[Coco] Re: Talk Funny

[John E. Malmberg]

Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
> At 07:45 AM 12/23/03 -0600, Frank Swygert wrote:
> 
>>Everyone isn't so friendly in the South. Most southern cities are 
>>definitely more friendly than places like NYC

I lived in the mid-south for a while with a bunch of northern 
transplants.  A bunch of the locals did not like us because when the 
plant that hired us came down here, there allegedly was a promise of a 
large number of high paying jobs.  What actually materialized was a 
handful of minimum wage jobs.

We were viewed as rich and ready to be exploited.  Property values had 
shot up considerably in anticipation of the plant, and the early sellers 
made money, the later ones went bankrupt.

I was layed off for 3 months before taking the job, and the layoff meant 
that I took a 25% pay cut from what I made before, and had absolutely no 
savings in the bank.

Most of the houses for sale were way overpriced.  At least one of them 
had floors that were at almost 15 degree angle to the horizontal, and a 
few others had running water in the basement.  (not in pipes).

In getting repairs done, I discovered that my mid-western accent was 
good for at least a 50% markup on the estimate.  My wife, who had a 
slight accent from living in Texas and the mid-south, would blend in 
better and get the "local" price, or I had to use helpful neighbors.


I also saw down in the mid-south, that apparently the only purpose of 
the local laws were for the local politicians and other big-wigs in the 
town to harass people that they did not like.  Other than that, they 
were basically ignored by all social levels.


I met a lot of good and friendly people down there, and that seemed to 
be the majority of the people.

But there were people there that were only friendly and helpful if you 
let them abuse your rights, or stood by and did nothing while they 
abused other's rights.  The caste system was alive and well, and when 
your a d____ yankee at the bottom of the social ladder, there was only a 
few classes below you, so you noticed it.

-John
wb8tyw at qsl.net
Personal Opinion Only