Nicest people (Denver, Lakewood, Arvada: real estate, rentals, HOA)

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Therblig

Again, I kinda sorta disagree with this; I think it's both out of date and clichéd/trope.

I have engaged people more quickly and with more "stranger kindness," and been offered help etc., much more often in big cities (especially NYC) than in any suburban or country setting I can think of, at least for the last few decades. I can count on the fingers of one hand, with spares, the time someone suburban/country was as engaging or sincerely helpful.

I think the notion that country folk are all super-friendly and good neighbors is way out of date and applies to a time when everyone in a town knew each other; it might have seemed so to newcomers or passers-through, as long as they weren't the wrong color or culture. But I think small towns and country folk and most suburbs have retreated way into a defensive, isolated, sometimes borderline-hostile attitude towards anyone they don't know... and they don't want to know you, Joe Cityfolk who just moved in.

Cities have always depended on cooperation and accommodation and while someone from a slow country town might find a big city intimidating (I'm speaking in a sort of classical/trope sense here), I think it's because city life and folk move faster and don't have a lot of time for 'niceties'; that can seem rude or arrogant or even hostile to someone who wants to just chat for five minutes. But as long as you respect that they're busy and have things to do, almost anyone in a city will be kind and approachable for that minute or two.

The idea that cities are cold and hostile and small towns welcoming and helpful, with someone ready to show up with a rake, a tractor or a barn-raising crew, is... fantasy. And suburbs combine the worst of both.

During my high school years, I was raised on a small hog farm. Basically, all of my friends were in FFA and/or 4-H, showed livestock and lived on a farm close to ours.

Back in the late 80's, I got involved in professional rodeo, and to this day, wife and I are major fans of it. I no longer compete. We get along very good with rodeo contestants that we know and serious rodeo fans, but if a person knows nothing, or very little about rodeo........forget it.

Guest Ranches depend on "city-type" or "urban-type" folks for their business.

Farm and ranch areas/towns are very friendly, that is, to their own kinds. Just like "big city" folks can be/are very friendly to folks they know in the city. They have something very in-common, the "big city" stuff. To the farm and ranch community, a big city, like in/around Denver, reminds them very much of high crime and those that have little-to-no knowledge of farming/ranching and don't want to know about either.

So, yes, I have to defend farming and ranching areas, because part of my life was around farming and then in rodeo.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Therblig

Ya don't say.

This being a case where "senior" means "older than a high school senior."

It's become a little game for me to string a recruiter along as far as I can without clearly defining my age. Funny how all interest in my experience and abilities evaporates when it's revealed I am past 30.

But we were talking about nice people, not loan sharks, lawyers or 26yo recruiters.

And, on top of this, no matter what some will say, not every company wants to hire a former military person. Heck, before I retired, I couldn't even include my military experience or years. My experience in the Navy crossed right over to what my career had been and the classes/certificates I had. And, as I got older, doing a drop-down pick that stated Viet Nam, pretty much excluded me out of numerous jobs.

In fact, my last supervisor told me right out, "I don't care about former military people or the experience that relates to this job" (of which it did). Many employers today still think this way.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

So, yes, I have to defend farming and ranching areas, because part of my life was around farming and then in rodeo.

As has been pointed up in several threads recently: what was then is not necessarily what is now. That you lived in a friendly country setting (quite?) some time ago, and may still be an accepted member of that community, is not necessarily reflective of how that community is now, even to each other beyond longstanding family and neighborhood ties.

Evidence is that those friendly ol' towns of our youth and past are among the most hostile and unwelcoming areas, in part because of the overall turn of economics and the decline of those areas and industries.

Whereas cities... are still pretty much cities. For good and bad. There's parts you don't visit, at least after dark, but that goes back to Roman times.

Not really arguing one against the other. Everywhere is... colder now.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

In fact, my last supervisor told me right out, "I don't care about former military people or the experience that relates to this job" (of which it did). Many employers today still think this way.

Well, this is getting way off topic but it's a long thread. Yeah, there seems to be a big show of welcoming and wanting ex-military; I have to slog through the checklists on every application. But except for some industries and companies, I don't think it means much except to hard-date your age.

In my case, the Front Range recruiting agency that focuses on my field and has most of the go-to business therein told me, about two years ago, "they can't really imagine finding a position for me." The implication was quite clearly that I'd aged out of their placement interests.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Therblig

Well, this is getting way off topic but it's a long thread. Yeah, there seems to be a big show of welcoming and wanting ex-military; I have to slog through the checklists on every application. But except for some industries and companies, I don't think it means much except to hard-date your age.

In my case, the Front Range recruiting agency that focuses on my field and has most of the go-to business therein told me, about two years ago, "they can't really imagine finding a position for me." The implication was quite clearly that I'd aged out of their placement interests.

I will also say this, it took my wife, who is 73, and two months away from 74, a year and a half to find a job after we moved back to Colorado in August 2019. She has two AA Degrees and a Bachelors in Business with emphasis on Accounting. But, with so many Millennials and young Gen X folks living here, she just couldn't land a job. Finally, she applied for, and got, an "at home job" thru a temp agency in Chicago, that was working with a company in southern Florida. If she gets another extension, she will be with this company (thru the Agency) for a year. To this day, we both think she was very, very lucky to get this job. No benefits, but very good paying.

And, remember, she will be 74 in a couple of months! But, her education and past experience definitely must have sold her to both the agency and company.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Therblig

As has been pointed up in several threads recently: what was then is not necessarily what is now. That you lived in a friendly country setting (quite?) some time ago, and may still be an accepted member of that community, is not necessarily reflective of how that community is now, even to each other beyond longstanding family and neighborhood ties.

Evidence is that those friendly ol' towns of our youth and past are among the most hostile and unwelcoming areas, in part because of the overall turn of economics and the decline of those areas and industries.

Whereas cities... are still pretty much cities. For good and bad. There's parts you don't visit, at least after dark, but that goes back to Roman times.

Not really arguing one against the other. Everywhere is... colder now.

Just to let you know, we can go to parts of Wyoming, like Cody and Cheyenne (during Cheyenne Frontier Days) and be completely accepted. Then again, it's how we dress also (Wrangler jeans, Ariat Lace-Up Roper boots and either a Resistol straw or Black Felt cowboy hat. IOW, if we dress like this and go to a "cowboyish" town, even here in Colorado, we are fully accepted and no problem talking to folks. Yes, my wife will sometimes where her hat as well or a baseball cap. We can stop by our local livestock auction barn (Centennial Livestock Auction), just to see what's being sold, and nobody looks at us odd, because of how we look..........like them!

IOW, there is still friendly small towns/cities in America, if, and this is "if", a person seeks them out. But, if that person is coming from Los Angeles, Chicago, NYC or any big city like that, and talks nice about them, people will turn a deaf-ear to them. I would probably do the same.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

And, remember, she will be 74 in a couple of months! But, her education and past experience definitely must have sold her to both the agency and company.

I'm pre-retirement age and was pre-er when I started looking for jobs in Denver. But I'm not the 26yo (woman) considered optimal for such positions, regardless of actual experience or ability.

Anyway, enough. I have found no solutions to age.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Therblig

I'm pre-retirement age and was pre-er when I started looking for jobs in Denver. But I'm not the 26yo (woman) considered optimal for such positions, regardless of actual experience or ability.

Anyway, enough. I have found no solutions to age.

Wife has found out, after a year and a half before of looking, that, there is no solution except "luck".

[bobspez]

Nicest people when you are on vacation, spending money. Years ago when I tried to go to school and get a job there they froze up pretty quickly. My impression after being there 6 weeks and having to leave was that if I was on fire on the side of the road, no one would even pee on me to put out the fire.

[OpinionExperience]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

Well, with all of the crime around us today, including some suburbs, many people simply don't trust strangers. Sort of like, the old days of hitchhiking, which seem to be long gone due to crimes involving it. A person may want to help their neighbor do something the neighbor is having a hard time doing, but, the neighbor doesn't want the help. The old saying "mind your own business" is being said more and more today than ever before.

There are those that want to escape "big city" life, but, many times, when they move to a much smaller town, they bring the "big city" stuff with them. That causes problems.

Farmers and ranchers have never totally got along with people that have moved out to the country from a big city. I, personally, seen this problem in Mira Loma, Calif. with dairy farms and horse property. Former "big city" people, from Los Angeles and Orange County, couldn't stand the smell of livestock and complain about it. Where wife and I live, we will sometimes, from direction of the wind, get the smell of livestock/cattle, but it doesn't bother us at all. But, there are those that live around us that hate it.

I am in Colorado Springs right now staying near The Garden Of The Gods. I heard about staying clear of southern Colorado Springs and took a look for myself, boy was I surprised how bad it is with a backdrop of a beautiful mountain background.

The best description I can come up with is, its all the good and bad in NJ in one city. Went to the Black Forest and that was the nicest area where I would want to live, then I drive through miles of new developments expanding form the Springs. I've seen this before, you cant stop urban sprawl. I can understand local people being standoffish to newcomers, I feel the same way when I see all the NY and PA plates racing around in NJ. The Jersey Shore cast is from NY and that is what's moving in.

I am heading to North Denver today to compare. Heard the Boulder area, avoiding South Denver and Aroura.