I should have noted that I'm actually thinking about a pretty specific set of people who I am relatively familiar with (the company that shares the elevator bank with us and some from my own) so I'm not purely judging on a split second of contact. But you're right that it's something you can't always know.

Oooh, there was a woman on the train the other day with her stuff in the seat beside her blithely tapping away on her phone while the rest of us were standing in the stairwell having to get off the train to let new people on. I could have slapped her.

I wonder if this will cease to be a problem when we all give up landlines for cells.

No.

I got a new number on my cell a year ago, and I still get people calling it, and when I answer, either saying "Who's this?" or just starting to talk to the young black man who had the number before.

When I interrupt with my way-white, way-female voice, it doesn't help things at all.

I do keep getting someone speaking an Asian foreign language at me when I answer mine sometimes. I thought it would stop after the first few times I answered and used a different language to ineffectively tell them I was probably not who they were looking for.

And, even though I'll bitch about the tourists, I will sometimes (mood and time allowing) stop and help them find their way around.

me too. It makes me feel good, and they always look so surprised when I'm friendly. Perhaps it's because, as a woman of color, they are expecting me to bust a cap in their ass.

This is funny, given the near constant stream of snippy nasty-grams we get from our counterparts in our London office.

oh, but that's not in person. I got plenty of snippy memos or notes, but no one would ever man up when I asked. Once, I genuinely couldn't the handwriting, and asked the guy for clarification,and he told me "oh, no bother"

People who think New Yorkers are bad need to go to Moscow. (I personally loved it there.)

or Germany/Austria. Those folks give new meaning to the word brusque.

I've had a couple of occasions where I've accidentally called the wrong number and hung up immediately and then got a call demanding why did I call and hang up. And then getting cussed out for hanging up because it was a wrong number.

I get callers from all over Florida and it seems like the recent snowbirds are always the ones who start off with accusations and recriminations and have the worst time excepting the limited help I can give them.

My pet peeve at lunch time are people who are in line and are all chatty chatty with each other. Then they get up to the cashier and it's "oh I don't know what I'm going to have. What's your soup for today....what does that have on it? Oh I don't think I like that...I dunno what I should have."

It's usually when there's only 1 person to take their order. You are supposed to decide what you want when you are in line, not wait until it's your turn and then take 10 minutes trying to decide.

so, I'm having dinner with my mother. She insisted on doing dinner for my birthday. I was fine with letting it go, but whatev. I know that she'll be late, should I bother being on time?

If you're late, she'll be on time. That is some sort of law.

Bring entertainment, vortex? A book?

My experiences in the south is that people are a lot friendlier, likely to talk to you and not obviously in huge hurry

I don't consider "more likely to talk to you" and " not in a hurry" to be indications of friendliness.