Lessons Learned: New Yorkers Are Not as Unfriendly as You Might Think

I was in New York last week with some of my family, and we had a blast. It was my second time to visit so I sort of knew what all to expect. However, I did not expect to run into so many people who love to chat it up with complete strangers. Although, my father was with me and he had a sling on his arm, so I’m sure that drew some extra attention. Several people asked about his arm while we were waiting to cross the street. One lady in particular asked what happened to him and then went off on a rant (not making any sense) about how “they” think we owe them our GD lives for every little thing they do. None of us knew who “they” were, but we were sure glad that she didn’t think that we were one of “them”. I just laughed and kept walking while my dad was still there anxiously trying to get away. This is just one example of the friendliness we encountered while in New York. You know, some people might think that New Yorkers are unfriendly or always in a hurry but that was just not the case when I was there.

For example, I was shopping in Macy’s one day with my mom and my sister. We weren’t really looking to buy stuff, just browsing each floor. We had made it to the fourth floor and finally found the clothes I was interested in. So I was looking at some dresses right next to the aisle, and my mom was standing in the aisle (my stories always seem to involve my mother, hmmmm). The next thing I hear is a woman saying, “That dress would look great on you!” I look up and there’s this short, plump lady in the aisle next to my mom talking to us. I smile and go about my business but apparently she wasn’t done.

She says again, “That dress is perfect for you. You would look so good in that dress.” Okay, she apparently isn’t going to stop until we gave her a little more feedback. So my mom says sure, it’s a pretty dress and I just nod along but that didn’t satisfy her. She points at me and insists that I go over there and look at that dress. “Get over here and look. This would be perfect for her.” So I’m looking at this bright green and yellow dress and am a little confused but I ask anyway, “For me?” Then she surprises us all by saying, “Uh, not for you. You’re too skinny for that dress, for her.” She said, indicating my mom was to be the recipient. So this lady came up to us at random, tells me I’m too skinny for the dresses I’m looking at and tells my mom that these young adult, inappropriate for people over 40 dresses would look great on her. I laugh because I know my mother and she would never wear a dress like that, but I go along with the lady and say sure, they would look awesome on her. So she suddenly says, “Well, it was so nice meeting you ladies,” and hugs and kisses my mom on the cheek. I’m thinking, “When did we become best friends and skip the handshake phase? I like that phase.” Well, I thought she was leaving but she turns and walks over to me and puts her arm around my waist and pulls me to her side and starts in again on how skinny I was and how I’m just skin and bones. She is feeling my waist like she was sizing me up and pulling me to her side like we were freakin’ bosom buddies, all the while sort of insulting me by telling me I would look horrible in the dresses I WAS LOOKING AT, not my mother. I was actually finding this pretty hilarious and so was my sister. She was standing just enough off to the side to not be in on the touchy feely party and free shopping advice. I looked at her for some help but she just laughed and laughed at me. After the lady goes on for a while and I just go along with her because I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t, she finishes up by bear hugging me and moves along.

My mom and I looked at each other for a few moments trying to figure out what just happened while my sister laughed her ass off. The lady was being super nice, and I’m sure she meant well with everything that she said and did, but what ever happened to the good old days when New Yorkers kept to themselves?

Lesson Learned: Some New Yorkers are friendlier than you’d expect.

This is one of my own pictures I took while in New York.