FA+
Shop
Everybody sing it! You know the tune! "I Hate New York!"
11 years ago
General
Shitty, self-absorbed people, bad food, stupid prices, BAD FOOD, boring...
Did I mention the (generally) bad food?
Don't let the brainwashing media commercial campaign fool you: New York sucks.
(rant)
A wonderful amalgam of purified-for-your-protection "wholesome" - read mundane and boring - "entertainment" where you are expected to either
a) sit still and be passive to get "entertained “, or
b) be part of the "in" crowd, be invited somewhere, stay inside your clique & never talk to anyone else while Twittering how fabulous you are.
Doing a Google on “boring New York" will come up with a forum discussion that carries the line "You are judged by your money and your career. Deal with it." And that's true, all too often New Yorkers are indeed the shallowest group on American soil: in the 3 years I have lived in this cesspool I have been asked "What do you do for a living" more than the past 15 years of my life combined. People here want to know more about your financial situation than they do about you as a person.
The people, mostly women (about in a ratio of 3 to 1) are some of the most oblivious people on the planet - in their own little world, where they are the absolute center, they expect you to pay attention to them whilst they pay you almost no attention at all. The subway announcements, "Please step aside and let the customers off the train first", are very often completely unheeded as they (almost always women) push past you as quickly as they can get away with, so as to rush into the first open seat that they can spot. "Hey, I'm walking here!" wasn't a (somewhat insulting) joke created out of thin air, regretfully.
The interesting places of New York are dying, or are already dead, as the city works with developers to put up ever more expensive, ever taller luxury condo skyscrapers to fight for foreign investor's money. NYC Eagle gay leather bar been in their address for 12 years, but new condos go up around it during the past 4 years and they complain that the EAGLE should move? Welcome to New York. Christopher Street is dead, the bars that are left mostly quiet and low key, and most of Greenwich Village is now boring as small establishments close down as the landlords go for the jugular and raise rents through the roof. Heaven forbid you have an establishment that doesn't cater to the daytime female or general tourist shopper - heaven forbid that, as a New Yorker, you aren't shopping.
See lines of people waiting outside stores for days on end, waiting for the new iPhone or Xbox? Ever say to yourselves, "Don't all those people have lives??" Well, no they don't, actually - life here is so dull that they seek out anything that will spark their interest, even for a little while, which is why conspicuous consumption is so virulent here, it makes their boring lives have some purpose.
The food. Did I mention crappy food? Crappy EXPENSIVE food? $5.30/pound for chicken breast (my local supermarkets), $13 a pound for salads (the Eli's on the corner) and NINE DOLLARS PER POUND...for raisins (yes, raisins). I ended up buying raisins at the CVS for 1/2 the price of the supermarket and small corner grocers. You heard that right: the drugstore was 1/2 the price of the supermarket! Want a $5 breakfast egg sandwich? Come to my neighborhood. How about a 3 egg vegetable omelet, rye toast and 3 banana pancakes (NOTHING else, no potatoes, coffee, tea or juice)? Price with tip: $30.00
And New York specializes in BLAND food, prefect for tourist tastes.
New York had given me the pleasure of being the ONLY place I have ever traveled to, to give me the following discussion, TWICE:
[Chinese restaurant]
Me: "Do you have tofu?"
Waiter: "Yes, sir!"
Me: "Do you make kung po chicken?"
Waiter: "Yes, sir, we do!"
Me: "Can you [then] make me kung po tofu?"
Waiter: "....No sir"
Twice. Three times if you count the actual Szechuan restaurant where the waiter started a debate about what a kung po should actually be versus what he was willing to make...
Let's also talk about the debate I had with a waiter at one of my favorite Thai places. I learned from experience that you order with a (female) waitress you get one thing (in terms of spice), order with a (male) waiter and you get something else (I eat a LOT of Thai, and had genuine Thai cook for me, so when I ask for "authentic Thai spicy" I know what I should get and male waiters seem to always overspice). I got a male waiter so I asked
"How do you rate your spiciness, 1-to-3 or 1-to-5?"
After a heated 2 minute debate I finally had to (actually) yell,
"Look, this isn't rocket science! 1 to 3 or 1 to 5!!!?"
He got flustered. "1 to 5, then".
"4. Thank you", as I handed him back the menu.
After you go to the same museums 3 to 6 times, overpay for just about everything (4 appetizers and 1 entree to share? $80. A bowl of soup, 1 entree, 1 desert and 1 glass of wine (that's 1 full meal), shared between 2 people, in a jazz club, tax and tip? $125. Leave the city? $13 toll, minimum, not including those New Jersey tolls, figure about $35 in tolls when you head westbound and back) and a lovely sterilized for your safety "social" events calendar...and you can have New York back.
Please!
(/rant)
Did I mention the (generally) bad food?
Don't let the brainwashing media commercial campaign fool you: New York sucks.
(rant)
A wonderful amalgam of purified-for-your-protection "wholesome" - read mundane and boring - "entertainment" where you are expected to either
a) sit still and be passive to get "entertained “, or
b) be part of the "in" crowd, be invited somewhere, stay inside your clique & never talk to anyone else while Twittering how fabulous you are.
Doing a Google on “boring New York" will come up with a forum discussion that carries the line "You are judged by your money and your career. Deal with it." And that's true, all too often New Yorkers are indeed the shallowest group on American soil: in the 3 years I have lived in this cesspool I have been asked "What do you do for a living" more than the past 15 years of my life combined. People here want to know more about your financial situation than they do about you as a person.
The people, mostly women (about in a ratio of 3 to 1) are some of the most oblivious people on the planet - in their own little world, where they are the absolute center, they expect you to pay attention to them whilst they pay you almost no attention at all. The subway announcements, "Please step aside and let the customers off the train first", are very often completely unheeded as they (almost always women) push past you as quickly as they can get away with, so as to rush into the first open seat that they can spot. "Hey, I'm walking here!" wasn't a (somewhat insulting) joke created out of thin air, regretfully.
The interesting places of New York are dying, or are already dead, as the city works with developers to put up ever more expensive, ever taller luxury condo skyscrapers to fight for foreign investor's money. NYC Eagle gay leather bar been in their address for 12 years, but new condos go up around it during the past 4 years and they complain that the EAGLE should move? Welcome to New York. Christopher Street is dead, the bars that are left mostly quiet and low key, and most of Greenwich Village is now boring as small establishments close down as the landlords go for the jugular and raise rents through the roof. Heaven forbid you have an establishment that doesn't cater to the daytime female or general tourist shopper - heaven forbid that, as a New Yorker, you aren't shopping.
See lines of people waiting outside stores for days on end, waiting for the new iPhone or Xbox? Ever say to yourselves, "Don't all those people have lives??" Well, no they don't, actually - life here is so dull that they seek out anything that will spark their interest, even for a little while, which is why conspicuous consumption is so virulent here, it makes their boring lives have some purpose.
The food. Did I mention crappy food? Crappy EXPENSIVE food? $5.30/pound for chicken breast (my local supermarkets), $13 a pound for salads (the Eli's on the corner) and NINE DOLLARS PER POUND...for raisins (yes, raisins). I ended up buying raisins at the CVS for 1/2 the price of the supermarket and small corner grocers. You heard that right: the drugstore was 1/2 the price of the supermarket! Want a $5 breakfast egg sandwich? Come to my neighborhood. How about a 3 egg vegetable omelet, rye toast and 3 banana pancakes (NOTHING else, no potatoes, coffee, tea or juice)? Price with tip: $30.00
And New York specializes in BLAND food, prefect for tourist tastes.
New York had given me the pleasure of being the ONLY place I have ever traveled to, to give me the following discussion, TWICE:
[Chinese restaurant]
Me: "Do you have tofu?"
Waiter: "Yes, sir!"
Me: "Do you make kung po chicken?"
Waiter: "Yes, sir, we do!"
Me: "Can you [then] make me kung po tofu?"
Waiter: "....No sir"
Twice. Three times if you count the actual Szechuan restaurant where the waiter started a debate about what a kung po should actually be versus what he was willing to make...
Let's also talk about the debate I had with a waiter at one of my favorite Thai places. I learned from experience that you order with a (female) waitress you get one thing (in terms of spice), order with a (male) waiter and you get something else (I eat a LOT of Thai, and had genuine Thai cook for me, so when I ask for "authentic Thai spicy" I know what I should get and male waiters seem to always overspice). I got a male waiter so I asked
"How do you rate your spiciness, 1-to-3 or 1-to-5?"
After a heated 2 minute debate I finally had to (actually) yell,
"Look, this isn't rocket science! 1 to 3 or 1 to 5!!!?"
He got flustered. "1 to 5, then".
"4. Thank you", as I handed him back the menu.
After you go to the same museums 3 to 6 times, overpay for just about everything (4 appetizers and 1 entree to share? $80. A bowl of soup, 1 entree, 1 desert and 1 glass of wine (that's 1 full meal), shared between 2 people, in a jazz club, tax and tip? $125. Leave the city? $13 toll, minimum, not including those New Jersey tolls, figure about $35 in tolls when you head westbound and back) and a lovely sterilized for your safety "social" events calendar...and you can have New York back.
Please!
(/rant)
6SweetSheep
~6sweetsheep
If everyone you meet seems to be an asshole, chances are you’re the one who is the asshole.
WeaselZERO
~weaselzero
That's quite the assumption made based on very little to no evidence. I've lived in NYC all my life and I can tell you that there are days more often than not that dinosnake's perception of the metropolis is pretty spot on. Its a bit rude to blatantly call someone an asshole based on their experiences living in a certain area.
dinoSnake
~dinosnake
OP
Does it count that I'm one of the few people to actually say "Hello!" and "Goodnight" to the workers at my gym AND pick up all the towels the (assholes) before me leave behind, hanging on doors, STAIRWAY HANDRAILS, benches and thrown on floors, as if they're still in high school living with their parents? The asshats here are so self absorbed that they can't even pick up their own towels.
Altallo
~altallo
I think New York looks like a scary place
dinoSnake
~dinosnake
OP
New York epitomizes the phrase "It's a nice place to visit but you don't want to live here."
