When you walk into someone's home, it's impolite to go one about how much you hate the town they live in. If you want my business, and you've just driven from Centreville in the rain and it took you longer then you liked, please don't blame the District. Centreville is 45 minutes away on a good day, at 2 am, with no one around. On a rainy Friday, it's over an hour away. Accept that. It is not my fault nor was it the fault of some intersection on Rhode Island Ave. Stop being childish.
This was the opening conversation with a would-be A/C contractor last week. He was over an hour late (though his colleague managed to be on time) and instead of taking personal responsibility, he blamed DC, DC traffic, and DC cops. Would he have said the same thing to someone upon arriving in Bethesda or Potomac? Would he have groaned, "Jeez, I hate driving in Old Town." or "Manassas is just so difficult. I never come here." or "How can you stand to live in Falls Church?" Do ya'll get the complaints too?
Because I think it's part of a regional DC scapegoat-ism where all things are worse in the District. I'm expected to be on time to all my appointments in VA, but a suburbanite coming into town can't resist the urge to snark at the District. I hold professionals, who by the nature of their job should know the whole region and not just the suburbs/exurbs, to an especially high expectation. That expectation: Don't bitch!
'Cause, ya see, we all gots problems. Alexandria has a polluting Mirant Plant. Loudoun schools are about to hemorrhage under falling tax revenues. Tysons is a traffic nightmare. We are all the same around here, folks. The District is the great big fish in the barrel. Easy pickin's. So cut me a break. I don't walk into other people's homes or businesses and complain about how difficult it was to get there or cast doubts on their sanity for living there. So don't bring it to my doorstep either. I think from this day on, I will politely call this habit to attention when people "indulge" in their gripe-fest. Even if DC does suck more (which I chose not to believe), it's still plain rude.
Ya know, I agree. Nobody complains about having to drive to Alexandria even when they're coming from Reston and it takes an hour. I suggest you go with the completely dead-pan blank stare + minutes of uncomfortable silence before saying, "Anyway, blah blah blah...." Although, I'm sure Miss Manners would not approve. Hey, you could write Miss Manners and ask her what to do! :)
Posted by: Auntie M | March 19, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Uhmm...traffic sucks in the entire metro area...let's get over the issue that we are all xenophobes at heart. Try driving in LA and NY. As one of those "suburbanites," I have no problem crossing that "wide river," considering I was born on and did high school and one of my grad degrees there.
Posted by: usch | March 19, 2007 at 08:12 PM