Posted on 01/24/2013 6:23:56 PM PST by FoxPro
I have lived in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for the past 5 years.
I drove down to Huntsville, Alabama to work on some software, with a friend of mine.
I have never been to the "deep South".
I have been here for 24 hours.
It is really a bit of a culture shock after spending a day sorting things out, here.
Everybody is "Yes Sir" and "No Sir" with people differing to you with "Am I in your way?" and "Can I help you find something?"
Well, this is exactly what happened to me today.
I sat down to get to work, on my computer and the battery in my mouse dies.
I move my mouse and the arrow is just there, not moving.
It always happens at the worst of times.
So I drive down to Kroger's grocery store, walk in, stand there, trying to figure out if I should turn left or right, in my hunt for the "Battery Center".
Well this very large man walks up to me, he is wearing a Kroger badge and below his name it says "Manager".
He intones "Can I help you?"
I said, a bit jaded "Yes, I need ONE AA battery, but I know I will have to buy a 12 pack, but that's just the way things go."
He motions me over to a check stand, grabs a 4 pack of AA batteries, tears it open, pulls out one battery, hands it to me and says "Merry Christmas."
I am stunned...
DO YOU REALLY THINK THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN ANYWHERE IN LOS ANGELES? Really?
The guy made my day and it is a seemingly small gesture, I will never forget.
But this guy knows I will probably spend $100 or more, at this Kroger's, in the next few months, than I would have otherwise.
He knows that this small act of kindness will be recouped many times over in the near future.
This gentleman knows all about not being "Penny wise and pound foolish."
I think I will like being an Alabamian.
Welcome to the South! Enjoy.
Did you work with the old FoxPro database back in the day?
All G.R.I.T.S (girls raised in the south) have, for generations, been taught the art of southern hospitality. It’s just the way we do things here.
In 1952 I was an Army Pfc on temporary duty in New Mexico. A couple of days before the Indianapolis 500, I was able to wind up my duty and return to the DC area on government travel papers. I had a ticket to the race, so I got my airline ticket routed by way of Indianapolis and arrived there in early afternoon the day before the race. At the American Airlines counter, they had a list of bed and breakfasts in the racetrack area. I picked one and got a cab ride out there. I got my bed and breakfast for, as I recall, five dollars! I walked down the street that evening to the little 16th street speedway and watched some midget races. Next morning I walked to the 500 Speedway and enjoyed an event of a lifetime, thanks to Uncle Sam, American Airlines and a most gracious and friendly Indianapolis housewife.
You’ll most probably see signs in convenience store or gas station windows advertising them. They are served hot out of a crock pot. They are boiled raw peanuts which may be spicy due to added hot peppers or some other flavorings. A styrofoam cup full will run you a couple of bucks. I find them to be too messy to eat while driving alone.
They do ask for DL at Texas agencies, I never said otherwise.
In Texas, however, if you know the number, give the number, they don’t neded to SEE the frickin’ number.
That the agent was black, was highlighted, because, well, if she had not been black she w..never mind...
My story was intended as humor AWhole.
***** “If WalMart doesn’t have it, you don’t need it.” *****
Walmart is like the new Diner or Cafe ... The checkout ladies are always trying to line me up with single Women and inviting me to their Church ... our local LOWES is the same way... It’s getting to the point that I shower,shave and change my clothes before I go buy a paint brush or a 2 x 4 (slows the job down, but hey... I hate being single)
TT
Shrinkage.
I live in the Florida Panhandle. Florida’s First Congressional District has been called the most conservative one in America.
The people are much the same as people from Georgia, Alabama, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.
The part that reminds me more of my home is East Texas. Basically the exact same people.
Well, I live in MD now, and, in general, not nice. I was in Indy several times on business between 7 and 12 years ago, and I could not get over that strangers would say “Hello” to me when I was walking around downtown. Just nice, old fashioned, American folks.
Not really.
NY is a very mixed bag. It has both the nicest and the nastiest people on earth.
When I was young (@ 20) I took a train from my home town in Northern Westchester to Grand Central Station, had to cross town to Penn Station and get a ticket to Long Island. From the time my first train arrived at Grand Central, until I got to the station on Long Island, I never had to carry my bag.
One person after another would come along and carry it for me; one hailed a cab, told the driver to take me to Penn Station; at Penn Station another man walking along looked at this rube getting out of the cab and picked up my bag, showed me the track where my train would be leaving from. He went over and picked up a ticket for me; then someone else carried my bag down to the train.
As recently as last summer MANY years/decades later, when I ride the NYC subway and am traveling with a suitcase, 8 out of 10 times, someone will come along and offer to carry my bag, then be on his way, not even waiting for a thank you. It’s just amazing.
Happens all the time in L.A.
(Lower Alabama)
Oh, no question, but it’s the big cities where it’s so hard—that’s why I mentioned Indy. I sometimes work in rural parts of NY state and Maryland, and those folks are the nicest people you could ever want to know. And though you may not believe it, central NY (around the Finger Lakes) is more rural than rural Maryland!
Welcome to Alabama!
They are happy they are not in MA. Everyone here is freakin’ miserable because its so cold.
I run into nice people wherever I go - even NYC. When my husband and I went to Paris as part of a business trip, people told me how unfriendly people were there and how they hated Americans and how snobby they were, but everyone was so nice! It is about love. What you give out comes back and when you treat people with kindness, that is what you get. There are still some places in the world that are truly Christian (rather than “religious” and divisive) and pro-family and pro life. And people are kind and civil to all. There ARE still people who were raised to be civil, all over the world.
In these days when governments go crazy and life seems upside down, it is important to remember that there are a lot more of “us” than there are of “them” and decency can prevail.
That is changing. Did you know that all of Bank of America's mortgage systems are basically run in Foxpro?
I believe that Foxpro is the greatest programming language ever written. And like the Air Forces B-52, it will be utilized by our kids and grand-kids for the next 50 years.
Just because somebody says a computer language is dead, doesn't make it so.
Yep.......:)
What a nice story...for a city, it has retained its niceness. I spent four years in Cincinnati in grad school and I still go back to that town...love it...yet Indy retains more of the 1950s feel and graciousness.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.