country bumpkins vs. city slickers

[NNNNOOOOONAN]

i was born and raised in a <3,000 person town in northwestern wisconsin. spent my college years (16-20) in a 100,000 person town, and now live in vegas at 21, so i feel pretty qualified to comment on this.

small town pros:

1. you know everyone.

if you're moving to a different part of town, 25+ people (probably from your church) will be at your door whenever you need to them to be to help you.

if your car breaks down at 2:40 a.m. you can get a ride from the first person that passes you by w/o having to worry about getting a tire iron to the face.

when you forget your wallet when you go up to get gas at the holiday station, you can just pay the next time, or drive home to get you wallet and come back to pay.

2. the police

you get pulled over, it's likely to be someone you know. or someone you dad knows, or your uncle went to school with. if you're not doing anything truly stupid, the conversation will likely end with, just slow down, and i'll see you at Joe's for the football game this sunday.

3. the shopping/restaurants

if you want a good piece of pie with a cup of coffee, it's going to be $2 at the Backdoor Cafe. if you want a homemade sandwich with all the fixins done just the way your ma' did it along with a coke, it's going to be $3. but you can still go up to the McDonald's for a cheeseburger after work, or Subway for a meatball sub after the football game on Friday night.
if you want a pair of pants, it'll probably be levi's from Pamida, and they're going to last you for two years. probably more if you want to take them up to Amy's Tailoring to have a patch put on the hole in the knee.
if you really want to go to a mall to get a hollister surfing shirt, the mall is only an hour and a half away. the drive isn't bad because you get to hang out with your parents, or your friends parents during that time and not feel dorky because there's really no one else you can go with, so you learn to like it. also, once you're 16, you have something else to look forward to on the weekend.
also, if you crave something at 3:00 a.m. you're just going to have to wait.

4. entertainment

a night at the theater means catching a movie that actually came out 9 months ago. but hey, you've never seen it, so that's awesome, because it's new to everyone else in town too. friday nights are spent at the football game in the fall, the basketball game in the winter, and golfing with your friends/family in the spring time. summer last forever, and most school kids are going to be floating down a river somewhere, probably drinking beer, or playing baseball at the elementary school. adults are probably at a bbq with their kids talking about when they were floating down rivers drinking beer and playing baseball.
parties are in fields. or in the gravel pit. that's how it's been for years. and no, it's not a secret place that the cops won't know about because that's where they partied when they were sitting in the same high school desks listening to the same teachers you have. they just leave you alone because they were left alone.

5. environment

it's clean. you can walk anywhere without a surgical mask. you can get into the woods in a matter of minutes, and hunt and fish everyday if you want. there's no smog, there's hardly any pollution. and there is PLENTY of untouched oxygen. you can see the stars, and climb the trees.

6. employment

your dad probably went to high school with the guy that owns the video store, when you go in for you "interview" ask him about the 1978 state championship game. you'll get the job.
an economics degree won't get you as much respect as the fact that you mowed Mr. Thompson's lawn from age 12- the present. and you want to be a salesman and sell something to a farmer, be prepared to get your bruno's full of crap helping get the cows rounded up.
but once you do get a job putting windows together at the factory, you'll have job security for the rest of your life, and you'll be making the same amount of money at 70% of the rest of the town so you won't have an inferiority complex when you 1996 ford truck passes Bob's 1996 chevy truck on the way to the bar after work.

7. girls

put out. and put out good. they don't know any better. and yes, you'll probably end of sleeping w/ at least half of the 30 girls in your graduating class. probably more if you're on a sports team.



cons:

1. you know everyone

if you smoked a cigarette in your buddy's car on the way home from school. your parents will know before dinner is on the table. and if you smashed Old Lady Smith's mailbox, your dad will pick you up from the cop shop and walk you straight to her house to apologize, then she'll offer you cookies.
if someone cheats on their spouse with an "outsider," they will have a hard time buying groceries/ getting gas/ going to the football game without getting a hundred dirty looks.

2. the police.

if they didn't like you or your parents when you were in school together, you will be getting a ticket for going 28 in that 25. and if you look at them funny when they're chewing you out for underage drinking, you'll probably get 3 other tickets also.

3. the shopping/ restaurants

no, no one knows what "gucky" is and if they have holes in their pants, it's because they've worked those holes into them. same thing with paint.
you can't get a triple half-caf soy latte w/ 3 espresso shots.
you're not going to get a Benz. ever.
5th avenue is where the old folks home is.
you won't get a good bottle of red wine with your dinner.
(but you will probably get a $1.00 pbr)

4. entertainment.

again, if a new movie comes out on April 4th. it will get here in October. the only stage shows you'll see is the high school talent show.
you're not going to go to a professional sports game. but the games you do get to go to after driving 8 hours to that big city are games that you will remember for the rest of your life.

6. environment

there aren't any awe inspiring architectural sights for hundreds of miles. the air might be cleaner, and the trees might be fun to climb, but you're not going to be able to be all touristy by seeing different sights every weekend if you want to, like you could in NYC.

6. employment

there are 12 different jobs you can get. pick one.
you're not going to make enough money at any of those jobs to buy you the biggest houses in town, unless your parents had those jobs first/ or went on fishing trips with those people.

7. girls

you're probably related.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Medium-sized city far from either coast is obv the way to go here. There are still plenty of convenience stores and restaurants and sporting events and asian massage parlors, but the cost of living isn't ridiculous and the traffic is bearable too.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I'm going to live in a city then I like to make it a major one. To offset all the drawbacks I need to have stuff that a big city can offer me. Lots of good nightlife, heaps of touring acts, just a really crazy dynamic place. Otherwise I'll just hang on a mountain somewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm with you on this. I either like big, major cities, or a small rural place. I live in an in between-y right now, and it's like the worst of both worlds. Though I think Claunchy modified what he meant. He probably means a place like Austin as opposed to Wichita.

Re: Barbers. I've had great luck in small towns. $10 bucks for a great haircut and no waiting in Bristol, RI.

I think eventually I'll live in a rural area, but maybe not given my current line of work.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
Medium-sized city far from either coast is obv the way to go here. There are still plenty of convenience stores and restaurants and sporting events and asian massage parlors, but the cost of living isn't ridiculous and the traffic is bearable too.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a pretty good description of Denver, except possibly the traffic part. But we do have mountains nearby.

[RunDownHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
I would say the same for Chattanooga.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Chattanooga is great because it's got some of the worst pollution in the country, rains as much as Seattle/Portland, and doesn't have any pro sports teams. It also is one of the worst speed traps in the SE, so what a great place to be!

I've lived in big cities and in rural towns of 800 people. On the whole, I'd prefer to live somewhere on the smaller side, mostly because I don't like people and have no desire to mingle with most of them. For me, the variety of places to eat is the biggest advantage of big cities. Having a huge variety of cuisines close is awesome, and every time I go somewhere like NYC or SF or Chicago, etc, I pretty much plan my day around where I want to eat. On the other hand, the cities that are truly great wrt variety of cuisine aren't that numerous. You've got NYC and LA, and a handful that benefit from great immigrant population, but you could count those cities on one hand, right? I'll try to cook the stuff at home and avoid the people, if I can.

For me, the big city advantage of so many great and different foods is offset by the smaller city's advantages of affordability and less people. I can get 7 acres and 4 bedrooms for under $200k just outside Nashville. I prefer buying enough land to keep people away over big city advantages like restaurants, laundry (wtf?), cabs, etc.

I'm more or less expecting to move to a rural place in the next few years and the thing I'll regret the most is having lots of restaurants around. That's just not enough to persuade me to stay in a metro area.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

the religious factor in small towns can't be understated.

[Anacardo]

[ QUOTE ]
the religious factor in small towns can't be understated.

[/ QUOTE ]

You probably meant overstated. And yes it can.

[MrWookie]

[ QUOTE ]
1. barbers. i get pretty basic haircuts and the barbers in the hood are great. i get a lot more attention to detail for my twelve bucks than i would at some place in a strip mall. if you are the salon-going type disregard this i guess, but for those of us who don't carry man-purses, going to barbershops where you are the only white person in the room is generally +EV, especially for beard trimming.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can definitely get this quality of service in small town America. Lots of small town barbers will give you a solid haircut, a shave w/ a straight razor and warm foam, and all for $10. Then they'll look at you funny if you give them a tip.

[NT!]

wookie, i guess my experience has just been a little different. i have found a few good barbers over the years, but for my particular preferences i have never gotten a better cut than i do from basically any random barber above 110th in NYC. the real difference is in the facial hair trimming. i just wear a fairly standard beard - not too long or short or styled in a really douchey way. when i lived in MA, the barbers i went to always just trimmed it w/ scissors or an electric and then MAYBE edged it up if you asked them to. here it is assumed that you will get it shaped up, trimmed with the instrument of your preference, and then edged up with a straight blade, which really makes a difference. i guess it's just a question of style and preference.

in general i get much better service in most establishments in a small town. but in this case i prefer the treatment of barbers in the city, even though a lot of them don't even understand english, and my spanish is mediocre.

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
you can pretty much bet there's a place or two on your block in NYC that will wash and fold your laundry for not much more than it would cost to do it yourself.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? Damn, it's like 4 or 5 times the cost here in Atlanta.

[NT!]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you can pretty much bet there's a place or two on your block in NYC that will wash and fold your laundry for not much more than it would cost to do it yourself.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? Damn, it's like 4 or 5 times the cost here in Atlanta.

[/ QUOTE ]

i get my laundry done and folded for like 75 cents a pound here. a typical ten pound load (usually have to dry it twice) would cost me five bucks or so to do myself. i usually tip a buck and they think i'm the most generous person in the world, apparently nobody tips on laundry service.

EDIT: i would guess that the high cost of doing laundry in southern cities has to do with them being more spread out and more people having w/d in their domiciles. you need population density and a lack of appliances to do the kind of volume they do in my neighborhood.