Why so many negative posts about "the DC area"?

[Anonymous]

Every place has its share of nice and rude people. I grew up in the DC suburbs and still live here, although I have visited/lived a few other places for short periods. What I've noticed here is that in the rude people, it seems there's this HUGE sense of entitlement, and that's something I haven't encountered in "friendlier" places.

By and large, I think people in this area (DC and surrounds) are pretty decent and kind. So the rudeness really stands out, especially because it can be so egregious (people running in front of a pregnant woman for the last seat on Metro, the woman I saw yesterday who yelled at the very nice people working at the restaurant in the mall who gave her a tub of hot water to heat up her baby's bottle when she wanted them to microwave it, the jerk who nearly caused a huge accident because he wouldn't let someone merge in front of him when their lane ended).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of wonderful people here. We love our block and our neighbors. We have great friends and enjoy the beauty and experiences of this city.

But there are a lot of jerks here too. In addition to the lovely people, there are the uber-competitive parents (don't have that to nearly the same extent where I'm from) and the pseudosophisticates who look down on the rest of America. That can be hard to stomach.

On the friendly front, I think people are pretty friendly here for a city -- much friendlier than Boston, where I spent several years.

Absolutely - You have just described every metropolitan area, and most of the suburban and rural ones as well. There are nice people everywhere, and jerks everywhere. I have two neighbors who couldn't be bigger asses - but I don't extrapolate that to mean that the entire city is filled with idiots.

[Anonymous]

I live in Prince George's County and find my area refreshingly free of the uptight, overbearing, Type A Washingtonians. I lived in DC and we have friends in Chevy Chase -- being around those people who are obsessing about free-range goldfish crackers, high fructose corn syrup and WPPSI scores gives me a headache. The difference between us and them is so stark. I think there is a DC "type" and lifestyle that I, a native to the area, find off-putting.

[Anonymous]

I have wonderful, caring friends here. I even occasionally get great service at restaurants like I would in any other city. I EVEN have had cars politely stop so I can pull out into traffic from my street.

BUT sadly the majority of other DCers can be put into one category: ENTITLED.

[Anonymous]

While I don't live in DC proper, and not in an area that's close in, I am still very close to the city. I love my friends and neighbors and am fairly happy with the life I have here. I just wish that my life was the same, but in a different area. Not because I don't care for the people, but because I don't care for the crowds of people. I hate that the Costco that's most convenient for me, is also one of the closest for those in the city. It is so crowded on the weekends that I am forced to do all my shopping during the week or stand in the check out line for 30 minutes or more with two antsy children picking on each other.

I hate that all the things I need to do during the day have to be mapped out and planned according to traffic patterns and rush hour. I truly dislike the Beltway, and the idiots who drive on it. I have never in my life seen so many people with so little regard for the life and safety of others. I can't believe the number of accidents I have witnessed, usually at least one per Beltway trip. The other day I was on the Beltway for just ten miles, and in that short distance there were three accidents, and it took me nearly forty minutes for that short drive.

I am not thrilled with the cost of living here. It's not just that housing prices either. It's the cost of quality of life as well. A good life isn't spent stuck in two hours of traffic each way to work. Nor is it spending an hour a day with your children, because work and traffic keep you away from them. So many of us have to have two income households in order to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. It's not because of our drive or desire to keep up our careers. There are many women (and men) who would much rather be home with the kids than working their butts off in order to pay that $700k mortgage. Let's face it, you can find a house for half that, in a good PG county neighborhood, but people here are afraid to do that.

[Anonymous]

Why so many negative posts about the "DC area"? Because the overwhelming majority of posters are from elsewhere. They have this romanticized and fuzzy memory of where they came from.

[Anonymous]

I notice that most posters on this thread both do not live in DC proper and also have smaller, slower "hometowns" (or DC suburbs a generation ago- almost the same thing) as their standard of comparison. It is helpful to recognize the limits of your own perspective in determining "normal".

[Anonymous]

Exactly how does one determine that someone is an "out-of-towner" based on seeing them driving, waiting in line, observing them shopping at Costco, the mall, or dining out at a restaurant? How can you tell if a biker is not from here originally when they drive by a stop sign on MacArthur Blvd.? How do you know that someone was brought up in Oregon because they are overwhelmingly obsessed with test scores? How do you figure out that the person who wants to resize her diamond must be from the West Coast and probably smokes pot? How is you are aware that certain Trick or Treaters came from a neighborhood other your school district? Just curious-and FWIW, mostly everyone here is from somewhere else (a microcosm of the USA). Maybe we all just need to work on getting along better and playing nicely with others. COEXIST!

[Anonymous]

"I think there is a DC "type" and lifestyle that I, a native to the area, find off-putting."

Thank you for being HONEST.

"It's the cost of quality of life as well."

Exactly. There needs to be more common sense here with regard to roads and infrastructure. Well, *any common sense* would be nice.

"BUT sadly the majority of other DCers can be put into one category: ENTITLED."

Again, thank you for being honest and open minded, because it is so, so true.

"They have this romanticized and fuzzy memory of where they came from."

WRONG. Whenever I 'visit' where I came from, it is even better than I recall. The schools, municipalities and their fiscal management are *truly* world class (but they don't call it so, because they don't believe in truth by repitition like this area).

To those who are from here, NOT everyone is from a small town (who is not from here), as you would like to think. Gosh, it must be so easy to try to believe that.

Also, you really should try residing (you know, as an actual voting, tax paying, automobile driving resident) elsewhere. You are an adult, after all, wouldn't it be nice to live AWAY from mommy and daddy beside that semester jaunt abroad or life on an insular military base? (I did both, and believe me, they don't count).

If we could afford to live where I'm from, we would.

I run into "entitled" all day long while here. Some of us are here for jobs, and it is just part of the journey. D.C. is not a "destination" or the be all and end all for everyone. And that's okay.

I really think that everyone is entitled to their opinion and they are allowed to talk about where they are from. Even if it's not D.C. - shocker. HOW boring would it be if everyone were alike, and if everyone were from here?!?!?

Not everything is about you, which is what we mean by "entitled"!

So if you don't fit the description (if it's not hitting too close to home, so to speak), then it shouldn't bother you so much.

[Anonymous]

For me, and I am not a negative poster, but do sometimes have negative feelings about living here - it's not that my hometown is ideal, it's just that the DC metro area is always rated either #2 or #3 for having the worse rush hour grid lock in the country, every year for the past several years.

We are lucky to live close in and my husband has a 15 minute commute to work and daycare, and we live near a metro so I am 40-45 minutes from work door-to-door, which really isn't that bad, but the trade off is we have a little house. We love it though, but if you look at what this money will get us in the rest of the country, it can be tough.

But overall, neither of us could do our jobs anywhere else, and we love our jobs. Many, many people can't say that, so we are lucky. Life is full of trade offs, no place is perfect. But, in ten years or so, it would be nice to change focus and move somewhere else. We could both still have related jobs in our field, just not exactly what we do now.

[Anonymous]

"pseudosophisticates" - GREAT word! HOW true! There really are too many here. Pretentious, pretentious, pretentious.

"much friendlier than Boston" - nope, nope, nope. And if someone from Boston tells you the drivers here suck (as only someone from Boston could) - then you KNOW they suck.

Don't EVEN compare this place to the Northeast. EVER.

And to the person/s hating the old money phrase (because s/he isn't old money, of course, which obviously REALLY gets his/her goat) - don't read any further - but *new money and wannebe money* has no manners.

That might explain a LOT.

[Anonymous]

A lot of moms I know in this area are quite cut-throat and "me first", and their husbands encourage it. Even if it is something as seemingly trivial as the last class spot.

I definitely attribute this to the attitude in the area. It's really a shame that this is what it comes to in some cases, partly because of the overcrowding. And partly because the attitude is easily perpetuated, even though in civilized societies is should not be. It seems rather desperate to me.

For people who are truly resourceful, they don't have to have that cut-throat, "me first" attitude to get themselves by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A lot of moms I know in this area are quite cut-throat and "me first", and their husbands encourage it. Even if it is something as seemingly trivial as the last class spot.

I definitely attribute this to the attitude in the area. It's really a shame that this is what it comes to in some cases, partly because of the overcrowding. And partly because the attitude is easily perpetuated, even though in civilized societies is should not be. It seems rather desperate to me.

For people who are truly resourceful, they don't have to have that cut-throat, "me first" attitude to get themselves by.

It seems like your solution is to start hanging around different groups of people. This area has many different types. Find the ones that aren't like this. I've lived here for 28 years and don't know a single person like you describe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I think there is a DC "type" and lifestyle that I, a native to the area, find off-putting."

Thank you for being HONEST.

"It's the cost of quality of life as well."

Exactly. There needs to be more common sense here with regard to roads and infrastructure. Well, *any common sense* would be nice.

"BUT sadly the majority of other DCers can be put into one category: ENTITLED."

Again, thank you for being honest and open minded, because it is so, so true.

"They have this romanticized and fuzzy memory of where they came from."

WRONG. Whenever I 'visit' where I came from, it is even better than I recall. The schools, municipalities and their fiscal management are *truly* world class (but they don't call it so, because they don't believe in truth by repitition like this area).

To those who are from here, NOT everyone is from a small town (who is not from here), as you would like to think. Gosh, it must be so easy to try to believe that.

Also, you really should try residing (you know, as an actual voting, tax paying, automobile driving resident) elsewhere. You are an adult, after all, wouldn't it be nice to live AWAY from mommy and daddy beside that semester jaunt abroad or life on an insular military base? (I did both, and believe me, they don't count).

If we could afford to live where I'm from, we would.

I run into "entitled" all day long while here. Some of us are here for jobs, and it is just part of the journey. D.C. is not a "destination" or the be all and end all for everyone. And that's okay.

I really think that everyone is entitled to their opinion and they are allowed to talk about where they are from. Even if it's not D.C. - shocker. HOW boring would it be if everyone were alike, and if everyone were from here?!?!?

Not everything is about you, which is what we mean by "entitled"!

So if you don't fit the description (if it's not hitting too close to home, so to speak), then it shouldn't bother you so much.

Most of your post just doesn't add up. Where you come from is perfect except you can't even afford to live there? Why not? That doesn't sound very ideal. Also, you're talking about schools, facilities and fiscal management in "this area" as if it's all one big entity joined together. This is absurd. Everything is completely different across the metropolitan area because of the two states, DC, the different counties and then to each town. It's a huge range. You are even comparing the same thing. And the military base comment was so far off the mark I have no words. Have you ever stopped to consider that the problem isn't the DC area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People would rather shoot you the bird than say hello around here. I have been here three years and definitely think it is the rudest place I've ever lived (and I have lived many places). We've lived in two noVA locations and no one speaks to each other - it's unreal.

Another case in point, nova bashing!!!