A Southerner's Trip to the North

I didn't really understand how much differently Southerners acted from Northerners until I had to go to Ohio for a workshop a few years ago. The only person who smiled and talked to me willingly was my cab driver and he was from Jamaica originally so I'm guessing he doesn't count as a Northerner. How folks in Ohio reacted to each other or in this case not react was way different from what I took for granted back home in Tennessee. I didn't see any hint that anybody knew they were not the only one there. This was not in my range of what I considered reality. I couldn't handle it.

Somehow even as I was transacting business with the motel clerk I was treated as though I really didn't exist. Don't get me wrong she wasn't rude or anything, I just didn't feel any of the warmth I would have gotten back home. I thought well, she is just having a bad day and I'll leave her to it. So I went up to my room. Before I left home I had discovered that the hotel was just a few blocks from a historic dist; since I didn't have to be anywhere until the next day I followed my plan to walk over to it and enjoy the day. I was ignored by every one who walked passed me. It was more than a little unnerving. Even the cashiers of the different shops managed to not look at me or acknowledge my existence as I paid for my stuff. I began to think, these people are not just cold hearted, but they were rude too.

I went back to my room to get warmed up while I rested for a few minutes. I haven't mentioned the weather have I? It was cold; the kind of cold that goes to the bone. The temperature wasn't that much lower than what I had experienced in Nashville that morning, but it was a different kind of cold. Despite that I was one of the few people wearing a coat, scarf, hat and gloves. There were people running around in t-shirts. If they had outerwear it was an opened jacket; while I had my long coat tightly buttoned. While I was running around trying to see everything I realized that I was breathing better; so while it was a bone chilling cold it was better for me than what I was used to experiencing. The weather made me create a new plan; I would walk around for awhile then go back to the hotel and warm up then go back out and repeat the cycle until it was time to have supper. So that's what I did.

As I sat in my room reflecting on my experience with Northerners in their true habit I had an epiphany. A flashback of some of the conversations I had with some Yankee friends and remembered what they said about having to get used to Southerners' friendliness and thought maybe that I was experiencing the reverse. I decided to experiment to see if I was correct in my assessment. So I went back downstairs to use my Southern charm on the woman at the desk. I discussed the difference in the weather between Ohio and Tennessee. I got a smile from her then a laugh. Now that was more like it. She wasn't cold or rude, just had a different way of going about her day.

Next, I went back to the historic district and made it a point of smiling and saying hello to everyone I met. Most were startled, but a couple of them responded to me. Thinking back, I believe they were tourists and knew how to greet strangers. I found some more shops to spend my money and worked on charming the employees. Once I got them to acknowledge me and talk to me they warmed up nicely. I figured out how to get a cashier to look at me - I didn't take my change out of their hand. They had to look up just to see what was going on. I got all but one cashier to smile. I was satisfied.
At the workshop I was the only person there who wasn't from Ohio, so I was expecting someone to come to me at lunch and say "Hey, we are going to x for lunch, do you want to come." That is what we do back home. It didn't happen. Not only was I ignored, but no body there ate with any body else. I had never seen the like.

I'm glad I was sent to Ohio it was a great learning experience. The people were nice and mostly wonderful once you warmed them up and got them talking. After the workshop was over, I was thrilled to be going home. I wasn't homesick, but I missed the friendliness of home.