Tuesday, August 15, 2006
New Yorkers are the most courteous people in the world
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
If you are shocked that you never noted this before, neither did the New York Times, nor the Post. This information comes from the Readers Digest people, who, getting tired of the badmouthing our fellow citizens have been subjected to, sent out 36 reporters in 35 major cities worldwide, sampling whether people would hold doors open for others, help passersby in picking up dropped papers, and thank buyers for purchases. New Yorkers won, hands down, The story, when reported by the Associated Press, was widely discussed, surprising even the RD editors, who had placed it well back in the magazine.
The findings came as no surprise to this East Midtowner, who has observed his fellow citizens in acts of courtesy every day, starting with the morning elevator riders, who, preoccupied with the worries of the day, nevertheless exchange nods and casual words, nine times out of ten. The percentage drops to 60% upon arrival at work, in the office elevators.
At the Union Square Lexington Avenue subway station, where the same turnstiles are used for entry and exit, the passenger flow is seamless in both directions, as people wordlessly make room for each other, without a clash. That is also noticeable in the passageways when the streams of rush hour travelers switch back and forth between the IRT, BMT and LL lines.
Pushing one’s way into a crowded subway car is another challenge, easily accomplished with a liberal use of excuse mes and thank-yous, sometimes accompanied with a remark about one’s boss being a tyrant. Surprisingly, a number of young people, and some not so young, will offer their seats to the elderly or infirm. As to the sprawlers who spread out over two seats, there are very few, sitting upright and looking challenging, or sometimes sleeping, maybe pretending to sleep.
Subway conductors and bus drivers have thankless jobs. They respond to your hellos and thank-yous, and sometimes will actually hold the door open a trifle longer for you. Policemen like to be greeted, and an observation about a nice day is appropriate. Women are reluctant to exchange casual pleasantries, but a smile works just as well. More smiling is good for the giver and the receiver.
Now back to the real survey, the Readers Digest report. To obtain some uniformity in this non-scientific research, the New York tests were performed in various Starbucks coffee shops. One might think that the trained baristas would give us an unfair advantage, but my guess is that Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s checkout clerks are as good if not better at the thank-yous than the coffee servers’ 95% score shows. This is true throughout the high-visibility stores. As for holding doors open, 90% of us passed the test, and 55% aced the document drop. Men scored 63% on the latter, vs. 47% among the women, understandably, what with worries about being embarrassed by tight skirts and low-slung jeans. The reporters encountered men and women of all races, ages, professions and income levels, with no remarkable differences in the level of courtesy, except that men were more prone to help women in holding doors open and picking up papers.
On the global scale, ranging downwards from New York’s 80%, were Zurich (77%) and Toronto (70%). In the high 60% ranks were, in order, Berlin, Sao Paolo, Zagreb, Auckland, Warsaw, Mexico City, with Stockholm, Budapest, Madrid, Prague and Vienna following. Below them, at 57%, London, Paris, Lisbon, Johannesburg and Buenos Aires were clutched together, with Amsterdam slightly below. In the 40% came in Helsinki, Manila, Milan and Sydney, then Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Taipei, with Moscow, Singapore and Seoul dragging bottom. Finally, in the 30s,Bucharest, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai. Former colonies and the ex-Communist countries seem to be still weak in showing regard for fellow human beings.
Of the former colonizers, at least England is taking the findings semi-seriously, BBC News has gone into their own research and find that their Geordies, the people of the coal-mining district of Newcastle, score 77%, with the Scousers of Liverpool close behind. Londoners check in at 55%, while the Scots of Edinburgh and, particularly, the Brummers of Birmingham pull the numbers down, at 48 and 43%
What do we learn from all this? Reader Digest says that if you can make it with a smile and a thank-you here, you can make it anywhere. Maybe that is what makes New Yorkers great, all of the above plus a larger preponderance of liberal brains.
Lost in the discussion about courtesy is the banner article in the same issue of Readers Digest, 10 New Ways to Lose Weight Now, the summer weight-loss special by Paula Dranoff, long-time health writer and editor, and a neighbor. Nice going, Polly!
This column thanks the editors and writers of Readers Digest.. Feel free to comment, at wally@ix.netcom.com.
If you are shocked that you never noted this before, neither did the New York Times, nor the Post. This information comes from the Readers Digest people, who, getting tired of the badmouthing our fellow citizens have been subjected to, sent out 36 reporters in 35 major cities worldwide, sampling whether people would hold doors open for others, help passersby in picking up dropped papers, and thank buyers for purchases. New Yorkers won, hands down, The story, when reported by the Associated Press, was widely discussed, surprising even the RD editors, who had placed it well back in the magazine.
The findings came as no surprise to this East Midtowner, who has observed his fellow citizens in acts of courtesy every day, starting with the morning elevator riders, who, preoccupied with the worries of the day, nevertheless exchange nods and casual words, nine times out of ten. The percentage drops to 60% upon arrival at work, in the office elevators.
At the Union Square Lexington Avenue subway station, where the same turnstiles are used for entry and exit, the passenger flow is seamless in both directions, as people wordlessly make room for each other, without a clash. That is also noticeable in the passageways when the streams of rush hour travelers switch back and forth between the IRT, BMT and LL lines.
Pushing one’s way into a crowded subway car is another challenge, easily accomplished with a liberal use of excuse mes and thank-yous, sometimes accompanied with a remark about one’s boss being a tyrant. Surprisingly, a number of young people, and some not so young, will offer their seats to the elderly or infirm. As to the sprawlers who spread out over two seats, there are very few, sitting upright and looking challenging, or sometimes sleeping, maybe pretending to sleep.
Subway conductors and bus drivers have thankless jobs. They respond to your hellos and thank-yous, and sometimes will actually hold the door open a trifle longer for you. Policemen like to be greeted, and an observation about a nice day is appropriate. Women are reluctant to exchange casual pleasantries, but a smile works just as well. More smiling is good for the giver and the receiver.
Now back to the real survey, the Readers Digest report. To obtain some uniformity in this non-scientific research, the New York tests were performed in various Starbucks coffee shops. One might think that the trained baristas would give us an unfair advantage, but my guess is that Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s checkout clerks are as good if not better at the thank-yous than the coffee servers’ 95% score shows. This is true throughout the high-visibility stores. As for holding doors open, 90% of us passed the test, and 55% aced the document drop. Men scored 63% on the latter, vs. 47% among the women, understandably, what with worries about being embarrassed by tight skirts and low-slung jeans. The reporters encountered men and women of all races, ages, professions and income levels, with no remarkable differences in the level of courtesy, except that men were more prone to help women in holding doors open and picking up papers.
On the global scale, ranging downwards from New York’s 80%, were Zurich (77%) and Toronto (70%). In the high 60% ranks were, in order, Berlin, Sao Paolo, Zagreb, Auckland, Warsaw, Mexico City, with Stockholm, Budapest, Madrid, Prague and Vienna following. Below them, at 57%, London, Paris, Lisbon, Johannesburg and Buenos Aires were clutched together, with Amsterdam slightly below. In the 40% came in Helsinki, Manila, Milan and Sydney, then Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Taipei, with Moscow, Singapore and Seoul dragging bottom. Finally, in the 30s,Bucharest, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai. Former colonies and the ex-Communist countries seem to be still weak in showing regard for fellow human beings.
Of the former colonizers, at least England is taking the findings semi-seriously, BBC News has gone into their own research and find that their Geordies, the people of the coal-mining district of Newcastle, score 77%, with the Scousers of Liverpool close behind. Londoners check in at 55%, while the Scots of Edinburgh and, particularly, the Brummers of Birmingham pull the numbers down, at 48 and 43%
What do we learn from all this? Reader Digest says that if you can make it with a smile and a thank-you here, you can make it anywhere. Maybe that is what makes New Yorkers great, all of the above plus a larger preponderance of liberal brains.
Lost in the discussion about courtesy is the banner article in the same issue of Readers Digest, 10 New Ways to Lose Weight Now, the summer weight-loss special by Paula Dranoff, long-time health writer and editor, and a neighbor. Nice going, Polly!
This column thanks the editors and writers of Readers Digest.. Feel free to comment, at wally@ix.netcom.com.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:42 AM 
