Are Arizonans the Friendliest Americans?

spiderweb

spiderweb

Final Approach
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Feb 22, 2005
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Ben
I just got back from my first-ever trip to the Grand Canyon. Stayed for five days in a rented cabin in Williams (near Flagstaff) and went to the Grand Canyon twice, as well as Sedona.

First of all, for those of you who haven't been to these places, I have one word for you: GO. I'm not going to bother to describe it, because anything I say won't be better than what you hear in the travelogues, and anyway, you have to experience it.

But on to the people. I've traveled around the country (and the world), but I think I've never met a friendlier people than Arizonans, with the possible exception of Texans and Hawaiians.

They even *drive* in a friendly way! Coming back to the East Coast was a real wake-up call, driving home!
 
I forgot to mention that on the way home, I had the privilege of sitting next to former Mayor of Scottsdale, Mary Manross and her husband, an accomplished businessman and former Air Force officer. They were traveling to my hometown of Boston with some of their children and grandchildren. Really good people. :)
 
I hope so, I'm in a car on the way to the airport heading to AZ now. Staying in Phoenix for work until Tuesday.
 
Well, Ben, noting that Arizona is to a very large extent populated with people who want to be there, rather than those who are compelled to be there, it may just be that there is less of the resentful moroseness one encounters so often of late.

Fact is, though, I have found that once you get out of the crowded urban areas, most parts of the country have pretty nice folks.
 
Based on last summer's visit, my vote for friendliest Americans would go to Minnesota.
 
We just did a day trip to the canyon Sunday. AVQ to GCN, park bus picks you up at the airport and takes you into the park bypassing main gate (no charge if you have the fed park pass), walk a few miles along the rim with highs in the 70's, eat lunch at El Tovar, do a little more looking, park bus back to airport, arrive AVQ mid afternoon (temp = 105, agh). Usually make it there at least once a year and never get tired of it.
 
SCCutler said:
Fact is, though, I have found that once you get out of the crowded urban areas, most parts of the country have pretty nice folks.
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There's the key to finding nice people. It's not the state or region that is the deciding factor. It's the 3 hour rule that is the deciding factor. Get outside of a 3 hour drive (150 miles) of massive severely overcrowded cities like Denver or Dallas or Phoenix or fill-in-the-blank-severe-excessive-population-city and people become nice just because they're not surrounded by a constant barrage of stress, threats, hate and resentment. Williams, Flagstaff, GCNP, Page are fairly wide open areas with a relatively sparse population. They're generally nice people just because they're not crammed in like sardines with a bunch of other crammed in high stress people inches away from them.

Put 50 people in a generic living room size box and see how they behave after a month of constant presence there. Now put the same 50 people in a 4 square mile park and see what happens. Same general concept.

Northern AZ, Southern UT is mostly pleasant people. Phoenix is on my prohibited area list.
 
fgcason said:
Northern AZ, Southern UT is mostly pleasant people. Phoenix is on my prohibited area list.
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I was gonna say.....the OP obviously hasn't seen Phoenix. And I say that having grown up there. Not the least friendliest folks (I think that honor is a draw between New Yorkers and Massholes), but definitely not the friendliest.




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Fearless Tower said:
I was gonna say.....the OP obviously hasn't seen Phoenix. And I say that having grown up there. Not the least friendliest folks (I think that honor is a draw between New Yorkers and Massholes), but definitely not the friendliest.




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I'm a Masshole, and I would have to agree! I was in Phoenix only long enough to get and return my rental car. But even there, it was better than NYC (four years of education there) or Boston.

The key to friendly living in those two cities is to 1) know what you're doing, and 2) don't talk to anyone.
 
Everskyward said:
I would say that's true. In that vein I'll say that I think the most customer service oriented city is Dallas.
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Texans are polite to a fault. Once they get to know you, they become friendly.

I miss my years in Dallas. . . .
 
The friendliest Arizonians are at the border. They are always there looking to greet you.:D

José
 
SCCutler said:
Fact is, though, I have found that once you get out of the crowded urban areas, most parts of the country have pretty nice folks.
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This. When you get away from the cities, you tend to find friendly folks, with some exceptions (don't go tresspassing on property in "hillbilly" land, or you might get shot up. And don't dress like a revenuer.)

Everskyward said:
I would say that's true. In that vein I'll say that I think the most customer service oriented city is Dallas.
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Mari, IME, it depends. There are plenty of great folks in Dallas (and the ones on PoA are outstanding examples), and there are some in Dallas that put on the facade of being nice (just watch BRT on cable sometime... speaking of which, a remake of Southfork Ranch and Dallas is coming back to cable this year).

I'm not sure I could single Dallas out for being the "best" - Milwaukee area is right up there, Seattle is decent, as are several others. I find that when I treat folks with courtesy & respect that I get great customer service in return (with a very few notable exceptions).
 
wsuffa said:
Mari, IME, it depends. There are plenty of great folks in Dallas (and the ones on PoA are outstanding examples), and there are some in Dallas that put on the facade of being nice (just watch BRT on cable sometime... speaking of which, a remake of Southfork Ranch and Dallas is coming back to cable this year).
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Haha Spike. That's why I agreed with Ted that there's a difference between "friendly" and "polite" The POA members in Dallas are great, and friendly, but they aren't trying to give me any customer service, that I know of, anyway. :D

I was just speaking, in general, about the personnel in the FBOs, the restaurants, the hotels, etc. I get to see lots of these types of people all over the country and Dallas stands out in my mind. Of course we go there a lot too..
 
There are friendly people and there are rude people just like anywhere else in the U.S.
 
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