I love New York City. It's my hometown, a place where I grew up in for almost 20 years and a place that taught me I shouldn't be phased by what life throws at me. Living in New York City molded me into this fast pace walking, Brooklyn lingo talking, time managing, nonchalant, adventurous and bold kind of woman. Now, there is some strange rumor going around that New Yorkers are known to be apathetic, on-the-go, fussy and just down right rude. Coming from a New Yorker like myself, I declare this rumor to be true (sometimes) but we New Yorkers have our good days and our bad days (depending on the MTA). Here are 5 reasons why New Yorkers just don't GAF:
1) Jay Walking is a ritual in NYC so we don't care if we almost get hit by a couple of reckless uncaring taxi cab drivers. As long as the MTA is running on time, nothing can stop us from missing our train or bus. (And if we do miss our train or bus, welcome to the world of being a pissed NYC commuter.)
2) PSA: If you are not from New York City and you are naturally a slow walker because your hometown is not as busy or crowded as NYC and it's a chill, free-spirited place, PROPS TO YOU! BUT, IF you do choose to walk slow in the busy sidewalks or in the streets of NYC, we will push, shove, even purposely bump into you then dramatically walk pass you and give you MAJOR attitude with a side of shade for causing traffic in one of the most busy cities in the world. (I am guilty of doing this act on numerous accounts.) We're always on-the-go and we basically walk on average 12 mph, and if we're running super late, we put a pep to our step and start jogging/fast-walking, or as I would say in my Brooklyn lingo, "Booking it." Do us New Yorkers a huge favor and put a pep to your step too.
3) Seeing weird things happening on the MTA doesn't phase us. For example, seeing a crazy, deranged homeless person publicly release his human waste onto the train doesn't phase me at all anymore (maybe just a little bit) as long as they do it 20 feet away from me or possibly in another train cart. You see and meet the most colorful people on the planet in New York City, especially underground.
4) We don't care if the train or bus is more crowded than a pack of canned sardines, we're still going to shove ourselves in there causing more claustrophobia amongst ourselves, delays and 6 second verbal fights with each other. We scream, "there is no space for you!" or my personal favorite is when you're in a crowded NYC bus and the bus driver yells out, "MOVE TO THE BACK!" while other people trying to get off are yelling "GETTING OFF!" or "BACK DOOR!" all while getting to our destination on time, one way or another.
5) Last but not least, New Yorkers most definitely don't care about threats being made on New York City (sometimes we do, for about 5 mins, then we casually go on with our day acting as if our lives aren't being threaten with fear and danger). We know that New York City is one of the most targeted cities in the country, especially on big events such as "Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve with Ryan Seacrest." Thousands of people from all across the globe come to New York City to basically bring in the New Year with laughter, fun, joy and change to our lives, all while having every single NYPD officer and NYPD watch dog known to man in NYC fulfilling their duties to protect the lives living in New York City. As long as everyone receives their special New Year's kiss with someone who they cherish and adore, or even some random stranger they don't even know & basically just met 5 minutes ago, we are just happy that we get to spend that experience in one of the greatest cities in the world.
But that clean up though...