Midwest Friendliness
dd May 27th, 2007
Whenever I go back to Michigan, I am reminded just how hospitable, friendly and helpful people generally are there. There really is a different kind of attitude which manifests itself so warmly in that part of the country compared to the coasts. I’m not sure why - perhaps because of the greater degree of hardships. Maybe because of the genetic ancestry. I’m not really sure - leave me a comment if you have your own explanation.
Anyway, here are a couple of examples:
- On previous trips, I’ve always been able to “borrow” an internet connection from one of my mother’s wifi enalbed neighbors. To my disappointment, the sources all dried up on this visit. 5 days being “off the air” would be really hard for me. But, on Tuesday, I discovered that the nearest Whole Foods (I had stopped there to get some food anyway), had free wifi in their cafe. On Wednesday, while my mom was napping at the nursing home, I and my Macbook went over to WF.
Unfortunately, the table nearest to the only electric outlet not in use required that I string my cord across the path leading to the restrooms. But, thinking my battery would not last that long, I plugged in anyway. Several people crossed over the cord on the way to the rest room. Of course, I warned them when I saw them. Not one was angry or upset. They just said, “Thanks for the warning”.After about 20 minutes, a WF employee came up to me. My brain was still in East Coast mind-set, so I thought “uh-oh, the jig’s up.” But, instead, she said as sweetly as possible, that she could unplug one of the machines in the corner away from foot traffic and I could plug in there. “Just be sure to plug it back in when you’re done”. Now, tell me, how do you think this scenario would have played out in Washington?
- My second example took place at the airport Thrify Car Rental counter when I arrived in Detroit. I had reserved the cheapest economy car possible. Upon check-in, I inquired as to the kind of car to which that entitled me.
“It’s a small Kia - no power, no satellite radio, no nothing”, replied the woman at the Thrifty counter. “Sure you don’t want to upgrade to a compact. You’ll have all that and more”. “How much extra would that cost me?” “About $70 in total”. “No, thanks”, I said. “I’ll manage. Thanks anyway. But, if I get out to my Kia and don’t like what I see, I may be back.” “Oh”, she replied. “you won’t be disappointed.”
Wonder what she meant, I thought. Well, I soon found out. She had upgraded me anyway - for the same price as the economy Kia. I had a very nice Dodge Calibre with power everything, satellite radio, etc. Needless, to say I was not disappointed.
I think it would play out a lot differently if you weren’t a well groomed white person. That said from someone who grew up in Kansas City, the midwesterner’s midwest city. It’s till divided racially. Sigh.
I’m glad you’re back on the east coast. See you tomorrow!!
hi Reya. That might be true, but on the coasts, I don’t think I (a white person, although not sure about the well-groomed part) would have received the same kind response at WF. But, am definitely glad to be back home. See ya tomorrow.
Part of it has to do with “being from there”, as in “my family is from here”. If you can have a sense of shared ownership of the community, it makes you want to be a good steward. There is a subset of people like that even in the Washington area.
U - I’m sure you’re right about the subset. I just think it is a larger % of the population in Michigan. But, it may be that I’m bringing my own biases to that judgement.
I think language may play a role in this. Here you are much more likely to find people who speak English as a second language in the service industry. Sometimes their working vocabulary just barely covers what they must know for their job. They are probably less likely to engage their customers in additional conversation.
On the other hand, I experienced excellent service from an (Asian) Indian company this morning where I got my computer repaired. I would have gladly left it for as long as a week without complaining, but they did the repair literally while I waited and carried it to my car afterwards.
Maybe you were in a somewhat needy state on your trip and people picked up on that and were extra friendly and helpful. So much of this is our own receptivity. I agree with Ulysses that the same thing is here also. We may just be too busy to see it most of the time.
These are communities that have established a long record of having to pull together…. they may even be more considerate than their counterparts to the South these days.
Dallas is hardly what I would consider Texas anymore. Its more like Tokyo.
Looking - I agree you can find really helpful, friendly people here, but I don’t think nearly as often. Maybe part of it is that this area has a lot of transplanted folks and recent immigrants as you point out.
Steve - I agree. I think the Midwest has been suffering a long time and this tends to bring people together more compassionately.