READER'S DIGEST POLLSTERS: ON CRACK?

We report; you decide.

(Thanks to Josh Zaback)

Comments

[muffles]

Good for New York! Way to be FIRST!

[fivver]

pssst Reader's Digest pollsters. The reason people in Asia didn't say 'thank you' is THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH.

[WoosterGirl]

Let's see how polite NYC is after Jack Bauer arrives.

[Kevin in Jacksonville]

#$%# you Readers Digest!!!

[Greg]

I'd love to see what US cities fared the worst. I'd expect Boston to be down there somewhere. A friend of mine fell and hurt herself on a busy sidewalk-- not serious, but enough that she couldn't get up for a couple of minutes-- and not one person even asked if she was okay.

And don't get me started on the drivers...

[Punkin Poo]

Greg - I LEARNED how to drive in Boston. I also learned how to cross streets on foot in traffic in Boston. Now, when Hubby and I go into the city, I drive and he keeps his eyes closed. When we are walking and need to cross a street, I barge ahead and he stays, quivering, with one foot on the sidewalk and one in the street.

Oh, and yeah for new york! After 9/11, I think folks there have become more appreciative of life and are thankful for the tourists who continue to visit and keep them in business.

[Brainy Jello]

*snork* @ fivver

[Straw]

How was the poll not scientific? They didn't wear lab coats?

[CoastRaven]

Domo arigato, for the *snork* Mr. fivver

[Bismuth]

So New York is the best city in the world for what an American magazine considers politeness.

Someone from another country could likely come to New York and make the following conclusions about their politeness:

"The people would stand and hold open the door, letting in all the cold smoggy air and then rudely handing the duty off to me when I arrived."

"I tried to spread goodwill by scattering papers with friendly messages on them, but people kept picking them back up and shoving them back in my hands."

"When completing a sale, not one New Yorker wished upon me the blessings of Pukunukudukuwukuluku for a lucky use of the product. Except when I bought that handgun from an alley vendor."

"However, the cab drivers were extremely nice, as they often took me on winding, scenic routes, enabling me to visit more of the city. Also, they even attempted to speak my native language, until they found out where I was from, at which point they reverted to English."

[boo]

This poll is not scientific because it doesn't have a good control experiment. If you want a real test of rudeness, drive in the fast lane at least 10 mph slower than the car in front of you. Then record what the person behind you says or does. You'll get an earful in NYC, two earfuls if he's a cab driver. I suppose this is true of most large cities in the world, so you need to measure rudeness by the exact terms of endearment used, how many of them are used, and whether the other car slows to your speed to verbally abuse you for a longer time.

[Dr. Doug]

Depends where you go in India; some places they (the locals) are very friendly and courteous.

[Annie Where-but-here]

Damm freakin' straight we're polite! If you don't like that survey, blow it out ya whazoo!

...please.

[Greg]

Punkin Poo:

These scientists would submit that if you "learned" to drive in Boston, you didn't learn to drive:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourcar/P151501.asp?GT1=8288

(Massachusetts ranks 48th out of 51-- tied with New Jersey-- when it comes to which states have the best drivers)

Perhaps your husband closes his eyes because you pull out and block oncoming traffic as you try to make a left turn? Or because you pass semi-trucks in the shoulder. Or because you seem to think an appropriate way to merge onto a highway is jam on the accelerator and dare cars already on the road to hit you?

But I can't fully blame the people of Boston for this-- a lot of it has to do with the asinine way the streets in New England are layed out. Is there a straight line from anywhere to anywhere else in Boston? I haven't discovered any, but I've only lived here five years or so.

If I had spent my life thinking a rotary was an efficient way to make an intersection, I'd be a dizzy driver too. :-)

(This is why I said "don't get me started...")

As for crossing streets, that's how you have to cross streets in Boston-- rudely. Because if you're not ruder than the drivers who never stop for pedestrians, you'll never cross a street.

Anyway, I'm glad you know how to drive in Boston. For myself, I'm counting down the days 'till my company moves to another city so I'll never have to set foot or wheel in the place again.

[queensbee]

yeah, its true! ya wanna make somethin of it??? hey, whatcha lookin heere faw, anyway!

[golfwidow]

I think this poll must be run by the same bunch who determined on behalf of the U.S. Mint that the American public WANTS pennies.

[KAZ]

To be boringly serious, perhaps the problem is that we're comparing New York to other American cities, while RD was comparing them to foreign cities.

Americans are reputed to be generically more polite...to non-tourists, where the politeness is a profit-seeking sham...than the people plenty of other countries, not just France.

I suspect that if Reader's Digest did a similar survey of the top twenty American cities, New York may not end up being number one.

[Cat R.]

What the article doesn't say is that the "service test" for "thank yous" was conducted exclusively at Starbucks shops. Not sure what that means, exactly, but I guess those baristas are pretty polite in NY.

Yeah, I am an RD subscriber. I've been hooked since I was six and couldn't get enough of "I Am Jane's Uterus", and "I Am Joe's....um....Grade 4".

Mom just thought I read it for "Laughter is the Best Medicine". HA!

[O. the U(manity)]

Sh!t!!!

NYC is polite?

HAH! (To coin a phrase ...)

Reader's Digest has not been in touch with reality for decades ... travel thru the Northern Great Plains (I prefer not calling it "The Upper Midwest" ... that's in Illinois and Michigan ... according to geographers ... merely sayin' ...) and when you get to the door, you'll likely find folks holding it open for you, so you can join them for coffee and "a little lunch" (to use a term made popular by Howard Mohr ...) and once they've picked up your spilled papers, you'll be asked if you'd like to stop back in for Thanksgiving or the Family Reunion ...

Merely ... politer ...

(AWBH - HARHARHAR!!! at your " ... please ..."

[Bill]

Actually this doesn't surprise me at all. In my many excursions to New York I have found 99 percent of the locals at very least benign, and often actually cordial and helpful. Sure, the other 1 percent want to kill you, but still. And it makes sense, with that many people crammed into that small a space, social niceties are the lubricant that makes it possible.
(huh-huh, he said "lubricant.")

[Annie Where-but-here]

Bill - I agree. One of the nicest, funniest, brightest people I know is from New York. But enough about me....

[KaliAmanda]

POLITE?! What the f*&%? Man, those populist bastards in Rochester or whereever the hell the Digest is published make me so, so . . . DAMMIT! I swear, they make up this crap just to piss me off. We are NOT sweet, friendly or polite and we are proud of it. Kiss my keister. That's right, I said KEISTER.

A few years ago some tourists were asking me directions and I complied. The husband marvelled out loud how friendly and polite we all were and I replied, "Of course, now I have to mug you."

And once, feeling much like an Ambassador for our great City, I flipped the bird to a bus full of tourists, including the blond with the camcorder who seemed delighted by the local color I added.