Minnesota: Unfriendly, with lots of bad drivers. (Duluth: how much, theater)

[Maiden]

We really like Minnesota, we moved here in 2006. We find our neighbors to be very friendly. I've never understood why people need to say bless you when someone sneezes. If you want to see bad drivers, go to Phoenix or Boise. The only city in California I would want to live in is Palm Springs. I don't know where in Minnesota you live but we only have one Wal Mart in our area but lots of Targets. How many midwestern states do you know that have mountains? I think Minnesota is beautiful thanks to the lakes and trees.

[kayaklin]

Well, to answer everyone's questions... I moved here not by choice, but because of my husband's job. So whether or not I had researched Minnesota, it wouldn't have mattered. I had visited Minnesota previously and enjoyed it very much, so I was actually looking forward to living here but all of that turned around after seeing nothing but snow up to my eyeballs for the better half of a year. I am probably just sour because of the insane winter. It wasn't even the snow that bothered me, but the 15 degrees below zero for days and days on end. I never imagined having to be stuck inside for so long. No, I am obviously not "hardy" at all.

Mosquitos, Wal-Mart, "bless you," etc. Those aren't my only complaints about the state. I was ranting. I could go into further detail about this year's caucuses, how I attended every political (not going to say which party because I don't need this to be a debate) convention as a delegate and found Minnesota's local politicians to be very underhanded. Yes, I know you are going to say how every politician is underhanded, just like bad drivers are everywhere... but it was especially disheartening to see some of the things going on that I bore witness to.

To add to my "trivial" mosquito complaint, I've never seen as many ticks as I've seen in Minnesota. And yes, I know ticks are everywhere, but 90% of all Lyme disease cases come from Minnesota and Wisconsin alone. And that is especially scary when your job requires you to work outdoors, and most stores fail to carry any spray containing Permethrin.

The unfriendly thing continues to be a resounding theme wherever I go. I am subjected to it and I also observe it happening to others. I realize you can't tag an entire state just because an observed majority are rude. I understand that personal experiences are isolated instances. I'm just saying that I've never seen so much inconsiderate behavior concentrated in one spot in my entire life. Ever.

Thanks to everyone who replied in a civil manner. I'm sorry for bashing your state. It is very pretty when the sun comes out and I'm sure there are tons of wonderful things that go hand in hand with living here. I am just too closed-minded at this point to give it any fair chance. I'm sure it is my own loss.

[OC_MD]

I lived in MN for 17 years, moved back to MD over 3 years ago. If you've read any of my posts, you'll see that I have a similar opinon as you. For most of the time I was there things were ok-but I knew I had live there, and also people are always talking about how nice it is there, and I guess I heard it so much I thought it was true!!

It all came to an end when I was visiting MD, and realized how nice people were to complete strangers... and the weather... I couldn't take another winter commute... and I missed the 4 seasons, winter and springsummerfallroadcontruction just got old!

[mimberly]

My husband took a job in MInnesota in April we are from Michigan. He said the people he met were very nice he was in the Winona area. What he didn't like was the weather. It rained almost daily. We expected it to be like Michigan. I was here with weather between 70-90 and he would say it was raining. It really bother him as he worked outside. We were very unsure of the winters as we heard they would be worse than Michigan. He was just starting to look for a home when he was offered a better job and higher pay in Virginia so he took it. It is also year around work which made a huge difference besides the pay. He had a terrible time getting out of Winona as the Amtrak cancelled trips last weekend because of the flooding in Wisconsin. He finally got home and right now he is headed to Virginia. He said that although he didn't like the weather and found that there wasn't much to do unless you like hunting, fishing, camping and that stuff and we don't. Michigan does have all that but we are from here so we have family and other things to do. Hopefully in Virginia the people will be friendly. It didn't work out but I thanks those from Minnesota that went out of their way to be kind to a new person.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by kayaklin

There aren't even any mountains here to make the snow fun...

Ever heard of the Lutsen Mountain ski resort?

[aperfectbass]

I'm confused, where are all the wal marts? (I live near the twin cities, maybe its different when you get away from here) It seems like a social taboo to say you actually like wal mart.

I definitely agree with the OP, though. My wife has a different way of putting it, that the natives don't seem to care about others. Not so much rude, but more like they live with blinders on.

To kayaklin, I've been open minded since day one and still giving it a fair chance, (and its only been a year now) and sure enough, nice people are the minority.

[mitst]

Yay Kay! I couldn't agree more. You help someone start their car on a cold morning and they snub you from then on. After a while you fit right in, by not helping anyone ever. Sad.

[JenLee]

As I've said before, people are as happy and content as they make up their minds to be.

As the OP said in her last post, she's now too closed minded to give the state a fair chance! If she moved here in late summer or the fall and then went through the winter cooped up indoors; my guess is that that would be enough to turn anyone off who hadn't already made some friends here before winter set in.

Once a person decides they don't like one or two things about where they live, it's easy to keep *seeing* other things about a place that make that person generalize and hate "everything" about that town or state. Ergo: if 1 person doesn't bless a sneeze, "no one (in the state) blesses you when you sneeze."

Attitude is everything. We recently lost an elderly relative who had Down's syndrome and lived with her sister. The 2 of them would go grocery shopping and the one with Down's would smile and greet everyone and everyone would smile back and talk with them. Now when the other one goes to the store, no one smiles or talks to her. She says the world isn't as friendly anymore since she lost her sibling.

ETA: The remaining sister isn't a smiling person; she IS fairly cheerful on the inside, but her face doesn't show it. I keep telling her to "smile and nod" and people will do the same. When she does smile, people do smile back!

[icequeen2008]

I have lived in Minnesota all my life. I love the cold weather. I don't mind the mosquitoes I just get bug spray. We have a good quality of life here. Thankful for the state we have.

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by kayaklin

Well, to answer everyone's questions... I moved here not by choice, but because of my husband's job. So whether or not I had researched Minnesota, it wouldn't have mattered.

That would explain it.