A Visit to the South

Easter weekend The Hubby and I had company from Wisconsin here. We spent the weekend visiting local attractions, hanging out with friends, and running errands. One of those errands was the usual day before a holiday trip to Publix for groceries. For those who may not know, Publix is an amazing grocery store, and they still take your groceries to your car for you! So this particular trip we get a young, chatty cart boy who talks to us all the way to the car about the weather, the weekend, and his drive home from work the night before. When he is finished helping us load our car, he smiles and says have "a great Easter". We say thanks and get in the car to drive home. Then out of no where, our company turns to me and says, "people here are just to damn nice". I bust up laughing because I remember when I used to think that as well. I can remember the first time someone called me ma'am and I was almost angry. I kept thinking surely I do not look old enough to be a ma'am! Over time I have come to accept the term as one said in respect, though it does still irritate me slightly, but now I just smile and say thanks. I will admit that many of the places I have visited in the south are filled with extremely polite and sometime overly friendly people but then there are those who are just down right rude. The same is true when I go back home though, it is just a different kind of nice and rude. So I got to thinking if people in the south are really that much nicer than people in the Midwest? I say no. I think I was just as nice (at least when dealing with the public) when I lived in Wisconsin as I am now. I understand why we have the reputation of being rude people who are always in a rush; I also know that the stereotypes aren't true of everyone but it is more fun to talk about the stereotype.  So for me I think it isn't about where I came from or where I live, it simply comes down to just treating every person I come in contact the way I would want to be treated and understanding that usually they are trying to do that to, even if it is different than what I am used to. One favor though, please don' t call me ma'am!