New England Crust

Thursday night I flew to Providence, RI to attend training in Groton on Friday. I noticed an interesting aspect of New England culture while I was up there:

New Englander's are freakin' crusty!

When we got into Mystic, CT (near our hotel) we ate at a place called JAMM'S. The food was good but the waiter was something else. First off, this guy was loud! The restaurant had a pretty average noise level and he managed to project his voice to a level that could be heard no matter what part of the restarant he happened to be in. I started calling him Mr. 6......because his voice was at least 6 dB louder than anything else in that place. Please excuse the acoustics nerdism. And to add to the causticness he spoke as pompously and rapidly as possible. He also refered to his patrons as "Buddy!". Quite strange.

I went shopping in Mystic and unbeknownst to me the shop was closing at 8:00. The lady in the store curtly informed me that it is 8:06 and tomorrow the store is open from 9:00 am to 8:00. Not a single "thankyou for coming" or a "sorry we're closed" . It seemed that I was in the wrong for entering HER shop.

Now besides the crusty, screwed up people in New England, there is one other thing that really bothered me. Both restaurants I visited CHARGED for refills of my coke. These people simply have no sense of hospitality.