Posted on 01/24/2013 6:23:56 PM PST by FoxPro
I have lived in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for the past 5 years.
I drove down to Huntsville, Alabama to work on some software, with a friend of mine.
I have never been to the "deep South".
I have been here for 24 hours.
It is really a bit of a culture shock after spending a day sorting things out, here.
Everybody is "Yes Sir" and "No Sir" with people differing to you with "Am I in your way?" and "Can I help you find something?"
Well, this is exactly what happened to me today.
I sat down to get to work, on my computer and the battery in my mouse dies.
I move my mouse and the arrow is just there, not moving.
It always happens at the worst of times.
So I drive down to Kroger's grocery store, walk in, stand there, trying to figure out if I should turn left or right, in my hunt for the "Battery Center".
Well this very large man walks up to me, he is wearing a Kroger badge and below his name it says "Manager".
He intones "Can I help you?"
I said, a bit jaded "Yes, I need ONE AA battery, but I know I will have to buy a 12 pack, but that's just the way things go."
He motions me over to a check stand, grabs a 4 pack of AA batteries, tears it open, pulls out one battery, hands it to me and says "Merry Christmas."
I am stunned...
DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN ANYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES? Really?
The guy made my day and it is a seemingly small gesture, I will never forget.
But this guy knows I will probably spend $100 or more, at this Kroger's, in the next few months, than I would have otherwise.
He knows that this small act of kindness will be recouped many times over in the near future.
This gentleman knows all about not being "Penny wise and pound foolish."
I think I will like being an Alabamian.
People are nice down south because they are ignorant, and believe fictional accounts of the Meaning of Life, like the Bible.
You need to discount this trivial experience you had and embrace the lib model of bitter, racist, hateful idiots that is most certainly a more accurate description.
Welcome to Red State America.
You should probably warn him about the whole hugging thing before he shows up at your church.
I lived in Lower Alabama for 7 years; most polite people on earth.
I lived in Lower Alabama for 7 years; most polite people on earth.
Bump
I was accustomed to “bumping into” someone in the grocery and saying excuse me - my fault or not. But here in AL, the OTHER person said it FIRST!!
Out here in the SW Wisconsin boonies, we will stand there for over a minute exchanging apologies when that happens!
My old stomping grounds ! The small culture shock is when I moved to Colorado in 1995 and at the time I worked at MCI as a contractor. I had to step out to take my car to the shop and stopped for a bite to eat at a Taco John’s. I ran across a couple of co-workers and kind of got the brush off when I asked if I can join. Kind of odd compared to being in Indy. Back in Indy, if you were out to lunch, it was kind of socially expected to ask someone to join you if you see a co-worker.
But the people who gave me the brush off, as I knew them better later, they were from the East Coast (Maryland & Wash DC) and one of them had the reputation of being into political correctness. After I got laid off, a year after I saw Ms. P.C. when I went to the grocery store to get cigars for poker, she was rather curt with me and asked what I was doing there and basically told me I didn’t belong in Colorado. When I still worked at MCI, that woman told me she didn’t like my accent and remarked she didn’t like rednecks.
Also at the time, the national speed limit was on its way out and there was discussion on a 75 mph speed limit and she of course remarked that we should stay at 55 mph and remarked on how states like Maryland believed in safety and kept it at 55 mph.
But back in Indy, definitely nice folks but it also depends on what part of Indy. The folks on the East-side were not friendly and that area has gone downhill even more since the 1980’s or even late 1960’s.
> I have found the people of Indianapolis the nicest, friendliest folks around.
I had a patient from Atlanta, black woman, who said yes sir, thank you sir- very polite to me. I had to tell her she doesnt have to call me sir. I talked with her awhile and found out her kids say yes maam and yes sir to her and her hubby. She said her kids would never disrespect her or anyone else. I was refreshing to hear some parents are doing it right
Thanks for your post. We were raised this way... “Southern by the grace of God.”
That manager went above and beyond even for a southerner.
Just beware the dreaded “Bless your heart!” :o)
Because they know God, or have been raised by someone who knows God, or has a role model who knows God.
Ain’t had BBQ until you’ve tried North Alabama style with white sauce. Yum!
Here is a funny story for you. Our corporate office used to be in Little Rock and we had regional offices all over the country. We had an all-team meeting in Little Rock and went to dinner with people from all over the country. When dessert time came, the Texas and Arkansas team ordered three desserts and a bunch of forks and we started passing them around so we could try everything, like a big family. The looks on the Phoenix and Chicago team’s faces was priceless. It was like they were watching a zoo exhibit.
Thanks for a positive story! I love the south and would never move north.
I moved to central KY and a small farm in 2011 after living in the Seattle burbs for 45 years. And the quality of the people here is a major factor. Even my sister in law from Chicago visited the Lexington KY area a couple months ago and was seriously taken aback by how nice people are here. And in her words, “It’s sincere.” And she said it like someone might bite into a gold coin and excitedly and stunned say, “it’s real”.
We dearly love it here.
welcome to the south, where all the women are ladies and all the men are gentlemen. it is an entirely different way of life here. but don’t let the good manners fool you into the common notion that we are all a bunch of kind hearted rednecks. and don’t buy into the idea that we are also a bunch of rubes. we, for the most part, treat people the way we want to be treated. There must be something about our way of life here in the south because when outsiders come here, we can’t seem to get them to go home.
Just don’t try to change us. we like living this way.
Its not hard to find nicer folks out here in fly over country, at least away from the big cities.
Hon, we go to Kroger and WalMart to socialize! LOL. My boys kid me all the time. “Gosh, Mom. How many people do you know?”. Hehe!
I remember that day. They gave me my pants back once they got the photo.
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