from here will get you to New York City, or deep, deep into the Appalachian Mountains, or to Chapel Hill North Carolina, or to the Amish towns of Pennsylvania, or to Chincoteague Island. </p>
<p>Talk about cultural differences!</p>
<p>There is a big difference between places where people are very mobile vs. places where people have lived there for generations. If you live in a place where few people have family or established friends nearby, I believe they have to be more open. However, in a place where almost everyone was born and bred in the same area, they have established social circles, and lots of relatives and friends from high school to hang out with. That may make people from those less mobile areas less willing to break out of their circle to meet new people. </p>
<p>Also, please do not mistake extreme politeness in some geographic areas for real concern and friendship. A brusque person may be more willing to actually help you. Pretend you are lost in NYC, and see how many people offer to help.</p>
<p>“One big cultural change in Seattle has been the acceptance of conspicuous consumption, particularly in one’s choice of automobile.”</p>
<p>Definitely have to disagree with that. Unless you are visiting on car show day, or you’re at elementary school dropoff where people like to drive SUVs because they have kids, the car of choice of in the area are Subarus (so you can fit your outdoor gear on it) and Prius’s (so you can feel morally superior by not polluting the earth as much as others…or in our case, save gas). People aren’t too interested in impressing others with fancy cars, they usually have unwashed small SUVs.</p>
<p>". A brusque person may be more willing to actually help you. Pretend you are lost in NYC, and see how many people offer to help."</p>
<p>Funny, that reminds me of the last time we were in NYC. We were with a family member, native New Yorker, and still managed to get lost in Brooklyn. She walked up to a group of people and started shrieking/barking, “Where’s the bridge, where’s the bridge?” And got instant directions. But she didn’t say hello, excuse me, or thanks. We were just laughing like crazy because it was SO rude. But they didn’t seem to mind.</p>
<p>One big cultural change in Seattle has been the acceptance of conspicuous consumption, particularly in one’s choice of automobile."</p>
<p>I haven’t noticed that either- doesn’t Bill Gates still drive a Honda?</p>
<p>I bet there are more Priuses or cars that run on biofuel than Hummers within the city limits.
[Seattle</a> Named No. 1 Government Green Fleet](<a href=“http://www.government-fleet.com/Channel/Green-Fleet/Article/Story/2011/01/Seattle-Named-No-1-Government-Green-Fleet.aspx]Seattle”>http://www.government-fleet.com/Channel/Green-Fleet/Article/Story/2011/01/Seattle-Named-No-1-Government-Green-Fleet.aspx)</p>