Toto, I Have A Feeling We're Not In Jersey Anymore

Currently I am working in customer service. I have worked in jobs dealing with the public since I was 14 years old. While working at my Dad’s restaurant for years dressing sandwiches for hungry lunch customers, I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of Jersey people who are friendly, who smile and ask how you are doing…Despite paying high taxes, outrageous insurance premiums and driving overcrowded roads, Jersey people are generally in a good mood. However, I’ve come to the opinion that people in the Mid-West are just not friendly people. I see so many miserable customers here every single day. What is wrong with people here? Is it that they are not getting any fresh ocean air or something? Don’t get me wrong I can still get a male customer to smile, but the women…forget it! I’ve been given the finger…I’ve been called a bitch…and I’ve been given evil looks that would scare Satan! One customer mocked my cheery “Have a nice day” by miserably repeating and mouthing my phrase to herself as she pulled away in her car. Hey, I am a friendly person. I believe in providing excellent customer service, however, I also believe in following the rules of my job. If you are asked to present proper ID, it is to protect you, not to insult you! Ugh! I was told when I moved out here I would be living in the “Bible belt”. I’ve yet to see the association. Um...maybe you can compare the Indiana crowd to the hostile crowds at Pontius Pilot’s court…that’s in the Bible. Yeah maybe that’s it. I was recently reminded about the song from The Music Man sung by the townspeople from Iowa when Harold Hill (the Music Man) first came into town. Harold, a friendly outsider, was brushed aside when the they sang these words:
Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all.
There's an Iowa kind of special chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without that we recall.
We can be cold As our falling thermometers in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so by God stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But what the heck, you're welcome, Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill of all the food you bring yourself.
You ought to give Iowa a try!


I’m gonna click my heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”