on niceness

I miss nice people. You know, the type that open the door when your arms are full just when you're about to drop your baby. Shoot, these days I'd even take a forced 'have a nice day' at the grocery store.

I love living in D.C. for a hundred reasons but friendly, laid back people is not one of them.

The Washington Post quoted a survey that found Washington DC to be the 3rd rudest city in the U.S. (behind New York, of course, and Miami) and that sounds just about right. Nice people are hard to come by in this East coast town. It's nothing personal and I don't take offense. People are universally rude to everyone.

I'm sure these people probably came from mothers that taught them to share, to play nice and be helpful but they probably just grew out of their manners. I pass by drivers that look perfectly decent people honking and going road crazy at silly 1 second delays or at slow people crossing the street. 

Maybe living in a busy city makes you expect less of people. You don't go striking up conversations with strangers. You don't expect for people to smile.  If your car needs a jump in the parking lot you call AAA. There is probably something about knowing you wont ever see the same person again that makes you feel like you owe them nothing.

Now I don't want to exclude everyone from the nice person club.  There are definitely friendly people around D.C., they're just a bit watered down with a few extra grumps.  I also don't necessarily think dishing out gratuitous gestures makes you kind or genuine, for some it's not their style. I'm just saying in this tightly wound place it wouldn't be so bad if people would just relax, look outside themselves, and loosen up.