Maybe there are a lot of people here like us, who don't put food and meals at the top of our priorities list. We watch our weight and our spending even though we can afford to spend what we want on dining.

We go out to "good culinary restaurants" for a birthday or anniversary, but other than that, we're not interested because the quick, lite appetizer menus at so many affordable restaurants are just fine with us, several evenings a week.

We don't spend the money on a big, culinary meal very often because it's often not much more enjoyable than getting something quick and lite around here on a breezy patio, watching the people go by.

Would they have:
- senior specials
- allow sharing...with no upcharge
- happy hour
- really cheap prices
- able to handle all the complaining
?

I find the response to my saying I had a hard time getting used to the abruptness of New Yorkers interesting. It was not meant to be derogatory. I did not say New Yorkers were bad, or wrong, or even rude. I was just describing my experience. I grew up in a place where people rarely raised their voices and moved to a place where raised voices were the norm. It took me a while to deal with that. And I must say, I never really did feel at home there. There were wonderful things about New York. The sense of humor. The vibrancy of the place. The way people pulled together after 9/11. But the response of New Yorkers to my use of the word "abrupt" is kind of proving my point.

I thought the very same thing about the responses. I think it is a fact that New Yorkers are generally more "abrupt" than people in the midwest, south, etc. I had to get used to that, too.

The "abruptness" can make us who are from other parts of the country feel like we're not worth talking to, when really, they're just used to a more fast-paced, hustle-bustle area and don't take time to chat.

Even though I'm a midwesterner who likes to converse about lots of things with anybody around, I mentally roll my eyes when people do a sugar-coated exchange of pleasantries at the checkout counter, while the rest of us just want to buy something and go. In fact, that drives me nuts!

Roll your eyes?? Try the "sanity test" of standing inline for self check out, talk about torture...

All of The Villages' employees I have ever dealt with have been just great. When considering the OP's problem I thought a while and came up with a job I could not handle, that of a gate agent for an airline.

You said they were demanding.

Dear PBKMaine, what would make you think it was a Northerner or New Yorker who was giving this person a hard time????? I have met some really nasty people from the Midwest and Maine!

seems all the protesting comments are from new Yorkers!

No, I did not. I said Northerners were demanding. I am a Northerner.

I did not say a New Yorker made the comment. My post was about having difficulty dealing with different customs in different parts of the country.