I spend 4 years in a small Texas town that used to be famous for matresses, saving the largest local company from itself. When I got there they had over 3000 trucks on their front yard that they couldn’t get the Army to accept. Their ‘solution’ to the engineering problem was wrong as it wasn’t a strength, but rather a stiffness issue. The in house engineers who knew the problem were ignored because they were Chinese ethnics (who used computer aided modeling, which management didn’t find persuasive as they didn’t understand resonance). Every manufacturing station was racially segregated.
And for saving the company in 6 months, I was called by management, in front of the assembled company, a ‘carpet bagger’ and I and my black wife were routinely refused service in local restaurants. Local judges were corrupt.
On the other hand, gun stores were well stocked, and I rally enjoyed my range time.
After 9/11 I returned to California and went back to work on better ways to kill people. Its a living.
I’m sorry, what conclusion am I supposed to draw from your post? That Texans are nothing but a bunch of backward, racist rednecks, so stupid that they can’t even run a business and need the help of an enlightened, intelligent Yankee to show them the way?
Pretty much proves the contempt some Northerners have for the South.
"And for saving the company in 6 months"
Also, if you weren't exactly embraced by that Texas town, it might help for you to look inward a bit and ask yourself why. From what you write, it seems you're somewhat into self-congratulation; could it be that you presented yourself as the sophisticated Northern corporate savior to those people, even unconsciously? Because that does seem to be your attitude. It's entirely possible that they picked up on it and didn't like it one bit.
Do you know for a fact that the Chinese engineers were ignored because of their ethnicity? You say that, but in the next breath you say it was because they used computers. Which was it?
Did you have proof that the workstations were racially segregated as a result of company policy? If so, that's illegal, so why didn't you report it to the authorities? Or is it possible that the workers were self-segregating, as people tend to do?
Finally, I find it interesting that you find it necessary to mention your black wife, as if you think her skin color had something to do with your treatment. It sounds to me as though you went down there presupposing Southerners to be racist. It's my opinion that your attitude had more to do with your reception than your wife's race.
As for corruption, according to a 2011 report from nakedlaw.com, four of the six most corrupt cities in the country are northern cities---Detroit, Newark, Philadelphia, and Chicago.