Out of all the places you've visited, where did you find the most rude and abrupt people?

New York City.
I think that they’re, well, at least the ones that I’ve asked for directions, are really loud, have obnoxious accents, and don’t really care if you need help or not.

but maybe thats just the ones I’ve run into

I know a lot of people might say the east coast of the USA (NY / NJ) but I have to disagree. People on the east are real…

With that said, I’m from Seattle and I have to say the rudest people I have met are from right here in my own town. Heard of the Seattle Freeze?

NYC

@troubleinharlem

I think you’ve had some bad experiences – New Yorkers love giving directions. We’ll just only give them once (so I think you may have us on the abrupt part ;-)).

@Aster

For me, in many ways it was South Korea. However, I think that “rudeness” becomes harder and harder to gauge the further you get from your cultural “comfort zone.” So it was probably as much me as them.

I can’t characterize any one place like that.
I don’t usually think of rude !@#$%^ that I have met for very long ;)

@mrlaconic I’ve heard of the freeze, yes, and I’ve also heard
they hate Texans! They think Texans will make their town too heavily populated !?

Mosul, Iraq

Tel Aviv, by far. Possibly the entire country of Israel. Not to generalize, but it’s almost as if being rude, yelling in anger, and shoving through lines is part of the country’s culture.

People who think New York is rude are wimps. Realize that most people you meet in New York are actually people who moved there from California or Texas or Iowa 8 months or 8 years ago. Everyone is ecstatic about the fact that they live there and totally excited to help you. The city belongs to no one. I say this as a frequent visitor and past resident.

LOL My daughter spent a few days in NYC and said they were tough and abrupt UNTIL they got used to seeing her ; then they were really nice and helpful. It was like they had “protective armour” on at first. /-:

Also, on my New York bit – I can assure you that if someone was rude while giving you directions and had a nasty accent, they were not from Manhattan, they were bridge and tunnel trash from New Jersey or Staten Island.

I agree with @Aster about New Yorkers’ armor – I lived there eight years and saw a lot of that. People could be nice, but there was no sugar coating. I hate generalizing, but will say that the rudest individuals I’ve met were in New Hampshire – cold, judgmental, inhospitable and unforgiving even after you’d known them a while. And though I’m from the South, I encountered more unvarnished racism in New England than anywhere else I’ve lived.

I think NYC has a reputation for rude people, but as far as I can tell they aren’t rude at all. Like people said, they love giving directions. However, most people are in a rush, so you won’t necessarily get the whole stop and repeat the directions until you get it phenomena. I don’t think thats rudeness as much as the way they act.

There’s also the reputation that people are rude if you take a long time to order food in line or something like that, but I’d throw that back at people and say that in a city where people are in a rush, taking a long time to order is also being rude.

Paris, people refused to help us and were rude when we were trying to speak french to them with some difficulty.

@roundsquare

I think you hit on it – most of the time when people seem rude, it’s mostly because your used to being treated differently (I include myself here). I’ve lived all over, and I go crazy sometimes in the south. Yes, you should be nice to people. Yes, small talk makes a lot of people feel at ease. But you see me here in line, can you end the conversation so I can get rung up? ;-)

NYC I’d say.

Nice place… Just some pretty impulsive people, you know.

NYC also. Love it.

Like any place, it just depends upon the experiences. Memphis, TN ranks #1 for me, and I’ve lived here for 18 years. They aren’t abrupt; it is more of a ‘you are disrupting me and causing more work’ attitude. Rome is #2.

As for NYC, I was there for a week to conduct sales calls, a.k.a. The Kiss of Death, but everyone I met was wonderful. One woman who worked in the Empire State Building offered to take me up to top.

I’m from NJ and when I visited ten years ago I found the people in South Jersey to be rude. I had never been admonished in my life by a restaurant employee until I went to a Chinese buffet and had this woman tell me not to put the rice spoon in the stir fry bin. Trivial, perhaps, but in Texas I’ve never had that sort of thing occur. I also, in a diner, asked a waitress where a certain street was and she replied with 3 words. No directions, no smiles, nothing. Just not used to it !

THE INTERNET.

I keep thinking I have to answer these questions in allcaps.

Airport staff, almost anywhere!

Westchester, NY, Askville, Fluther

If we’re going to include non-geographic places, I’m TOTALLY with @Zyx on this one. People hide behind the anonymity on the internet and like to get all kinds of nasty on here.

@iamthemob I ain’t mad at it though.

Italy?

@iamthemob Also, copperspace, a selection of space that only includes the physical presence of the internet? Geography shouldn’t even exist anymore thanks to Einstein. Man that guy must have hated geography, he tore it new holes in infinite dimensions.

The entirety of Pennsylvania.

The Internet. Have to agree with the above.

@arpierson I have to agree with your answer here the most because I live here now and have most of my life. The rural areas in the central part are the worst, the rural areas in the northern counties aren’t too bad (at least compared to the southern or central counties). If you aren’t native to the area or are not of a Dutch, German, Scandanavian, Irish or English background (or have that type of last name) the redneck wannabe’s here who all act like they are from the south pretty much treat you like trash. I can tell you that coming from an eastern european background even though I’m native to this area myself. Alot of KKK members and white supremicist wannabes live in these parts as well.

Personally I’ve gotten along with people from the cities and deep south better than the ones around me.

china – don’t know if it’s really rudeness but they don’t get the customer service thing. I slipped and fell by the spa of a very luxurious hotel and the spa attendants just giggled. and chinese airlines, forget it

I agree with @FLgator1289, Israel by a country mile. The amount of rude and obnoxious people we met was astounding, and the racism directed towards a black player at a football (soccer) match I attended was sickening.

Closer to home, I’ve met some outrageously rude people in Wales.

Everywhere I have ever lived or traveled has had their share of miserable pricks but also really nice people. I can’t say I have ever been anywhere that everyone or even most were rude.

I remember the French being quite stand offish. I also find people in London to be unfriendly at times.

@rooeytoo Most people I met in Israel were either nice or indifferent (which is fine) to me The rude people were a definite minority, but a much, much larger minority than I’ve ever encountered elsewhere and also ruder on a more personal level than elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Greece. But even there, they are a small minority. Greece is a wonderful country.

North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in my experiences, and Florida to an extent

@Leanne1986 I think London people are mean faced and rather unnaproachable looking. The main reason I moved to the city I’m in now is because after travelling around england, I found so many people here who simply had a smile on their face! Or they were just willing to chat! and what’s more only some of them were creepy!