Thursday, February 11, 2010

A great compliment.

At IHOP, I serve a lot of people that feel that it's perfectly alright to ask me personal questions ("Are you in school?", "What are you studying?", etc.). For the most part I don't mind and just consider it part of my job, but I'm still a bit annoyed having to pretend to be interested in sharing this information with complete strangers.

However, the other night an older couple engaged me in a conversation:

Them: You aren't from around here are you?

Me: Oh, is it really obvious? I'm from San Diego, California.

Them: Oh! You're just so polite, it was clear that you didn't grow up here.

They then explained that they moved to Oklahoma many years ago, but that they were from other parts as well. It's nice to know that it's not just Allison and me that think the people in Oklahoma are on the rude side. And what's so funny is that when we first moved here, everyone said we'd like how nice everyone is. I suppose they have a different definition of "nice."

4 comments:

Allie said...

hey you weren't working on homework....

Margot said...

I'm pleased that you're well mannered. Congratulations on not being mistaken for a native Oklahoman.

Although, one of the only people I know from Oklahoma is incredibly cordial. I wonder if it's just a Stillwater thing?

Marc R. said...

It was not an Oklahoma couple that thought you were more polite. (Congratulations on their noticing, by the way.) Perhaps people who are friendly and polite by Oklahoma standards follow local rules and expectations that might be a little different from those observed in other parts. I wonder what those rule differences might be.

Grandma Bonnie said...

I'm from OK and the best part of that stament is "From".