In any case I now feel qualified to tell you where I think the rudist, most discourteous people in the US are.
California.
Hey, you think I like making this pronouncement? I want to like them. I really do. And, I will be the first to suggest that it's not necessarily Californians, but people I've observed IN California, who may or may not be Californians, California license plates notwithstanding.
It's just that so far, the only ones I've met have been incredibly rude and/or completing lacking in observance of the rules. There was a woman who I've nick-named F.U. McPhereson. She was standing on a bike/run path with her dog, talking on her cell phone. Appeared middle-class, blond pony tail, dresssed in running clothes. He wasn't a mean, menacing dog, just your average sniffy golden lab. He was mosying around sniffing, and ambled onto the bike path, where, as I swerved around him, I hollared, "your dog needs to be on a leash" (which, I should mention, is the law here). I didn't cuss. I wasn't even angry. Her response? she shouted profanities at me - and one supposes, whomever she was talking to on her cell phone, to wit:
"Hey, F&$% YOU! MIND YOUR OWN F&$%ing BUSINESS!! YOU OUTTA BE ON A LEASE, YOU BITCH! YOU DIKE BITCH!!"
Woah. New Yorkers, contrary to popular opinion, aren't rude. They mind their own business, and they're in a hurry, but they aren't jerks about it. They're actually pretty friendly. People I've met in California, though, well, IT'S ALL ABOUT "ME" After a week or so of observing them, I've come up with the top ten things on your average person's mind while in California:
10) It's just a bike path. It's not like I have to stay on the right or anything.
9) Sure, I know he's only done action movies and weighlifting, but I think he'd make a good governor...
8) Why the &$%* is there so many compact car spaces? Screw it. I'm parking here anyway.
7) I don't care what the research says; I can talk on my--WOAH!!--cell phone and drive at the same time.
6) I don't care what the sign says. I'm not a slow moving vehicle. Those people behind me can just go around. On the right.
7) F&*$ you, man.
6) Hey, we can walk four across--there's room! People won't mind using the gutter.
5) What's that yellow line for?
4) My dog doesn't need a leash. S/he's special.
3) I don't care what the sign says; I'd rather drive on the left. I like this lane. People can pass me on the right.
2) Is this where I turn? Is it? No, it's not. No, wait, yes it is. or maybe not...turn signal? What's that?
1) I don't need no stinking bicycle helmet.
