An anecdote from LA to remind that Arg's aren't the only ones with attitude problems

[tez]

Hello BAexpaters, greetings from Los Angeles.

I decided to take a break from my BA-break to write about my day, in case anyone is feeling homesick.

Whenever I come to LA I do a lot of bikram yoga because we have a great studio that I miss the entire time I am away. Since I'm here for a while this time, I decided to branch out and see what other classes are around my home. I've been trying out one of those "cater to all" gyms that has everything from yoga to zumba to bootcamp. I've taken several of the classes and although they aren't the best they are decent and close to home, and as you can imagine pretty cheap. Today I go to the yoga class, 9am Sunday morning, I arrive about 20 minutes early for no particular reason and I'm able to choose my spot in the empty classroom. People start arriving and the class slowly fills up, more and more people come and so I start moving my mat around to make room for people coming in, no problem, totally normal and to be expected. People continue to come and I realize I'm the only one moving my mat around, so people are starting to have to put their mats in the slimmest of spots, and this one woman puts hers right up to the corner of mine. When I notice I say, "Oh! Let me move up for you!" And I do, and she just glares at me. No thank you. And no one else moves even though they have room. And people continue to pile in, no one moves even though there is lots of unused space, and one woman even complains to an old man who puts his mat down right next to her, saying that she's going to need all that space. He comes up an wedges himself next to the mirror. No one moves. This is all before 9am, so it's not as if class is in session.

Class goes on as usual, it's decent but not great just like the rest, and the only thing that really stuck with me was how cold and self-absorbed everyone was, how completely self-obsessed they all were. I might have been imagining it but I felt as if I could see it on their faces as they stared blankly ahead careful to avoid any eye contact: I'm not going to move, she should have been here earlier, this is my spot.

I've taken loads of yoga classes in Buenos Aires in at least a half a dozen studios, and the fellow students have always been accommodating. At the bikram studio on Las Heras the classes were often very full and, although I didn't pay so much attention at the time, I felt as if no one was ever left without space to practice. Or a Metodo De Rose studio I remember one very full class when the teacher even stepped in to help better stagger people. At this place: nothing. That poor old man was stuck in a corner while the people around him had at least some room they could have given him. And then the class ends and half the class leaves quickly---many during savasana, of course---and half become much more sociable, as if business is done and now I can relax and be somewhat human, maybe even apologetic for their former indifference.

I mentioned my LA bikram class earlier, and as a comparison it's not quite as bad as this other place. People will adjust their mats a bit, but I also do feel like people do the bare minimum.

It all compiles into one more moment when I think how rude my fellow (North) Americans can be. And in the same moment I miss the warmness I've experienced in BA.

Any thoughts?

 

[arlean]

Yes I notice too. The fact you are in LA might be a factor. I have lived in Montana and people are friendly there. In Florida it is different. My son noticed it first and commented, "If you are in a line in BA at the grocery the person next to you will talk to you. But here (Florida) they act like you're up to something, the only people who are friendly are the blacks (we are caucasion).

So I decided to test. When I was in Florida for a while, I deliberately talked to people in line with me and they would not look at me. Once I arrived at Publix (the grocery store) before it opened and about ten people were waiting. I said out loud, "Does anyone know what time it opens?" No answer. Well since I was really testing all the people waiting there to see just what I had to do to get a response I said it again. Finally the man next to me, careful to keep looking straight ahead, said, "It opens at 9."

However, after 3 years in Palermo, I tried to ask directions on the street and, for the first time in my experiece, three women ignored me, one held up her hand as if telling me to "stop" and kept walking. I did have something in my hand and wonder if they thought I was doing a survey or something. Next was a gentleman (I use the word accurately!!!) who stopped to help me.

So it is not all beautiful in BA. But usually it is. The rudeness in Florida is, however, much more blatant. I choose BA any day! Or Montana!

 

[LAtoBA]

Yes I notice too. The fact you are in LA might be a factor.

She didn't say what part of LA she was in. In LA the neighborhood or part of town makes a huge difference. You'll find that often times the ones with the worst attitudes are what we native Angelinos would call "transplants". I guess to be expected in a town where half the city is looking to be "discovered".

 

[irina]

That does sound cold but I also think it depends on where you are. I'm from Texas and can't wait to get back to the friendliness of home whenever I go to visit. On my last trip I had two friends visit from Toronto and they couldn't get over how friendly everyone is. They pulled me aside to comment how every woman in the stores downtown talked to them as if they knew them. And I feel like I make conversation every time I go shopping in the dressing rooms as all the women talk to each other, throwing compliments at each other's new clothes. I love it!

 

[nicoenarg]

I could use some of that coldness because I'm sick of my portero always stopping me when I'm going somewhere and talking to me about soccer. He doesn't understand, even though I've told him a billion times, that I don't care whether River wins or loses or whatever else happens in the world of soccer or futbol.

Anyway like others said, it depends on where you are. My wife, who is Argentine, lived in Texas for about 6 years. She says she misses how nice people in the US are. And she hates and can't stand the general rudeness in Argentina. The problem here is that if they can get away with things, they will. In a yoga class, its harder to get away with being rude so there you go.

I'm generalizing here of course. Kinda like the OP was generalizing there for a minute with "It all compiles into one more moment when I think how rude my fellow (North) Americans can be."

 

[Crema Americana]

There's rude people everywhere. Especially in big cities where everyone is looking out for themselves.

Also rudeness comes in different forms. Whereas Americans can be short tempered and impatient, Argentines often arrive late or don't answer calls/emails.

 

[TomAtAlki]

Tom and I do Bikram Yoga in Seattle, and find that friendliness and aloofness varies with the studio. I think the direction comes from the owner ( manager) not the people who attend. That being said from my experiences in LA is that LA people are rude in general.
Nancy

 

[LAtoBA]

Tom and I do Bikram Yoga in Seattle, and find that friendliness and aloofness varies with the studio. I think the direction comes from the owner ( manager) not the people who attend. That being said from my experiences in LA is that LA people are rude in general.
Nancy

Perhaps, but east coasters to me in general are far colder and ruder. And often the rude people that you do encounter in LA aren't even from LA at all. Especially on the western side of town. New yorkers and maybe even Bostonians imo take the cake. I've lived on both coasts and in the south. Out of the three, if generalizing, southerners tend to be the warmest. Not sure about midwest since I've never lived there.

 

[arlean]

This is not such an important subject, but interesting! As stated I am in Palermo. Normally everyone is super nice to me. I LOVE the people here. I've been here long enough to know many in my neighborhood. My Argentina friend. also from this neighborhood, claims Argentines are terrible and rude. She says they are nice to me because I am foreign, that Argentines are nicer to foreigners than to their own people. She notices and points it out all the time. But I think it could be because I like them and I am friendly and don't wait for them to be friendly to me. But I don't know. She IS Argentine so maybe she's right. I come here partly because I'm still trying to figure things out!

Hahahaha! Laughing about the portero. Does he talk to you in spanish or english? So often I find they want to practice their english.

 

[nicoenarg]

Lol. No he talks in Spanish. I think he assumes that just because I got out of the elevator and he was in the lobby that must mean I am dying to have a conversation with him about soccer. It doesn't matter that I have to be places. Oh no no. When its about soccer, the end of the world delays itself!

What do I tell the people that I need to meet up with when I'm late because my portero held me up? I just say "soccer" and understanding just appears on their faces out of nowhere and they go all starry eyed...at least that's what my portero seems to think.

Oh he did ask me if I could teach his son English but I have a feeling he just wants his son to pronounce "River Plate" properly.