Like a lot of other CL folks I've been listening to a lot of people complain about the unfriendliness of Boston men and women. Women are frigid and men are assholes and no one says "hello" on the street or lends a helping hand. Well, I am here to tell you that after a week of hard labor in the city, I no longer buy that particular world view.
I am a strapping, young guy from the midwest and have spent the last week or so building a stone walkway and doing some landscaping on Tremont street in what you guys call "the south end" and let me tell you I have never met such friendly, cheerful and helpful folks in my whole life.
Let me give you some examples. Unloading 3 yards of heavy crushed rock by myself was hard work, especially in the forenoon sun. I am working away, grunting and sweating like an animal, when this good samirtan comes out of his apartment and asks me if I want some ice water and a biscotti. I mean, outta nowhere!! I glady accepted his selfless, humanitarian, gesture and offered a hearty thanks. Well, turns out his name is "Peter" and he really liked "seeing a hard man do hard work". Who says Bostonites are snobbish!!?? Here's an altrusistic fellow who clearly understands the values of helping thy neighbor and a job well done.
But that is not it by a longshot! Later, Peter's roommate Michael came out too. Guess they must be college buddies or something...s.end women look out with these two charmers on the loose! Michael was even friendlier than Peter if that is possible. The sun was really beating down on me so I took off my denim top-shirt, stripping down to what some call "a wifebeater." Well, Michael comes right up and asks if he can hold my top-shirt for me! You just don't see those kinda manners anymore!! I thanked him profusely and went back to work, my hard, tan, and sinewy arms rippling with effort.
Don't even get me started on how Christian and helpful the shopowners are over there!! On more than one occassion local businessmen came over to me saying they loved my work and started to enquire whether I could "help them with various projects around our place." This one fella, "Andy" even gave me his phone number and told me to call A.S.A.P. because he "really wants to give me his business." Guess he saw a struggling, young, contractor with piercing blue eyes and thought it'd only be Christian to help me out. What a guy!
I don't have time to fully impart how friendly these folks have been to me. It would take all day. From the guy in the cafe who offered to buy me a beer while I was coming outta the men's room(what regular guy doesn't wanna beer after a hard day's work, right?) to the older, studious-looking, gentleman who offered me a lift to the T station to the local artist and student who wanted to paint me naked, on all fours and growling like a German Shephard....all were wonderfully helpful, friendly, warm and positive.
So next time you all go throwing around stereotypes about Boston people as cold and unfriendly, you just think of this average young guy's experience and head to the south end to meet some down-home good folk.