New Yorkers are polite, shocker
When I worked in a ski shop in Colorado, I became convinced that east coast Americans had never heard of the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
‘Gimme gloves’ and ‘fetch me that coat’ were just two of the more polite phrases you would hear from the city slickers who had flown in for a long weekend of skiing.
I was, therefore, flabbergasted to discover that New Yorkers are among the most polite people in the world, according to a new report from Reader’s Digest.
Forget their reputation for being brash, unhelpful and concerned only with their own survival. New Yorkers are more likely than anyone else to wish you a good day, open doors for you and help you with spilt documents.
The magazine sent reporters on to the streets of 35 major cities and found that residents of the Big Apple were the most courteous, well ahead of Londoners in 18th place. The rudest people are apparently found in Mumbai, India.
A man and a woman carried out experiments in various parts of each city, for example testing whether anyone would open doors for them, help them with ‘accidentally’ dropped documents or whether sales clerks would thank them for making a purchase.
Anyone who has shopped in America would not be surprised that 19 out of 20 clerks did say thank you after a purchase – in my experience, it is the one time New Yorkers come out with the phrase, even if it is through gritted teeth.
However, 90 per cent of New Yorkers also passed the door test and 55 per cent helped with dropped documents.
Overall, New Yorkers had an 80 per cent pass rate on the tests, while Londoners managed just 57 per cent.
Perhaps sales clerks in the capital contributed in no small part to London’s poor score.
A shop manager once told me that he asked one of his assistants why she hadn’t said thank you to a customer who had just made a purchase.
“There’s no need,” she replied. “It says it on the till receipt.”
That’s customer service at its best!
Which city do you think has the rudest inhabitants?
Guest Article by Jeremy Skidmore
Monday, July 31st, 2006
My name is Alan Potts and I'm the Editor of the UK Ferry Tickets web site and Managing Director of BUYability Limited. You can connect with me or keep up to date with new posts on this blog via the following social media sites: 
