We went to the New York Worlds Fair on our senior trip in 1965. We did run into some extraordinarily rude people but also some nice ones.
I particularly remember a woman at the fair who was engraving things for a reasonable price. She looked Jewish to me. I asked her how much it would cost me to engrave my name on a few medals I won at the Florida State Track Meet.
She looked at them and said she would not think of charging me for engraving those medals. She did a good job too.
I was in NYC my h.s. senior year (1977) with an exchange student and her mother. They spoke minimal English. Apparently, we took the wrong way to the subway... We stopped at a corner store to ask directions... The store owners did not speak English either... At some point, I encountered a man and asked for assistance. He told me that I must not be a local because of my smile...
To wit:
To Be a Virginian
either by birth, marriage, adoption,
or even on one’s mother’s side,
is an introduction to any state in the Union,
a passport to any foreign country,
and a benediction from the Almighty God.
~ Anonymous
NY is a very mixed bag. It has both the nicest and the nastiest people on earth.
When I was young (@ 20) I took a train from my home town in Northern Westchester to Grand Central Station, had to cross town to Penn Station and get a ticket to Long Island. From the time my first train arrived at Grand Central, until I got to the station on Long Island, I never had to carry my bag.
One person after another would come along and carry it for me; one hailed a cab, told the driver to take me to Penn Station; at Penn Station another man walking along looked at this rube getting out of the cab and picked up my bag, showed me the track where my train would be leaving from. He went over and picked up a ticket for me; then someone else carried my bag down to the train.
As recently as last summer MANY years/decades later, when I ride the NYC subway and am traveling with a suitcase, 8 out of 10 times, someone will come along and offer to carry my bag, then be on his way, not even waiting for a thank you. It’s just amazing.