I have never been shot at while riding my bicycle, but as a coxswain my crew and I were regularly targeted on various rivers.
ETA: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM!
eta2: I'm not sure I have anything to add on the friendly/unfriendly of various cities, but I can say that restaurant service in California drove me bugfuck nuts because it was so terrible [in general]. The servers never seemed to know that they were supposed to take care of problems, and I often found myself suggesting that they should get me the correct drink or food order.
Whereas if Manhattanites aren't ignoring me, they're yelling at me for failing to follow the unspoken but universal protocol which I can never figure out because I'm afraid that asking about the protocol violates the protocol
I am nice to lost people (if they ask) but I am a little aggressive with tourists who bring their personal bubble with them. I consider it a courtesy to everyone else to physically nudge people who are unjustifiably in the way. A few shoulder checks and maybe they won't walk five abreast any more. Or collect right in front of the entrance to the subway. Or stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM!!!!
I am a little aggressive with tourists who bring their personal bubble with them. I consider it a courtesy to everyone else to physically nudge people who are unjustifiably in the way. A few shoulder checks and maybe they won't walk five abreast any more. Or collect right in front of the entrance to the subway. Or stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
Hey look, I am bon bon. Damn tourists.
Oh yeah, I think the (mostly) unspoken protocol here is GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY. No matter who you are. Commuters who stand right in the subway door, I am looking at you as well. And will check you for sure as I push around you.
I agree with bon bon. Most of the unwritten rules that NYers adhere to can be boiled down to:
- Be aware of your surroundings.
- Don't impede other people.
Would that the rest of the world (coughUNDERGRADUATEScough) could follow the code of the NYers.
Commuters who stand right in the subway door, I am looking at you as well.
Yeah, I probably should have said I will do it to most people in the way, but if you live here and you're still in the way, maybe it's because you're the kind of person who will push back. So I'm slightly more wary.
On the whole NY/Boston thing, I've never been able to figure out why in NY I never seem to have to do the whole bob&weave thing to get past my fellow pedestrians that drives to absolute bugfuck distraction here in Boston. The coming head-on dance thing is bad enough, but the worst is that when you're approaching people from behind to pass them in Boston, they seem to sense it and veer INTO your path. Has everyone just absorbed the way the drivers here cut everyone off into how they walk?
I've never been in NY long enough to figure it out why this doesn't happen there, but it is crazy making.
3. Everyone gets inexplicably yelled at by cabdrivers, homeless people, and Duane Reade employees, so don't let that bother you.
And yet, still better drivers than in California. By far.
That may be, but we generally are good about pedestrians.
